My Heart Cries for You originated as a French folksong that was adapted by Percy Faith and Carl Sigman and first performed by singer Guy Mitchell. The song became Mitchell’s first hit, reaching #2 on the Billboard charts in 1951 and later went on to become a hit for the numerous artists who covered it. Carl Sigman and Percy Faith were good friends who often went to the racetrack at Long Island’s Roosevelt Field. An old French tune repeatedly played on the track’s PA, which haunted Percy. One day, he jokingly asked Carl if he thought they could write a hit song in ten minutes using that melodic phrase. They did just that and My Heart Cries for You was the result.
Mitch Miller, a producer at Columbia Records, originally intended Frank Sinatra to record My Heart Cries for You. Sinatra turned down the song, so Miller offered the song to emerging singer, Al Cernick. Mitch Miller did not think the name Al Cernick would do, so he changed it to Guy Mitchell because Al was a nice ‘guy’. Miller also used his first name, Mitch, resulting in Guy Mitchell. Mitchell sang the song to the pre-recorded arrangement by Mitch Miller and his orchestra.
