Songfacts®:

• This was written by Carl Sigman ("It's All In The Game") and Percy Faith ("Theme From A Summer Place"). In The Carl Sigman Songbook, Sigman's son Michael calls this "The biggest fluke" of his father's career. Writes Michael:
  He and composer/orchestra leader Percy Faith were good friends and often went to the racetrack ("the trotters") at Long Island's Roosevelt Field to blow off some steam. An old French tune that played repeatedly on the track's PA system 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 born. The minute he heard a demo of the song, Columbia Records super-producer Mitch ("Sing Along with Mitch") Miller recognized that this was a hit waiting to happen. He quickly marshaled his orchestra to rehearse an arrangement for Frank Sinatra. When Frank showed up for the session and passed on the song, Mitch had to scramble. Luckily, close at hand was a young demo singer named Al Cernick, and Mitch had him sing the song with the already-prepared arrangement. The name Al Cernick would never do, however. Al was a nice guy, so Mitch gave him the first name "Guy." He added his own first name and before long "My Heart Cries for You" by Guy Mitchell was the No. 2 record in the country. It's been covered over the years by dozens of artists including Elvis Presley, Ray Charles, Ben E. King, and Dinah Washington.