<P> "Something's Gotta Give" is a popular song with words and music by Johnny Mercer in 1954 . It was published in 1955 . It was written for and first performed by Fred Astaire in the 1955 musical film Daddy Long Legs, and was nominated for an Academy Award in 1955 as Best Original Song, losing to Love is a Many Splendored Thing . </P> <P> The song playfully uses the irresistible force paradox--which asks what happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object--as a metaphor for a relationship between a vivacious woman and an older, world - weary man . The man, it is implied, will give in to temptation and kiss the woman . The song's lyrics echo the plot of Daddy Long Legs, in which a reserved man in his 50s (Astaire) falls in love with a woman in her early 20s (Leslie Caron). </P>

Who wrote the song something's gotta give