"Let's Live for Today" is a song written by David Shapiro, Ivan Mogul, and Michael Julien, and initially recorded by the English band The Rokes in 1966. The song was later popularized by the American rock band The Grass Roots, who released it as a single on May 13, 1967. The Grass Roots' version climbed to #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, eventually selling over two million copies and being awarded a gold disc. The song was also included, as the title track, on The Grass Roots' second album, Let's Live for Today. Since its initial release, The Grass Roots' rendition of the song has become a staple of Oldies radio programming in America and is today widely regarded as a 1960s classic.

The song that would become "Let's Live for Today" was originally written by David Shapiro and Ivan Mogul in 1966, with Italian lyrics and the Italian title of "Piangi Con Me" (translated as "Cry with Me"). At the time, Shapiro was a member of the Rokes, an English beat group who had relocated to Italy in 1963 and had signed a recording contract with RCA Italiana the following year. During the mid-1960s, the Rokes became a popular band on the Italian charts, achieving a number of Top 20 hits with Italian-language covers of popular British and American songs. By 1966, however, the band had begun to write their own material, including "Piangi Con Me", which quickly became their biggest hit to date in Italy.

Following its success on the Italian charts, plans were made to release "Piangi Con Me" in the United Kingdom and as a result, the song was translated into English and given the new title of "Passing Thru Grey". However, the song's publisher in Britain, Dick James Music, was unhappy with the lyrics of "Passing Thru Grey" and decided that they should be changed. Michael Julien, a member of the publisher's writing staff, was assigned the task of composing new words for the song and it was his input that transformed it into "Let's Live for Today". Before the Rokes could release the song in the UK, however, another British group named The Living Daylights released a version of it. Ultimately, neither The Living Daylights nor the Rokes would reach the charts with their recording of the song.

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