If You Asked Me To

Infobox Single
Name = If You Asked Me To


Artist = Patti LaBelle
from Album = Be Yourself
B-side =
Released = Start date|1989|6|12
Format = CD single, cassette single, 7" vinyl single
Recorded =
Genre = R&B/soul/pop
Length = 3:58
Label = MCA
Writer = Diane Warren
Producer = Stewart Levine, Aaron Zigman
Certification =
Last single = "Just the Facts"
(1987)
This single = "If You Asked Me To"
(1989)
Next single = "Yo Mister"
(1989)Extra chronology
Artist = James Bond theme
Last single = "Licence To Kill"
(1989)
This single = "If You Asked Me To"
(1989)
Next single = "GoldenEye"
(1995)

"If You Asked Me To" is the title of a song originally written and released as the lead off single for Patti LaBelle's seventh solo studio album, entitled "Be Yourself", and for the "Licence to Kill" soundtrack. The song is a ballad written by critically-acclaimed songwriter Diane Warren. The lyrics are from the point of view of a woman who pleads to her significant other:

:"If you asked me to":"I just might change my mind":"And let you in my heart forever."

Patti LaBelle version

"If You Asked Me To" was first featured on the soundtrack of the 1989 James Bond movie, "Licence to Kill". LaBelle's version peaked at number 79 on the United States Billboard Hot 100, at number 10 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, and at number 11 on the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks.

The music video was filmed shortly after LaBelle's sister's death, and the context of the song changed dramatically, as a mourning LaBelle, dressed in black, sings the song in a church (with candles and mourning lilies), intercut with shots of her in tears.

Despite of its original R&B top 10 success, the song did not "crossover to the pop charts until Céline Dion covered it three years later. Regarding the subject, LaBelle once explained during an interview used for the liner notes of her 1999 "Greatest Hits" album what she believed to be the reason for this fact: "I knew the song was a hit when I recorded it, and I was happy that Celine did it and did so well with it. But the arrangements are so close and we both have pretty powerful voices...so who knows why my version didn't take off. Maybe it was timing..." [ [http://www.infobuddy.com/articles/bios/pattilabellebio.html Patti LaBelle Biography ] ]

The song was included on Patti LaBelle's aforementioned "Greatest Hits" album and a live version was recorded for her 1998 Grammy-winning album "Live! One Night Only".

Céline Dion version

Infobox Single
Name = If You Asked Me To

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Artist = Céline Dion
from Album = Celine Dion
Released = Start date|1992|4|6
Format = CD single, cassette single, vinyl single
Recorded = Criterion Studios, Village Recorders, Music Grinder, Oceanway Studios
Genre = Pop
Length = 3:55 (album/single version)
Label = Columbia, Epic
Writer = Diane Warren
Producer = Guy Roche
Last single = "Je danse dans ma tête"
(1992)
This single = "If You Asked Me To"
(1992)
Next single = "Quelqu'un que j'aime, quelqu'un qui m'aime"
(1992)
Céline Dion covered "If You Asked Me To" and released it as the second single from her eponymous album. It was produced by Walter Afanasieff and was released on April 6 1992 in the United States, and later the same year in the rest of the world. [cite book | author=Glatzer, Jenna| title=Céline Dion: For Keeps | publisher=Andrews McMeel Publishing| year=2005 | id=ISBN 0-7407-5559-5]

The B-side of this single contains an unreleased track called "Love You Blind," which was written by Jay Oliver and Sheryl Crow, and produced by Walter Afanasieff. The music video for the song was directed by Dominic Orlando and filmed in Chatsworth and Hollywood. It was released in April 1992 and included later on Dion's 2001 DVD video collection "All the Way… A Decade of Song & Video".

, the single sold 413,000 copies in the U.S.

Formats and track listings

CD single
#"If You Asked Me To" – 3:55
#"Love You Blind" – 4:35

U.S. CD single
#"If You Asked Me To" – 3:55
#"Where Does My Heart Beat Now" – 4:33

European/Australian CD maxi single
#"If You Asked Me To" – 3:55
#"Love You Blind" – 4:35
#"Halfway to Heaven" – 5:05

UK CD maxi single
#"If You Asked Me To" – 3:55
#"Where Does My Heart Beat Now" – 4:33
#"Love You Blind" – 4:35

Charts

References