If You Asked Me To

Album: Be Yourself (1989)
Charted: 79
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Written by Diane Warren, this song is about a woman who suddenly discovers how to love again after shrinking from it for years. LaBelle starts off softly, then grows stronger as the narrator becomes more confident.
  • Celine Dion's version hit #4 in the US in 1992.
  • LaBelle's version plays over the end credits of the James Bond movie License To Kill. >>>
    Suggestion credit:
    Mike - Santa Barbara, CA, for all above
  • The day before she filmed the music video, LaBelle attended the funeral for her sister Jackie Padgett, who died of cancer at age 43. The day of the shoot would have been her 44th birthday. The tone of the clip reflects LaBelle's grief - dressed all in black, she tearfully sings the song in a church, surrounded by candles and lilies. In her 1996 autobiography, Don't Block The Blessings, LaBelle explained she was also struggling with another emotion: guilt.

    Jackie had been struggling to eat throughout her chemotherapy treatments, but the idea of one of LaBelle's egg sandwiches appealed to her. She called LaBelle and begged her to make her one, but the singer refused, saying she was too tired and would do it another time. She never got the opportunity as Jackie died just a few days later. LaBelle's guilt nagged at her during the shoot.

    "I couldn't hold back the tears. The more I sang, the more I thought - about what I had done, what I hadn't done, what I would never be able to do again," she recalled. "The more I thought, the harder I cried. Those tears you see on that video? There's nothing phony about them. They're real. The pain you couldn't possibly see was very real - almost unbearable. It got so bad that, before the video could be released, most of the tears ended up on the cutting room floor. That whole shoot was agonizing, but I made it through."

Comments: 2

  • Seventhmist from 7th HeavenThe title refers to a repeated exchange between Bond and Bond girl Pam Bouvier in "License to Kill."

    Bouvier: Why don't you wait until you're asked?
    Bond: Why don't you ask me?
  • Myla from San Diego, CaI like Patti's version better!
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Andrew Farriss of INXS

Andrew Farriss of INXSSongwriter Interviews

Andrew Farriss on writing with Michael Hutchence, the stories behind "Mystify" and other INXS hits, and his country-flavored debut solo album.

Jethro Tull

Jethro TullFact or Fiction

Stage urinals, flute devices, and the real Aqualung in this Fact or Fiction.

Songs in Famous Movie Scenes: Tarantino Edition

Songs in Famous Movie Scenes: Tarantino EditionMusic Quiz

Whether he's splitting ears or burning Nazis, Quentin Tarantino uses memorable music in his films. See if you can match the song to the scene.

Mike Rutherford (Genesis, Mike + The Mechanics)

Mike Rutherford (Genesis, Mike + The Mechanics)Songwriter Interviews

Mike Rutherford talks about the "Silent Running" storyline and "Land Of Confusion" in the age of Trump.

Donald Fagen

Donald FagenSongwriter Interviews

Fagen talks about how the Steely Dan songwriting strategy has changed over the years, and explains why you don't hear many covers of their songs.

Soul Train Stories with Stephen McMillian

Soul Train Stories with Stephen McMillianSong Writing

A Soul Train dancer takes us through a day on the show, and explains what you had to do to get camera time.