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

The Evolution of "Ophelia"

The Evolution of "Ophelia"Song Writing

How five songs portray Shakespeare's character Ophelia.

Sub Pop Founder Bruce Pavitt On How To Create A Music Scene

Sub Pop Founder Bruce Pavitt On How To Create A Music SceneSong Writing

With $50 and a glue stick, Bruce Pavitt created Sub Pop, a fanzine-turned-label that gave the world Nirvana and grunge. He explains how motivated individuals can shift culture.

Tim McIlrath of Rise Against

Tim McIlrath of Rise AgainstSongwriter Interviews

Rise Against frontman Tim McIlrath explains the meanings behind some of their biggest songs and names the sci-fi books that have influenced him.

Spot The Real Red Hot Chili Peppers Song Titles

Spot The Real Red Hot Chili Peppers Song TitlesMusic Quiz

The Red Hot Chili Peppers have some rather unusual song titles - see if you can spot the real ones.

Vince Clarke

Vince ClarkeSongwriter Interviews

An original member of Depeche Mode, Vince went on to form Erasure and Yaz.

Edwin McCain

Edwin McCainSongwriter Interviews

"I'll Be" was what Edwin called his "Hail Mary" song. He says it proves "intention of the songwriter is 180 degrees from potential interpretation by an audience."