"If You Asked Me To" is a song written by Diane Warren. It was originally recorded by American singer Patti LaBelle for her seventh studio album, Be Yourself (1989), and the soundtrack of the James Bond film Licence to Kill. The lyrics are from the point of view of a woman who pleads to her significant other:
Three years later, Canadian singer Celine Dion covered "If You Asked Me To" for her self-titled second studio album. Released as the album's second single, her version topped the Canadian charts and peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100.
"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 U.S. Billboard Hot 100, at number 10 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, and at number 11 on the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks.
This version of the song appeared on the daytime soap opera General Hospital in 1989.
The music video was filmed the day after the funeral of LaBelle's sister Jacqueline "Jackie" Padgett who died of lung cancer at age 43. (She was the third of LaBelle's sisters to die; all three of Patti's sisters died before age 44.) As such, 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.
"You Ask Me To" is a song written by Billy Joe Shaver and Waylon Jennings. It was originally recorded by Jennings on his 1973 album Honky Tonk Heroes. This record spent fifteen weeks on the Billboard country singles charts, reaching a peak of number eight. Shaver recorded his own version in 1977 for the album Gypsy Boy, with special guest Willie Nelson on guitar and vocals. "You Ask Me To" also appeared as the closing song on Elvis Presley's 1975 album Promised Land, it was recorded in December 1973 at Stax Records studios in Memphis and released on Presley's 40th birthday. It also appeared, with an alternate arrangement in Elvis Presley's posthumous 1981 album Guitar Man, which reached the Top 50 in the US.
Used to be that I believed in something
Used to be that I believe in love
It's been a long time since I've had that feeling
I could love someone
I could trust someone
I said I'd never let nobody near my heart again, darlin'
I said I'd never let nobody in
But if you asked me to
I just might change my mind
And let you in my life forever
If you asked me to
I just might give my heart
And stay here in your arms forever
If you asked me to
If you asked me to
Somehow ever since I've been around you
Can't go back to being on my own
Can't help feeling, darlin', since I've found you
That I've found my home
That I'm finally home
I said I'd never let nobody get too close to me, darlin'
I said I needed, needed to be free
But if you asked me to
I just might change my mind
And let you in my life forever
If you asked me to
I just might give my heart
And stay here in your arms forever
If you...
Ask me to and I will give my world to you baby
I need you now
Ask me to and I'll do anything for you baby
For you baby
If you asked me to
I'd let you in my life forever