Songoftheday 5/11/18 - Used to be that I believed in something used to be that I believed in love, it's been a long time since I've had that feeling...
from the album Celine Dion (1992)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #4 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 19
Today's song of the day comes from French-Canadian singer Celine Dion, who had landed her second top ten pop hit in the U.S. with her title duet from Disney's Beauty and The Beast movie. "Beauty and the Beast" would also appear on her self-titled second English-language album in 1992. The album was quite ambitious, with not only the Disney track from Mencken and Ashman, but songs from Andrew Gold, Hal David (of Bacharach and David fame), Walter Afanasieff (Mariah's then go-to), and even Prince, who gave her "With This Tear". But five of the songs were written by song doctor Diane Warren, including the one chosen for the second single from the record, "If You Asked Me To". In 1989, the song was originally recorded by Patti Labelle, and used in the Bond movie License To Kill (though not as the famous "title song" which was "License To Kill" by Gladys Knight). While LaBelle's version went to #10 on Billboard's R&B chart, and #11 on their Adult Contemporary radio list, it stalled down at #79 on the American pop chart...
I feel that her depressed appearance on the video, taken a day after his sister's funeral, took from the positive love message of the song (you can't blame Patti on that, though) and kept VH1 and subsequently pop radio from playing it. So when Celine and producer Guy Roche went to cover "If You Asked Me To", they kept the arrangement and production just about the exact same, with Celine's vocals getting stronger and stronger as she's now matured into her 20s...
"If You Asked Me To" became Dion's third top ten pop hit in America, matching the peak of her debut "Where Does My Heart Beat Now?", in July of 1992. The song also topped Billboard's Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio chart for three weeks. Internationally, the record went to #1 for two weeks in Canada, and reached the top-40 in New Zealand (#26) and the Netherlands (#28). It was only a minor hit in the UK (#57) and Australia (#52).
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Celine made the rounds on the Arsenio Hall show to preview the song in 1992...
Here's Celine performing the song in concert in 1993 touring behind the Colour Of My Love album...
And finally, Dion live in 1997...
Up tomorrow: New Wave group is testing your smarts.
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