Should I Do It (song)
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"Should I Do It" is a song composed by Layng Martine Jr. which in 1981 was a minor C&W hit for Tanya Tucker, becoming a
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hit in 1982 for
the Pointer Sisters The Pointer Sisters are an American female vocal group from Oakland, California, who achieved mainstream success during the 1970s and 1980s. They have had a repertoire with many genres, they have sold around 50 million records throughout their ...
.


Overview

"Should I Do It" was recorded in the first months of 1981 by both Tanya Tucker and
the Pointer Sisters The Pointer Sisters are an American female vocal group from Oakland, California, who achieved mainstream success during the 1970s and 1980s. They have had a repertoire with many genres, they have sold around 50 million records throughout their ...
for their respective mid-year album releases: Tucker's ''
Should I Do It Should I Do It may refer to: * "Should I Do It" (song), a song Tanya Tucker, and later by the Pointer Sisters * ''Should I Do It'' (album), a 1981 album by Tanya Tucker {{dab ...
'' and the Pointers' '' Black & White''. Although written by veteran C&W composer Layng Martine Jr. - who'd recall "Should I Do It" as an example of how "sometimes...a song just appears in my brain and kind of writes itself fast" - even as recorded by C&W superstar songstress Tucker "Should I Do It" was not considered a standard C&W number: '' Cashbox'' magazine described Tucker's version as a blend of "the
girl group A girl group is a music act featuring two or more women in music, female singers who generally vocal harmony, harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female p ...
classic " leaseMr. Postman", with a
honky tonk A honky-tonk (also called honkatonk, honkey-tonk, honky tonk, or tonk) is either a bar that provides country music for the entertainment of its patrons or the style of music played in such establishments. It can also refer to the type of piano ...
piano and a brief
doo wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a subgenre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, ...
bit". As recorded by the Pointer Sisters the song was a more overt homage to the girl-group hit sound of the early 1960s. A chart disappointment for Tucker in the summer of 1981 - stalling at #50 C&W - , "Should I Do It" as recorded by the Pointers would reach the Top 20 of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in early 1982 although it would not rank among the group's very biggest hits being a Top Ten shortfall.


Tanya Tucker version

Tanya Tucker recorded "Should I Do It" in the sessions for her twelfth studio album - which would be entitled ''
Should I Do It Should I Do It may refer to: * "Should I Do It" (song), a song Tanya Tucker, and later by the Pointer Sisters * ''Should I Do It'' (album), a 1981 album by Tanya Tucker {{dab ...
'' - at the Hollywood Studio the Sound Labs in April 1981. Tucker was produced by Gary Klein, a veteran producer of several Pop & C&W acts including Tucker's swain
Glen Campbell Glen Travis Campbell (April 22, 1936 – August 8, 2017) was an American country musician and actor. He was best known for a series of hit songs in the 1960s and 1970s, and for hosting ''The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour'' on CBS television from ...
. The Tucker/ Campbell May-December romance was perennial tabloid press fodder, with reports, particularly from February 1981, attesting to the romance being a rocky one. Tucker's tabloid profile seemingly undermined her recording career: subsequent to a Top Ten C&W hit: " Can I See You Tonight", in February and March 1981, Tucker's two springtime single releases were both chart disappointments, with "Love Knows We Tried", stalling at #40 on the ''
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'' C&W chart where the Tucker/ Campbell duet: "Why Don't We Just Sleep on It Tonight", barely ranked at #85.


Charts

Released in June 1981 as the lead single from the album of the same name, "Should I Do It" failed to reverse Tucker's chart fortunes: despite spending seven weeks on the ''
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'' Singles 101-150 chart rising as high as No. 131, "Should I Do It" rose no higher than No. 45 on the magazine's Country Singles chart - with a similar peak (No. 50) on the
Hot Country Singles Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...
chart in ''
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'' - indicating a lack of support from C&W radio.


Pointer Sisters version

"Should I Do It" was one of two songs by
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-based composers to be recorded by
the Pointer Sisters The Pointer Sisters are an American female vocal group from Oakland, California, who achieved mainstream success during the 1970s and 1980s. They have had a repertoire with many genres, they have sold around 50 million records throughout their ...
for their June 1981 '' Black & White'' album release, the other being the album's lead single: " Slow Hand" which had reached #2 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Like "Slow Hand", "Should I Do It" was recorded by the Pointers with their regular producer Richard Perry so as to barely resemble a standard C&W song: in the case of "Should I Do It" the Pointers turned the song into (Ruth Pointer quote:) "an ode to the early '60s girl groups in the vein of the Shirelles and the Chiffons." The Pointers had a #3 hit in 1980 with " He's So Shy", which had evoked the elements of the late 1950s/early 1960s girl group classics while being a contemporary number. With "Should I Do It", June Pointer (the lead vocalist on "Should I Do It" and "He's So Shy") had sung lead on "a marvelous recreation - as opposed to modernization - of the late '50s/early '60s sound of the all-girl vocal groups." "Should I Do It" was mentioned as the choice for the second single from ''Black & White'', and at the time of the album's release it was announced that music videos would be shot for both "Slow Hand" and "Should I Do It"; "Slow Hand" was promoted via video as the first single. The label then decided to release two other songs as singles from ''Black and White''; "What a Surprise" and "Sweet Lover Man", released in October and November of 1981, respectively. Neither became a significant hit. In December 1981, the label released "Should I Do It" as an unprecedented, at the time, fourth single from a Pointer Sisters album. The song became a major hit, rising to #13 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, dated April 3, 1982. This made ''Black & White'' the first Pointer Sisters album to spawn two Top 20 US hits. "Should I Do It" also reached #19 on the ''Billboard'' Adult Contemporary chart. Outside of the U.S. and Canada, "Should I Do It" was released in November 1981 as the immediate follow-up single to "Slow Hand" with the single reaching the Top 20 in Australia, Flemish Belgium, and the Netherlands prior to its January 1982 ''Billboard'' US Hot 100 debut. "Should I Do It" had its greatest chart impact in Belgium's Flemish Region and the Netherlands with respective peaks of #6 and #12, topping the chart peak in those territories for "Slow Hand" (#22 Belgium and #33 Netherlands). The Pointer Sisters would record another Layng Martine Jr. composition: "I Want to Do It With You", to serve as
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of their followup single to "Should I Do It": "American Music". (Never featured on a Pointer Sisters' album, "I Want to Do It With You" - as "I Wanna Do It With You" - would become a Top Ten UK hit for
Barry Manilow Barry Manilow ( ; born Barry Alan Pincus on June 17, 1943) is an American singer, songwriter and record producer with a career that spans over sixty years. His hit recordings include "Could It Be Magic", "Looks Like We Made It", "Brandy (Scott ...
in 1983).


References

{{The Pointer Sisters 1981 songs 1981 singles The Pointer Sisters songs Tanya Tucker songs MCA Records singles Planet Records singles Songs written by Layng Martine Jr. Song recordings produced by Gary Klein (producer) Song recordings produced by Richard Perry