Should I Do It

"Should I Do It" is the title of a song composed by Layng Martine Jr. which in 1981 was a minor C&W hit for Tanya Tucker, becoming a Top 40 hit in 1982 for the Pointer Sisters.[1]

This article is about the song recorded by Tanya Tucker and the Pointer Sisters. For the Tanya Tucker album, see Should I Do It (album).

Overview

"Should I Do It" was recorded in the first months of 1981 by both Tanya Tucker and the Pointer Sisters for their respective mid-year album releases: Tucker's Should I Do It 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"[2] - 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 classic "[Please] Mr. Postman", with a honky tonk piano and a brief doo wop bit".[3] As recorded by the Pointer Sisters the song was a more overt homage to the girl-group hit sound of the early 1960s.[4] [5][6][7][8] A chart disappointment for Tucker in the summer of 1981 - stalling at #50 C&W - ,[9] "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.[10]

Tanya Tucker version
"Should I Do It"
Single by Tanya Tucker
from the album Should I Do It
B-side"Lucky Enough For Two"
ReleasedJune 1981
RecordedApril 1981
StudioSound Labs, Hollywood CA
GenreCountry
Length3:00
LabelMCA
Songwriter(s)Layng Martine Jr
Producer(s)Gary Klein
Tanya Tucker singles chronology
"Love Knows We Tried"
(1981)		 "Should I Do It"
(1981)		 "Rodeo Girls"
(1981)

Tanya Tucker recorded "Should I Do It" in the sessions for her twelfth studio album - which would be entitled Should I Do It - at the Hollywood Studio the Sound Labs in April 1981.[11][12] Tucker was produced by Gary Klein, a veteran producer of several Pop & C&W acts including Tucker's swain Glen Campbell.[13]

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.[14] 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 Billboard C&W chart where the Tucker/ Campbell duet: "Why Don't We Just Sleep on It Tonight", barely ranked at #85.[9]

Charts
Chart (1981–82) Peak
position
Billboard Hot Country Songs [15] 50
Cashbox Top 100 Country[16] 38
Record World Country Singles[17] 45
Record World Singles 100-150[18] 131
RPM (Canada) Country Singles[19] 16

Released in June 1981 as the lead single from the album of the same name, "Should I Do It" would fail to reverse Tucker's chart fortunes: despite spending 7 weeks on the Record World Singles 101-150 chart rising as high as #131,[18] "Should I Do It" would rise no higher than #45 on the magazine's Country Singles chart [17] - with a similar peak (#50) on the Hot Country Singles chart in Billboard[15] - indicating a lack of support from C&W radio.

Pointer Sisters version
"Should I Do It"
Single by The Pointer Sisters
from the album Black & White
B-side"We're Gonna Make It"
ReleasedDecember 1981
Recorded1981
GenrePop, R&B
Length3:53
LabelPlanet
Songwriter(s)Layng Martine Jr
Producer(s)Richard Perry
The Pointer Sisters singles chronology
"Sweet Lover Man"
(1980)		 "Should I Do It"
(1981)		 "American Music"
(1982)

"Should I Do It" was one of two songs by Nashville-based composers to be recorded by the Pointer Sisters 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."[20] The Pointers had in 1980 had a #3 hit with "He's So Shy" which had evoked the elements of the early '60s girl group classics while being a contemporary number: with "Should I Do It", June Pointer - the lead vocalist on "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."[21]

"Should I Do It" was mentioned as the choice for the second single from Black & White,[22] and at the time of the album's release it was announced that videos would be prepped for both "Slow Hand" and "Should I Do It":[23] however only "Slow Hand" was promoted via video, "Should I Do It" in fact appearing to be passed over for single release as two other tracks from Black and White: "What a Surprise" and "Sweet Lover Man", had single releases in respectively October and November 1981 with neither becoming a significant hit. However in December 1981 "Should I Do It" became an unprecedented fourth single release off a Pointer Sisters album to rise a #13 peak on the Billboard Hot 100 dated 3 April 1982, with Black & White therefore becoming the first Pointer Sisters album to generate two Top 40 hits. Passed over by R&B radio, "Should I Do It" reached #19 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.[10]

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 Hot 100 debut. Not one of the Pointers' most successful global hits, "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/ #33 Netherlands).[24][25]

The Pointer Sisters would record another Layng Martine Jr. composition: "I Want to Do It With You", to serve as B-side 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 in 1983).[26]

Chart (1981–82) Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[27] 16
Belgium (BEL charts)[24] 6
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[19] 37
Germany[28] 75
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[25] 12
New Zealand (RIANZ)[29] 22
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[30] 50
US Billboard Hot 100[31] 13
US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)[32] 19
US Cashbox Top 100 Singles[33] 16
US Record World[34] 15
US Record World A/C[35] 15
Year end chart (1982) Peak
position
Top Pop Singles of 1982[36] 89
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References
  1. "Layng Martine ••• Top Songs as Writer ••• Music VF, US & UK hits charts". Musicvf.com. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  2. http://www.bookpleasures.com/websitepublisher/articles/9026/1/In-Conversation-With-Nashville-Songwriter-Hall-of-Fame-Member-Layng-Martine-Jr-and-Author-of--Permission-To-Fly---A-Memoir-of-Love-Crushing-Loss-and-Triumph/Page1.html
  3. Cash Box vol 43 #5 (20 June 1981) p.11
  4. Austin American Statesman 22 August 1981 "Pointer Sisters Hasten Heartbeat" by Chris Walters p.34
  5. Green Bay Press-Gazette 12 July 1981 "Records" by Warren Gerds p.14
  6. Los Angeles Times 26 July 1981 "Pop Album Briegs" by Paul Grein "Calendar" p.77.
  7. Los Angeles Times 8 March 1982 "The Homeogenized Pointers" by Robert Hilburn Part VI p.1.6.
  8. The Moline Dispatch 16 August 1981 "Pointer Sisters Come Up With Fine New Album" by Rick Shefchik p.B-4
  9. "Tanya Tucker Songs ••• Top Songs / Chart Singles Discography ••• Music VF, US & UK hits charts". Musicvf.com. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  10. "The Pointer Sisters Songs ••• Top Songs / Chart Singles Discography ••• Music VF, US & UK hits charts". Musicvf.com. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  11. jvg.cz, Jan Vitouš -. "LP Discography: Tanya Tucker - Should I Do It - Rodeo Girls". Lpdiscography.com. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  12. The Tennessean 11 April 1981 "Tanya & Glen Quarrel, Cancel Joint British Tour" by Laura Eipper Hill p.29
  13. "Gary Klein". Discogs.com. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  14. Philadelphia Daily News 2 February 1981 "Shirlebreties" by Shirley Eder p.21
  15. "Tanya Tucker Chart History". Billboard.com. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  16. Cashbox Vol 43 #12 (8 August 1981) "Cashbox Top 100 Country" p.24
  17. Record World Vol 18 #1777 (22 August 1981) "Record World Country Singles" p.90
  18. Record World 11 July - 22 August 1981 Singles 101-150
  19. "Search results for "Tanya Tucker" (Country Singles)". RPM. Retrieved 17 October 2018.
  20. Pointer, Ruth; Terrill, Marshall (2016). Still So Excited: my life as a Pointer Sister. Chicago: Triumph Books. ISBN 9781629371450.
  21. Ottawa Citizen 26 June 1981 "Revolutions" by Bill Provick p.9
  22. Allentown Morning Call 6 August 1981 "Pointer Sisters Tunes Keep Climbing the Charts" by Paul A. Willistein Jr p.D14
  23. Billboard Vol 93 #24 (20 June 1981) p.59
  24. "BEL Charts > The Pointer Sisters". VRT Top 30. Archived from the original on 2012-02-22. Retrieved 2011-12-22.
  25. "NL Charts > The Pointer Sisters". MegaCharts. Retrieved 2018-10-16.
  26. "Cover versions of I Want to Do It with You written by Layng Martine Jr". Secondhandsongs.com. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  27. David Kent (1993). Australian Charts Book 1970—1992. Australian Chart Book Pty Ltd, Turramurra, N.S.W. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  28. "GER Charts > The Pointer Sisters". GfK Entertainment. Retrieved 2011-12-18.
  29. "NZ Charts > The Pointer Sisters". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved 2018-10-17.
  30. "Pointer Sisters: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved April 18, 2017.
  31. "The Pointer Sisters Chart History". Billboard.com. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  32. "Pointer Sisters Chart History (Adult Contemporary)". Billboard. Retrieved April 18, 2017.
  33. Cashbox Vol 43 #44(3 April 1982) "Cashbox Top 100 Singles" p.4
  34. Record World Vol 18 #1808 (10 April 1982) "Record World Singles" p.21
  35. Record World Vol 18 #1808 (10 April 1982) "Record World Singles" p.41
  36. "Hot 100 Songs - Year-End". Billboard.com. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
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