View source for Should I Do It (song)

{{about|the song recorded by Tanya Tucker and the Pointer Sisters|the Tanya Tucker album|Should I Do It (album)}}

"'''Should I Do It'''" is the title of a song composed by [[Layng Martine Jr.]] which in 1981 was a minor [[Hot Country Songs|C&W]] hit for [[Tanya Tucker]], becoming a [[Top 40]] hit in 1982 for [[the Pointer Sisters]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.musicvf.com/songs.php?page=artist&artist=Layng+Martine&tab=songaswriterchartstab|title=Layng Martine ••• Top Songs as Writer ••• Music VF, US & UK hits charts|website=Musicvf.com|accessdate=18 October 2018}}</ref>

==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 (album)|Should I Do It]]'' and the Pointers' ''[[Black & White (Pointer Sisters album)|Black & White]]''. Although written by veteran [[country music|C&W]] composer [[Layng Martine Jr.]] - who'd recall "Should I Do It" as an example of how "sometimes<span style="font-size:50%">...</span>a song just appears in my brain and kind of writes itself fast"<ref>{{Cite web|url=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|title = 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}}</ref> - even as recorded by C&W superstar songstress Tucker "Should I Do It" was not considered a standard [[country music|C&W number]]: ''[[Cashbox (magazine)|Cashbox]]'' magazine described Tucker's version as a blend of "the [[girl group]] classic "[[Please Mr. Postman|[Please] Mr. Postman]]", with a [[honky-tonk|honky tonk]] piano and a brief [[doo-wop|doo wop]] bit".<ref>''Cash Box'' vol 43 #5 (20 June 1981) p.11</ref> As recorded by the Pointer Sisters the song was a more overt homage to the girl-group hit sound of the early 1960s.<ref>''Austin American Statesman'' 22 August 1981 "Pointer Sisters Hasten Heartbeat" by Chris Walters p.34</ref> <ref>''Green Bay Press-Gazette'' 12 July 1981 "Records" by Warren Gerds p.14</ref><ref>''Los Angeles Times'' 26 July 1981 "Pop Album Briegs" by Paul Grein "Calendar" p.77.</ref><ref>''Los Angeles Times'' 8 March 1982 "The Homeogenized Pointers" by Robert Hilburn Part VI p.1.6.</ref><ref>''The Moline Dispatch'' 16 August 1981 "Pointer Sisters Come Up With Fine New Album" by Rick Shefchik p.B-4</ref> A chart disappointment for Tucker in the summer of 1981 - stalling at #50 [[Hot Country Songs|C&W]] - ,<ref name="Tanya Tucker@MusicVF">{{cite web|url=http://www.musicvf.com/Tanya+Tucker.art|title=Tanya Tucker Songs ••• Top Songs / Chart Singles Discography ••• Music VF, US & UK hits charts|website=Musicvf.com|accessdate=18 October 2018}}</ref> "Should I Do It" as recorded by the Pointers would reach the Top 20 of the [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]] in early 1982 although it would not rank among the group's very biggest hits being a Top Ten shortfall.<ref name="PointerSisters@MusicVF">{{cite web|url=http://www.musicvf.com/The+Pointer+Sisters.art|title=The Pointer Sisters Songs ••• Top Songs / Chart Singles Discography / Music VF, US & UK hits charts|website=Musicvf |accessdate=18 October 2018}}</ref>

==Tanya Tucker version==
{{Infobox song
| name       = Should I Do It
| cover      =
| alt        =
| type       = single
| artist     = [[Tanya Tucker]]
| album      = [[Should I Do It (album)|Should I Do It]]
| B-side     = Lucky Enough For Two
| released   = June 1981
| recorded   = April 1981
| studio     = Sound Labs, Hollywood CA
| venue      =
| genre      = [[Country music|Country]]
| length     = {{Duration|m=3|s=00}}
| label      = [[MCA Records|MCA]]
| writer     = [[Layng Martine Jr]]
| producer   = [[Gary Klein (producer)|Gary Klein]]
| prev_title = [[Love Knows We Tried]]
| prev_year  = 1981
| next_title = Rodeo Girls
| next_year  = 1981
}}
Tanya Tucker recorded "Should I Do It" in the sessions for her twelfth studio album - which would be entitled ''[[Should I Do It (album)|Should I Do It]]'' - at the Hollywood Studio the Sound Labs in April 1981.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lpdiscography.com/?page=song&song=33293|title=LP Discography: Tanya Tucker - Should I Do It - Rodeo Girls|first=Jan Vitouš -|last=jvg.cz|website=Lpdiscography.com|accessdate=18 October 2018}}</ref><ref>''The Tennessean'' 11 April 1981 "Tanya & Glen Quarrel, Cancel Joint British Tour" by Laura Eipper Hill p.29</ref> Tucker was produced by [[Gary Klein (producer)|Gary Klein]], a veteran producer of several Pop & C&W acts including Tucker's swain [[Glen Campbell]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/artist/126334-Gary-Klein?filter_anv=0&subtype=Production&type=Credits|title=Gary Klein|website=Discogs.com|accessdate=18 October 2018}}</ref> 

The Tucker/ Campbell [[age disparity in sexual relationships|May-December romance]] was perennial [[gossip magazine|tabloid press]] fodder, with reports, particularly from February 1981, attesting to the romance being a rocky one.<ref>''Philadelphia Daily News'' 2 February 1981 "Shirlebreties" by Shirley Eder p.21</ref> 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 (Magazine)|Billboard]]'' [[Hot Country Songs|C&W]] chart where the Tucker/ Campbell duet: "Why Don't We Just Sleep on It Tonight", barely ranked at #85.<ref name="Tanya Tucker@MusicVF"/>

===Charts===

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!Chart (1981–1982)
!Peak<br />position
|-
|''Billboard'' Hot Country Singles<ref name="Tanya Tucker@Billboard">{{cite web|url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/tanya-tucker/chart-history/csi/|title=Tanya Tucker Chart History|website=Billboard.com|accessdate=18 October 2018}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|50
|-
|''Cashbox'' Top 100 Country<ref>''Cashbox'' Vol 43 #12 (8 August 1981) "Cashbox Top 100 Country" p.24</ref> 
| style="text-align:center;"|38
|-
|''Record World'' Country Singles<ref name="Record World Country Singles">''Record World'' Vol 18 #1777 (22 August 1981) "Record World Country Singles" p.90</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|45
|-
|''Record World'' Singles 100-150<ref name="Record World Singles 101-150">''Record World'' 11 July - 22 August 1981 Singles 101-150</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|131
|-
| ''RPM'' (Canada) Country Singles<ref name="RPM">{{cite magazine|title=Search results for "Tanya Tucker" (Country Singles)|url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-110.01-e.php?PHPSESSID=4hgr7djetk7308bs87htaiiri6&q1=Tanya+Tucker&q2=Country+Singles&interval=20|magazine=[[RPM (magazine)|RPM]]|accessdate=17 October 2018}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|16
|}

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 ''[[Record World]]'' Singles 101-150 chart rising as high as No. 131,<ref name="Record World Singles 101-150"/> "Should I Do It" rose no higher than No. 45 on the magazine's Country Singles chart <ref name="Record World Country Singles"/> - with a similar peak (No. 50) on the [[Hot Country Songs|Hot Country Singles]] chart in ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]''<ref name="Tanya Tucker@Billboard"/> - indicating a lack of support from [[Country radio|C&W radio]].

==Pointer Sisters version==
{{Infobox song
| name       = Should I Do It
| cover      = Should_I_Do_It_-_The_Pointer_Sisters.jpg
| alt        =
| type       = single
| artist     = [[The Pointer Sisters]]
| album      = [[Black & White (Pointer Sisters album)|Black & White]]
| B-side     = We're Gonna Make It
| released   = December 1981
| recorded   = 1981
| studio     =
| venue      =
| genre      = 
* [[Pop music|Pop]]<ref name= "Molanphy 2023">{{Cite podcast|url=https://slate.com/podcasts/hit-parade/2023/06/how-the-pointer-sisters-made-harmonies-exciting|title= Yes We Can Edition|website=Hit Parade {{!}} Music History and Music Trivia|publisher=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]|last=Molanphy|first=Chris|date=June 16, 2023|access-date=July 1, 2023}}</ref>
* [[doo-wop]]<ref name= "Molanphy 2023">{{Cite podcast|url=https://slate.com/podcasts/hit-parade/2023/06/how-the-pointer-sisters-made-harmonies-exciting|title= Yes We Can Edition|website=Hit Parade {{!}} Music History and Music Trivia|publisher=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]|last=Molanphy|first=Chris|date=June 16, 2023|access-date=July 1, 2023}}</ref>
| length     = {{Duration|m=3|s=53}}
| label      = [[Planet Records|Planet]]
| writer     = [[Layng Martine Jr]]
| producer   = [[Richard Perry]]
| prev_title = Sweet Lover Man
| prev_year  = 1980
| next_title = American Music
| next_year  = 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 (Pointer Sisters album)|Black & White]]'' album release, the other being the album's lead single: "[[Slow Hand]]" which had reached #2 on the [[Billboard Hot 100|''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 [[country music|C&W song]]: in the case of "Should I Do It" the Pointers turned the song into (<small>Ruth Pointer quote:</small>) "an ode to the early '60s girl groups in the vein of [[the Shirelles]] and [[the Chiffons]]."<ref>{{cite book| first1=Ruth| last1=Pointer| first2=Marshall| last2=Terrill| title=Still So Excited: my life as a Pointer Sister| year=2016| publisher=Triumph Books| location=Chicago| isbn=9781629371450}}</ref> 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."<ref>''Ottawa Citizen'' 26 June 1981 "Revolutions" by Bill Provick p.9</ref>  

"Should I Do It" was mentioned as the choice for the second single from ''Black & White'',<ref>''Allentown Morning Call'' 6 August 1981 "Pointer Sisters Tunes Keep Climbing the Charts" by Paul A. Willistein Jr p.D14</ref> 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";<ref>''Billboard'' Vol 93 #24 (20 June 1981) p.59</ref> "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|''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 [[Adult Contemporary (chart)|''Billboard'' Adult Contemporary chart]].<ref name="PointerSisters@MusicVF"/>

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).<ref name="BEL"/><ref name="NL"/>

The Pointer Sisters would record another Layng Martine Jr. composition: "I Want to Do It With You", to serve as [[A-side and B-side#B-side|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).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://secondhandsongs.com/work/137393/versions#nav-entity|title=Cover versions of I Want to Do It with You written by Layng Martine Jr |website=Secondhandsongs.com|accessdate=18 October 2018}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Chart (1981–1982)
! Peak<br />position 
|-
| Australia ([[Kent Music Report]])<ref>{{cite book|title=Australian Charts Book 1970—1992|author=David Kent|isbn=0-646-11917-6|year=1993|publisher=Australian Chart Book Pty Ltd, Turramurra, N.S.W.}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|16
|-
| Belgium (BEL charts)<ref name="BEL">{{cite web|url=http://top30-2.radio2.be/#/artist-info/2283 |title=BEL Charts > The Pointer Sisters |publisher=[[VRT Top 30]] |accessdate=2011-12-22 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120222214652/http://top30-2.radio2.be/ |archivedate=2012-02-22}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|6
|-
| Canada Top Singles ([[RPM (magazine)|''RPM'']])<ref name="RPM"/>
| style="text-align:center;"|37
|-
| Canada Adult Contemporary (''RPM'')<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/image.aspx?Image=nlc008388.0478&URLjpg=http%3a%2f%2fwww.collectionscanada.gc.ca%2fobj%2f028020%2ff4%2fnlc008388.0478.gif&Ecopy=nlc008388.0478|title=Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada |website=Collectionscanada.gc.ca |date=1982-03-20 |accessdate=2022-02-13}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|29
|-
| Germany<ref name="ger">{{cite web|url=http://www.officialcharts.de/suche.asp?search=pointer+sisters&x=8&y=5&country=de&kategorie=alles |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402132415/http://www.officialcharts.de/suche.asp?search=pointer+sisters&x=8&y=5&country=de&kategorie=alles |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 2, 2015 |title=GER Charts > The Pointer Sisters|publisher=[[GfK Entertainment]]|accessdate=2011-12-18}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|75
|-
| Netherlands ([[Dutch Top 40]])<ref name="NL">{{cite web|url=http://dutchcharts.nl/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Pointer+Sisters|title=NL Charts > The Pointer Sisters|publisher=[[MegaCharts]]|accessdate=2018-10-16}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|12
|-
| New Zealand ([[RIANZ]])<ref>{{cite web|url=https://charts.nz/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Pointer+Sisters|title=NZ Charts > The Pointer Sisters|publisher=[[Recorded Music NZ]]|accessdate=2018-10-17}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|22
|-
{{singlechart|UKsinglesbyname|50|artist=Pointer Sisters|song=Should-I-Do-It|accessdate=April 18, 2017}}
|-
| US [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/the-pointer-sisters/chart-history/hsi/|title=The Pointer Sisters Chart History|website=Billboard.com|accessdate=18 October 2018}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|13
|-
{{singlechart|Billboardadultcontemporary|19|artist=Pointer Sisters|accessdate=April 18, 2017}}
|-
| US ''Cashbox'' Top 100 Singles<ref>''Cashbox'' Vol 43 #44(3 April 1982) "Cashbox Top 100 Singles" p.4</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|16
|-
| US ''Record World''<ref>''Record World'' Vol 18 #1808 (10 April 1982) "Record World Singles" p.21</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|15
|-
| US ''Record World'' A/C<ref>''Record World'' Vol 18 #1808 (10 April 1982) "Record World Singles" p.41</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|15
|}
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year-end chart (1982)
! Ranking 
|-
| US Top Pop Singles of 1982<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/1982/hot-100-songs|title=Hot 100 Songs - Year-End|website=Billboard.com|accessdate=18 October 2018}}</ref> 
| style="text-align:center;"| 89
|}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Tanya Tucker singles}}
{{The Pointer Sisters}}

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