Should I Do It

Album

Black & White

Label

Planet Records

Genre

Doo-Wop

Composer(s)

Layng Martine Jr

Entered Chart

Jan 23, 1982

Peak Date

Apr 3, 1982

Released

Unknown

Recorded

Unknown

Catalog #

Planet 47960

B-Side

We're Gonna Make It

Original Artist

Tanya Tucker

"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."[21] 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."[22] "Should I Do It" was mentioned as the choice for the second single from Black & White,[23] 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";[24] "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.[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 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).[25][26] 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)

I swore when he hurt me so
I wouldn't see him anymore

But today he called my name - oh
I could feel the same old flame.

Should I do it
should I fall? Should I do it after all oh?
Is it crazy
is it right? I really wanna love him tonight.
Should I do it
should I play? Can I help it anyway?
When I feel him hold me tight
I'm gonna turn on like a light.

I know when we're in his car

I couldn't go just so far.
I wanna give him everything
So
when I hear the telephone ring
yeah:

Should I do it
should I fall? . . .
Oh
I'm so lonely and he's so fine

Maybe I should swallow my pride
Just one
one
one more time
yeah.

Baby
I've got to know: Should I do it
should I fall?
Should I do it
should I do it
should I do it
. . .