♫ If I Could Turn Back Time ♫

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, History, music

I was at a loss for a song tonight, unless you count the Osmond Brothers earworm that our friend Keith planted earlier this evening!  So, it being after 3:00 a.m., and me having planned to go to bed no later than 1:30, I did a quick skip through my archives and found this one by Cher that I have only played once back in December 2019.  You guys liked it then, so hopefully you can like it again today!

This song, released in 1989, was written by Diane Warren, one of the most prolific songwriters of our time, having written songs for Aretha Franklin, Celine Dion, Barbara Streisand, Tina Turner and Whitney Houston.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter magazine, Diane Warren said Cher hated the song and she had to force her to sing it.

“I held her leg down during a session and said, ‘You have to record it!’  

According to Warren, Cher’s response was

“F— you, bitch! You’re hurting my leg! OK, I’ll try it.”

However, once Cher had recorded the tune …

“She gave me this look like, ‘You were right.'”

The following video was filmed on board the USS Missouri while it was stationed at the former Long Beach Naval Shipyard at Pier D along with the crew. The Department of the Navy had granted permission for the music video shoot because of its potential for boosting Navy recruitment: the Navy did not have a budget for TV ads in 1989. Cher recalled to Q magazine: December 2013:

“The ‘If I Could Turn Back Time’ video we shot for days. There was a whole story – I climbed up stuff, I was running away from a lover. I was in a cage, in a speedboat… And when the director got to the edit, he just said, ‘F this, here’s the money (shot)’ – me on the battleship with the sailors. They were real sailors too. They were funny. They kept calling me ‘ma’am.'”

Cher’s outfit for the original video, a fishnet body stocking under a black one-piece bathing suit that left most of her buttocks (and a tattoo of a butterfly) exposed, proved very controversial, and many television networks refused to show the video. MTV first banned the video, and later played it only after 9 PM. A second version of the video was made, including new scenes and less overtly sexual content than the original. The outfit and risque nature of the video were a complete surprise to the Navy, who expected Cher to wear a jumpsuit for the concert, as presented on storyboards during original discussions with producers. The sailors were already in place and the band had begun playing when Cher emerged in her outfit.  Personally, this is just one more example of why people should have been born with fur instead of bare skin!

Highly successful around the globe, If I Could Turn Back Time was seen as a major comeback for Cher in the late 1980s. It charted at number one in Australia and Norway, as well as reaching number three in the United States and number six in the United Kingdom.

If I Could Turn Back Time
Cher

If I could turn back time
If I could find a way
I’d take back those words that hurt you
And you’d stay
I don’t know why I did the things I did
I don’t know why I said the things I said
Love’s like a knife it can cut deep inside
Words are like weapons, they wound sometimes
I didn’t really mean to hurt you
I didn’t want to see you go
I know I made you cry, but baby

If I could turn back time
If I could find a way
I’d take back those words that hurt you
And you’d stay
If I could reach the stars
I’d give ’em all to you
Then you’d love me, love me, like you used to do
If I could turn back time

My world was shattered I was torn apart
Like someone took a knife and drove it
Deep in my heart
You walk out that door I swore that I didn’t care
But I lost everything darling then and there
Too strong to tell you I was sorry
Too proud to tell you I was wrong
I know that I was blind, and darling

If I could turn back time
If I could find a way
I’d take back those words that hurt you
And you’d stay
If I could reach the stars
I’d give ’em all to you
Then you’d love me, love me, like you used to do, oh

If I could turn back time (If I could turn back time)
If I could turn back time (If I could turn back time)
If I could turn back time, oh baby

I didn’t really mean to hurt you
I didn’t want to see you go
I know I made you cry

If I could turn back time
If I could find a way
I’d take back those words that hurt you
If I could reach the stars
I’d give ’em all to you
Then you’d love me, love me, like you used to do

If I could turn back time (turn back time)
If I could find a way (find a way)
Then maybe maybe maybe you’d stay

Songwriters: Diane Warren
If I Could Turn Back Time lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, BMG Rights Management

31 thoughts on “♫ If I Could Turn Back Time ♫”

  1. Pingback: ♫ If I Could Turn Back Time ♫ – MobsterTiger

  2. Good song, Diane Warren is a legend! Choreography is subpar for such a revealing video, Cher should be fitter if she wanted to pull off a skimpy outfit like that.
    I like Cher but her wardrobe choice makes her look like an adolescent boy in drag 🙂 She’s thin but has no shape to fill out the curves, this would not be acceptable in today’s body conscious environment. Example of professional dancers’ fitness level:

    Cheers ❤

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    • Oh heck … great idea … I should have waited just a couple of weeks! It made me start thinking … if I could turn back time, to what point would I turn it? And, perhaps more importantly, would I do anything differently if I had the chance to do it all again?

      Liked by 1 person

  7. Jill, it was indeed a come back song for Cher. It is funny, but the young audiences who grew up to her being a good actress, we’re surprised to learn Cher could sing. Even with little clothing on. Keith

    Liked by 1 person

    • That is funny! I still remember fondly the Sonny & Cher show and their music. Yeah … even with almost no clothes on. Too bad it wasn’t mid-winter, perhaps she would have dressed better!

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