"If I Should Die Tonight" is a song written by songwriter

Ed Townsend Edward Benjamin 'Ed' Townsend (April 16, 1929 – August 13, 2003) was an American singer, songwriter, producer and attorney. He performed and composed "For Your Love", a rhythm and blues doo wop classic, and co-wrote "Let's Get It On" with Marvi ...

and American recording artist

Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gay Jr., who also spelled his surname as Gaye (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), was an American singer and songwriter. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo ar ...

. Gaye recorded the track, a

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

, for his ''

Let's Get It On ''Let's Get It On'' is the thirteenth studio album by American soul singer, songwriter, and producer Marvin Gaye. It was released on August 28, 1973, by the Motown subsidiary label Tamla Records on LP. Recording sessions for the album took pla ...

'' album. It was issued as the third track on the album's set list.

Background

According to

, he wrote this song after an encounter with a woman he "admired from afar". The woman convinced Townsend that they could not "build happiness on the misery of others", as they both were in relationships with other people. He told her she was right and, as he was prepared to walk away from her for the last time, she asked, "is that all you have to say?", to which he responded, "no...if I should die tonight, Lord, before my time, I won't die blue 'cause I've known you." Townsend later returned home where he later wrote out the rest of lyrics. He felt the song would be better suited for Gaye to record. But Gaye, known notoriously for not being able to sing a song unless the lyrics pertained to him personally whether he wrote them or not, turned the song down initially. He explained to Townsend, "I can't sing that song. I've never felt that way about a woman in my life." Subsequently, during the session for the album's title track, he met his future second wife, Janis Hunter. After a date, Gaye returned to the studio and exclaimed to Townsend, "Ed, get that song out. I can sing that sonovabitch now!"

Composition

Townsend provided the lyrics to the song while Gaye helped write the song's melody. The song is composed as a soul ballad with emotional deliveries from Gaye throughout it. In the song, Gaye discusses his love for a woman he knows from afar and claims that if he was to die tonight, he wouldn't die sad because of his knowledge of his love crush. The song was placed third on the set list of ''Let's Get It On'', quickly after the song " Please Stay (Once You Go Away)" ends. The song opens with orchestral string arrangements before Gaye begins singing. Like most of his songs on the album, Gaye sings two leads in the song. In an alternate version later released on the deluxe edition issue of ''Let's Get It On'', one of the leads sings the song without help from the other lead. As the song reaches its climax, Gaye sings the final chorus

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

before the strings come back to finish the song in a flourish.

Samples

"If I Should Die Tonight" was sampled by several acts over the years.

Puff Daddy Puff may refer to: Science and technology * Puff, a small quantity of gas or smoke in the air ** Puff, a light gust of wind ** Exhalation ** Inhalation * Puff model, volcanic ash tracking model developed at the University of Alaska Fairbanks * PUF ...

used the song as a vocal interlude on his album, '' No Way Out'', featuring Carl Thomas. It was also sampled by other rap musicians such as

Danny! Daniel Keith Swain (born August 18, 1983), known mononymously as Danny!, is an American rapper, record producer, singer, and composer. Swain rose to prominence after his debut performance on '' Late Night with Jimmy Fallon'', where he premiered ...

on the song "Grateful", Butta Verses featuring Lucian on the song "If I Die", King C.L.O. on "One Day to Live", New Era on "Before I Die Tonight",

Big K.R.I.T. Justin Lewis Scott (born August 26, 1986), better known by his stage name Big K.R.I.T. (a backronym for King Remembered in Time), is an American rapper and record producer. Born in Meridian, Mississippi, he started his musical career in 2005. Af ...

on the song "If I Should Die" and by Berthex on the song "If I Should Die Tonight". The song's melody and riff was

interpolated In the mathematical field of numerical analysis, interpolation is a type of estimation, a method of constructing (finding) new data points based on the range of a discrete set of known data points. In engineering and science, one often has a n ...

for R&B singers

Avant AVANT, also known as AVANT street art guerrilla collective, was the artist group active in New York City from 1980 to 1984. By 1984 AVANT had produced thousands of acrylic on paper paintings and plastered them on walls, doors, bus-stops and gallerie ...

and

Keke Wyatt Ke'Tara Shavon "Keke" Wyatt (born March 10, 1982) is an American singer-songwriter, actress and television personality. After performing in a number of girl bands and working as a songwriter during her teenage years, in 2000 she garnered nation ...

's 2013 R&B hit, "You & I". It was also sampled on

John Legend John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), known professionally as John Legend, is an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and record producer. He began his musical career by working behind the scenes, playing piano on Lauryn Hill's " Ever ...

's song, "Who Do We Think We Are" ft.

Rick Ross William Leonard Roberts II (born January 28, 1976), known professionally as Rick Ross, is an American rapper. Prior to releasing his debut single, "Hustlin'", in 2006, Ross was the subject of a bidding war, receiving offers from Sean Combs, D ...

Personnel

*All vocals by

*Produced by Marvin Gaye and

Notes

Sources

* {{authority control 1973 songs Marvin Gaye songs Songs written by Marvin Gaye Pop ballads Rhythm and blues ballads Funk ballads Songs written by Ed Townsend Song recordings produced by Marvin Gaye Soul ballads