Album: Heart Of Stone (1989)

Charted: 6 3

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Songfacts®:

• "If I Could Turn Back Time" is a showstopper for Cher, one of her biggest hits and most popular live songs. Written by Diane Warren, it's rousing but also contrite, with Cher apologizing to an ex lover, letting him know she'd like a do-over. There aren't many anthems with this subject matter, but Cher and Warren pulled it off.
• When you think of this song, you probably call up an image of Cher's tattooed butt. That's because of the music video, where she donned a new look: leather jacket, fishnet stockings, and a thong.
  
  Cher has dressed provocatively (and quite fashionably) throughout her career, but this was unexpected. After all, she was 43 years old and a serious actress with an Oscar for her 1987 film Moonstruck.
  
  It wasn't just the video; Cher wore the same get-up when she performed the song, including at the MTV Video Music Awards. Her butt became a hot topic and garnered her lots of publicity. She leaned into it, promoting a series of 1991 shows in Atlantic City with ads headlined "Cher's Back," showing her fundaments. The Atlantic City Press ran it with the word "censored" over her butt, amplifying the promotional impact much further.
• The "If I Could Turn Back Time" music video was filmed on board the battleship USS Missouri while it was stationed at the former Long Beach Naval Shipyard at Pier D along with the crew. Directed by Marty Callner, the extras were actual Navy sailors who all seemed to be enjoying the show. At one point, she mounts one of the big guns, albeit in a more sensible outfit.
  
  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.'"
• The music video wasn't all that racy by MTV standards but it proved very controversial because of the Navy association. Cher cavorting on the historic ship rankled some viewers who felt it was degrading.
  
  MTV ran the video for about two months before they succumbed to pressure and nightparted it, airing it only after 9 p.m.
• Cher had three distinct musical comebacks; this song came in the middle of her second.
  
  In 1965, Cher charted twice as a solo artist and five times with Sonny & Cher, including the #1 "I Got You Babe." The hits dried up by 1968, but in 1971 Cher started working with producer Snuff Garrett and ran off a string of three #1 hits: "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves," "Half-Breed," and "Dark Lady." These songs had an edge, dealing with characters on the fringes.
  
  Her career went downhill later in the '70s; she did land a disco hit in 1979 with "Take Me Home," but mothballed her music in the early '80s as she became a leading lady in films like Silkwood and Mask.
  
  In 1987 she staged her second comeback as a musician when an executive at Geffen Records named John Kalodner convinced her to sign with the label and give it a go. Her self-titled album was released that year and landed her a hit with "I Found Someone." That same year, she starred in three movies: The Witches of Eastwick, Moonstruck, and Suspect. "If I Could Turn Back Time" followed the Peter Cetera duet "After All" as a single from her next album, Heart Of Stone, which told over 3 million copies, giving Cher her first multi-Platinum album.
  
  Cher's next album, Love Hurts, didn't do nearly as well and her 1995 album It's a Man's World stiffed hard, setting the stage for comeback #3 in 1998 when she released the #1 "Believe," the first Auto-Tuned hit.
• 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," the songwriter recalled, "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.'"
• Diane Warren wrote or co-wrote six songs on the album, including the next single, "Just Like Jesse James." She was one of the hottest songwriters in the game, with a CV that includes "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" by Starship and "I Get Weak" by Belinda Carlisle.
• In 2010, 64-year-old Cher presented the Video of the Year award at the MTV Video Music Awards wearing the same outfit she wore in this video. Under most circumstances, her get-up would have been the one getting the most buzz, but the winner was Lady Gaga (for "Bad Romance"), who accepted wearing a dress made of meat.
• It took a while, but Cher was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2024 at age 78. At the ceremony, she was inducted by Zendaya and sang "If I Could Turn Back Time" and "Believe."

Comments: 25

• David Bowland from United KingdomA nice girl doesn't choose to perform in her underwear, unless she is intended to upset her Mum and Dad. My Mother would be horrified, but then that's just my Mother; she has traditional values, and is somewhat conservative in her taste. She has never bought a pop song in her life, preferring Chopin and similar music.
• Blue Moon from Georgia UsaI love Cher. I love the Navy. I love the song, If I Could Turn Back Time and oh my, how I love the video! What a fantasy!
• Tumiso Noyaba from SaLove the song
• Loraine from EnglandWell all I want to say is WOW how good did she look any one that age or any age for that matter who can carry an outfit like that off deserves a cheer. So for all you negative nay sayers get something better to do than pull people to bits.
• Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn March 8th 1990, Rolling Stone Magazine awarded Cher* with two Rolling Stone Awards; one for 'Worst Dressed Female" and the second for 'Worst Video' for her "If I Could Turn Back Time"...
  It could be that I'm over loaded with testosterone, but in my opinion I thought it was a great video...
  Five months earlier on September 17th, 1989 the song reached #3 on the Top 100 chart {See next post below}...
  * At the time the video was taped she was 44 years old and to me she looked great, but I must state I was 45 at the time, so that could explain where I was coming from.
• Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn July 2nd 1989, "If I Could Turn Back Time" by Cher entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart at position #89; and on September 17th, 1989 it peaked at #3 (for 2 weeks) and spent 19 weeks on the Top 100 (and for 5 of those 19 weeks it was on the Top 10)...
  And on September 24th, 1989 it reached #1 (for 1 week) on Billboard's Adult Contemporary Tracks chart...
  It also peaked at #1 in Australia and Norway...
  Earlier in 1989 on May 17th, in a duo with Peter Cetera, she reached #6 (for 1 week) on the Top 100 with "After All"...
  Cher, born Cherilyn Sarkisian, celebrated her 68th birthday two months ago on May 20th, 2014.
• John from Detroit, MiGuess what,Tom...you're a Numbhead...
• Allard Wood from Spartanburg , Scevery time I hear this song I think of Jack on Will&Grace. "if I could turn back ttiimmee"...lol
  and she slapped his face,that was funny as hell.
• Robert from Houston, TxIs there a single person on the face of the Earth who HASN'T seen Cher's *ss?
• Nady from Adelaide, AustraliaI thought that Cher was a transvestite when I was growing up. You gotta admit, she really looks like a bloke
• Alan from Milwaukee, WiBeing a 'former' Sailor in the U.S.N., I would have gone crazy to seeing ALL of Cher's ass-ets making a beautiful entrance like that. Way to go, Cher!!
• Chelsea from Wichita, KsAll the people I talk to HATE this song,but for me I love it.
• Michael from Toronto, CanadaIn an interview with Oprah, Diane Warren recounted that when she wrote this song she took it to Cher for recording. Cher hated it. Refusing to record it, Diane begged Cher to the point of grabbing her leg in the studio and not letting go till she agreed to record the song. The Rest is History.
• Pete from Nowra, Australiaif you look closely at the clip , some of those young sailors were in an aroused state at the time ,must have been the salty sea air
• Musicfan from New York, NyOne of Cher's best songs... and she is one 'take no prisoners' kind of lady. She's smart, assertive and doesn't give a damn what anyone thinks. As it should be!
• Marlow from Perthmassive hit in australia.. her son was playing the guitar in the video clip . and was extremely embarassed about the way cher carried on. i remember she walked up and bumped her hip on his. i swear he just wanted to be swallowed up in a hole somewhere.. fancy your mum tarting around in a seatbelt lookin G string...
• Papa Burgundy from Bridlington, Englandcher looks like morse
• Sarah Floyd from Bloomingdale, Ilwell she has to turn back time. if she didnt have hump the cannon then she wouldnt have to turn back time would she. well i guess its her choice.
• Aj from Cleveland, GaI don't care what anyone says, I love Cher
• Tony from Rapid City, SdIt wasn't carrier it was the battleship Missouri (mighty mo) The crew damm near went wild !! what fun!
• Tom from New York, Nypossibly one of the worst songs of all time.
• Pete from Nowra, Australiaheard the US Navy said "never again" after viewing the clip... they had no idea what Cher was up to.....mind you the able seamen seemed quite happy with it .
• Kent from Latrobe, PaDoes anyone else think that Cher was humping that cannon for real and know the REAL reason why those sailors had such HUGE smiles?
• Genessa from Eugene, OrThe video had Cher barley clothed (even for Cher) and frolicking around an US air craft carrier, straddling missiles and such. Tame for today, but she was almost nude.
• T.r. from South Bend, InI heard the music video for this song was the first ever to be banned by MTV, does anyone have any further information about this. Does anyone know what the video consisted of?

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