"If I Could Tell You" is a popular American song composed in 1940 by Idabelle Firestone

Idabelle Smith Firestone

Idabelle Smith Firestone was an American composer and songwriter.Born in Jackson, Michigan , she was educated at Alma College, Ontario. Her father, George, held the patent to the flour milling process....

 to words by Madeleine Marshall.

Background

Idabelle Firestone was the wife of the industrialist Harvey Firestone. An accomplished songwriter, she composed "If I Could Tell You" as the opening theme for the radio, and later television, music program The Voice of Firestone

The Voice of Firestone

The Voice of Firestone, is a long-running radio and television program of classical music. The show featured leading singers in selections from opera and operetta. Originally titled The Firestone Hour, it was first broadcast on the NBC Radio network December 3, 1928 and was later also shown on...

. The show was sponsored by her husband's company, Firestone Tires. An earlier song by Idabelle Firestone, "In My Garden", was used as the program's closing theme.

"If I Could Tell You" became very popular and was recorded many times. It is most identified with the singers Richard Crooks

Richard Crooks

Richard Alexander Crooks was an American tenor and a leading singer at the New York Metropolitan Opera.-Biography:He was born on June 26, 1900 in Trenton, New Jersey...

 and Eleanor Steber

Eleanor Steber

Eleanor Steber was an American operatic soprano. Steber is noted as one of the first major opera stars to have achieved the highest success with training and a career based in the United States.-Biography:...

who served as frequent hosts on the Firestone program in the 1940s and 1950s, respectively.