Song of the Week

There was a time in the 1980's when Lionel Richie was cool ... I mean WAY COOL. When Michael Jackson signed on with Pepsi, the Coke people turned to Lionel ... that's how big he was. His mustache seemed to have its own ecosystem ... but people dug it. His hair was flowing with Jerry Curl. He could do no wrong at the time.

Richie's rise coincided with me discovering pop-music on the radio ... prior to that, it was strictly Sesame Street records and German polka for me. It opened a whole world to me ... music with accordions and puppets ?!?!?! Was that even legal?

When I heard Richie's hit song, All Night Long, I felt the rest of my life probably wouldn't be worth living, because I had just heard the greatest song ever created ... it was as if God worked with Richie in the recording studio.

My hips began gyrating ... and I couldn't stop them! (I thought about putting some stupid joke here like, "Lionel had me at Hello," but I figured I'd get too many groans from that one). I WANTED to be dancing ALL NIGHT LONG ... as was depicted by Richie's masterful oratory work.

And, I thought I was cutting edge ... I mean, Richie's song was my first introduction to "reggae" music ... after all, there were steel drums in this song, and Lionel did use some indistinguishable phrase mid-way through the song, just as the party was heating up ... I think it was something like, "Zombo-litte-zetti-mon-ya ... yay ... jumbo-jumbo." I had no idea what it meant, but I wanted to shout it from the roof-tops.

Thankfully, I grew out of this ... and discovered there was better music out there ... but I still can't turn this song off the radio when I hear it.