This Weeks Friday Classic: Hello by Lionel Richie Is there a better song to have on your answering machine? Is this the solution to all the troubles in Iraq? Truth is stranger than fiction. First the video clip. If youve got the time over the weekend and need a laugh, youve got to watch the clip and then read this. blogs.dallasobserver/dc9/2014/02/lionel_richie_hello_video.php?page=all Melissa and I were both crying with laughter. I first saw this on a video screen while wearing roller skates at a youth group social, dressed like someone in the video clip. A quintessentially 80s moment. Its a classic for so many reasons. So in it Richie is an art teacher who falls in love with a student who is blind. Shes sculpting something throughout the clip which turns out to be Richies rather distinctive head, which shows shes loved him all along. A Only thing is the video is kinda creepy; and the Sculpture of Lionel Richies head at the end of the Hello video has become something of a pop cultural icon (of ridicule). Cracked magazine rated it one of the 20 most significant artefacts of the last millennium. It has its own Facebook page (you can like it here https://facebook/theclayheadfromthelionelrichiehellovideo). It has been parodied in numerous comedies and cartoons for those with eyes to see, as has the video clip itself. You can read Lionel Richies reaction to first seeing the sculpture here rollingstone/music/news/lionel-richie-on-hits-tour-gibberish-lyrics-and-the-legend-of-hello-20140529 (It doesnt look like me!). Next, the song. It really is a classic of the genre - perhaps the most common in pop - which is the overly sentimental easy ballad love song. But while that is a way overdone genre - Hello stakes a claim as one of the paradigms of the genre. The simple line, Hello, is it me youre looking for? is so catchy and appropriate to so many things it was instant classic material. Its actually quite a romantic song - who hasnt felt like this about someone? It went to number 1 all over the place and has become an iconic song - again often parodied. Never better than in the Australian beer commercial for Lion Tap Beer which Richie was paid more than a million dollars to sing it - from inside a fridge. Worth a watch here https://youtube/watch?v=OK9419Oicp0. Next, the album. For years I have been ashamed that Lionel Richies second solo album Cant Slow Down was the first record (12 inch thin black vinyl disc which could play music on a turntable - ask your parents/grandparents) I ever bought. But Ive matured. 1984 was the year of pop; Richie one of the kings of Motown (see below); his album perhaps the pop/soul/rnb classic of the era. It won the grammy for best album in 1983; it had numerous other hits - most notably All Night Long which Richie sang to close the LA Olympics in 84. It couldve been worse; at least it wasnt Rick Astley. Next, the man. Lionel Richie has been called the black Barry Manilow - not sure if that was a friendly. But hes sold over 100 million - and considering he pretty much stopped in 86, thats not a bad effort. He is a pretty cluey lad from Joliet illinois (where the Blues brothers are supposedly from) and has a uni degree. He formed the Commodores who were second to the Jackson 5. He was second to Michael Jackson too when he went solo in terms of sales - but hey, if youre the second best basketballer behind Michael Jordan you could hardly be called a journeyman. Hes written lots of songs for other artists (e.g. Kenny Rogers Lady and he co-wrote We are the world with Michael Jackson). Hes occasionally toured since and I like his attitude: Ive been around artists that say, I just wont play my hits. Ill play something new, he says. Thats why Im saying its all the hits all night. This is just back-to-back karaoke on steroids. Of local significance is his tour of Australia and New Zealand in 2011 when he made a single with Guy Sebastian of All Night Long and the proceeds went to the Christchurch quake. Then theres his (adopted) daughter, Nicole Richie who, along with Paris Hilton, became famous for being famours. One of Richies mates was in a band but was so poor he got Richie to become guardian of Nicole when she was 3. By age 9 Richie and his then wife adopted Nicole. However, Richie was also having an affair, which became messy and eventually led to divorce (and marrying the lady, then divorcing her...); Nicole Richie says consequently she was given whatever she wanted as a child in the midst of all of that as some sort of compensation, which she acknowledges wasnt necessarily helpful. Michael Jackson, a friend of Richie, was her godfather. And Iraq? Well apparently Richies songs have become hugely popular in the Arab world; Iraqi men are known to be able to sing all the words to his songs - but not without tears. Personally there are a few people in Iraq I wouldnt like to say, Hello, is it me youre looking for? - but you never know; it might just be that surprising line to get you out of a tricky situation. For our dearest sister Faga Faavae; born in 1984, a few months after Hello topped the charts on both sides of the Atlantic and the Tasman. Enjoy. Hello Ive been alone with you Inside my mind And in my dreams Ive kissed your lips A thousand times I sometimes see you Pass outside my door Hello! Is it me youre looking for? I can see it in your eyes I can see it in your smile Youre all Ive ever wanted And my arms are open wide cause you know just what to say And you know just what to do And I want to tell you so much I love you I long to see the sunlight in your hair And tell you time and time again How much I care Sometimes I feel my heart will overflow Hello! Ive just got to let you know cause I wonder where you are And I wonder what you do Are you somewhere feeling lonely? Or is someone loving you? Tell me how to win your heart For I havent got a clue But let me start by saying I love you Hello! Is it me youre looking for? cause I wonder where you are And I wonder what you do Are you somewhere feeling lonely? Or is someone loving you? Tell me how to win your heart For I havent got a clue But let me start by saying I love you https://youtube/watch?v=PDZcqBgCS74
Posted on: Thu, 13 Nov 2014 18:55:47 +0000
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