Retro Video of the Week: "All Night Long (All Night)" by Lionel Richie

Yesterday marked the 40th anniversary of the 27th Annual Grammy Awards, where Lionel Richie's massive Can't Slow Down album won Album of the Year, despite the fact that it was released in October 1983.  I'm sure there are some weird cutoff dates that I don't know about, but I digress.

Can't Slow Down was one of the biggest albums of the '80s.  For starters, the albums that it beat out at the Grammys included Bruce Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A., Prince's Purple Rain, Tina Turner's Private Dancer, and Cyndi Lauper's She's So Unusual.  Can't Slow Down is Richie's best-selling album, going certified diamond in the U.S. (for 10+ million albums sold) and selling over 20 million copies worldwide.  All five singles released from the album reached the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100:  "Hello" (#1), "All Night Long (All Night)" (#1), "Stuck on You" (#3), "Running With the Night" (#7), and "Penny Lover" (#8).  The album itself spent three weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200 album charts in December 1983, and it remained in the Top 10 the entirety of 1984 (and spent a total of 160 weeks on the Billboard 200).

While "Hello" has that iconic video with the blind woman making a sculpture of Richie's face, based solely on touching it, I went with "All Night Long (All Night)" because I like the song better.  It's a fun, festive song about partying and having fun.  And yes, the African-sounding lyrics in the bridge are, in fact, gibberish.  Jambo jumbo, indeed.

In addition to topping the Billboard Hot 100, the song went to #1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary and R&B singles charts.  It also topped nine other international pop charts and reached the Top 10 on another nine.

The video -- which was produced by former Monkee Michael Nesmith (whose mother invented Liquid Paper) -- has kind of a '60s musical feel to it, and everyone starts out slogging along in their daily grind before Lionel comes along and lets them know they can have a good time -- and not just for a portion of the evening.  We're talking all night long.