Lionel Richie- the definitive collection revisited

Good Morning,

I hope you enjoyed the Easter weekend. me? i went home...i'm happy to report the Morning Dad B&B (Bed and Breakfast) is undergoing some changes. It is evolving from stylish bachelor pad into happy home. There are now edible food items in most the cupboards and a curious gold angel statuette sitting atop a stack of decorative hat boxes in my old room.

I slept pretty well...but I do/did find it difficult to relax completely with the angel's outstretched arm pointing at me...(i imagined a zapping delivered for racy dreams!).

thankfully, to keep the peace, i did not hide the cherub or rearrange the placement of my bed. i have returned to Columbus unscathed.

had the large winged golden messenger spirit...accessed my inner being this weekend she would not have found thoughts of the risen Lord. (i would have been zapped). here's what she (he?) would have found.

[a brief history]

The Commodores

In 1981, I enjoyed these 3 things: riding my bike, my cat Whiskers, and picking out records. Wednesday afternoons as my dad took care of his work around the house, I appointed myself the DJ of our tunes. There was a host of great music to choose from (and dance to)...Conway Twitty, Willie Nelson, the Eagles, Saturday Night Fever, but the album art that spoke to me was a snap shot photo of 6 black men tucked at an angle in the back pocket of some apple-bottomed woman's dark denim jeans. the effect was as if she was holding the object of affection in the palm of her hand (or actually her butt).

Is this a double entendre?

this same pocket that held the photo was also branded in bold GOLD designer stitching with the word COMMODORES!

anyway,

These 6 men became etched in my mind through their outstanding characteristics…

the black man with really white teeth, the black man with funny dark shaded glasses...triangle hair, the black man who looked like a woman in purple framed glasses.

I knew Lionel Richie as triangle hair until 1984 when i purchased my first cassette tape "Can't Slow Down." then i knew him as the man with the silky smooth voice and jheri curl mullet...

Lionel Richie.

Lionel Richie grew up in Tuskegee Alabama the same small southern town where immoral scientists famously infected black men with Syphilis and home to the Tuskegee airmen! (first group of African American military fighter pilots!).

In addition to dance moves, Lionel was gifted with athletic talent. So adept on the tennis court he played on scholarship at the collegiate level before returning home to complete his degree at MIT Tuskegee. It’s here where he hooked up with friends to form the group the Jays which later became the Commodores.

This past week I downloaded Lionel Richie: The Definitive Collection. I have been listening non-stop to 20 of his greatest hits…as a Commodore and solo artist.

What follows are my thoughts that first began in the wee hours (no pee pun intended) of the morning when i started asking What am I listening to? Does it fit?

In short, the Definitive Collection revisited.

The Review

Released in 2003, Lionel's 20 track complete and authoritative body of work is well worth the iTunes gift card purchase. For only $7.99 you are almost certain to have your mojo working every night of the week All Night Long!...

Although complete in that every smooth smoldering note leaves you again with those unapologetic aching yearning "funny" feelings...the definitive collection still leaves plenty of questions unanswered...

"Oooh what a feeling!/when we're Dancing on the Ceiling!"...how is this possible?

anyone visually-spatially aware knows this is just plain...not possible.

"You're once, twice, three times a lady..." What does it mean to be Three Times a Lady? In this song, Lionel (and the Commodores) have come to the end of the rainbow and...

i want to say, Lionel it is very seductive to be needed so much but I have no idea what you need from me. please speak...

I've discovered i am not alone in my unmoving assessment. In a 1988 Rolling Stones article, Lionel was panned for perhaps even dipping the toe of his white boot into a pool of self-absorption.

It is said, Lionel sings about women to show us how HE feels...

(In contrast today's "it" man Jamie Foxx--latest Top 10 hit Alcohol--wants to know what she be feelin! : ).

True, in 20 songs, Lionel never really shows an interest in how Ballerina Girl or Penny Lover feel...he worships from afar and agonizes over his love for them. the lack of processing in this "me man. you womanish" relationship is glaring.

Do it to Me (One More Time)?- Forgive me for being so blunt but as a woman i know we really don’t have a cap on this…a sensitive lady's man would never say this. the song would be "I'll do ya til you're done."

In another light, the number of times a woman will forgive a transgression and work on “us” with genuine sincerity is probably limitless. maybe just a new title? "That's okay we're just getting even."

Hello-This song is still particularly memorable for the line "Hello, is it me you're looking for?" More notably, in an interview broadcast in the UK, Richie said he had been thanked by a large number of normally tongue-tied men who had proposed marriage after a slow dance to this song.

Hello? hello? hello?- i'm happy for these men but to the woman "Hello" revisited can be considered downright stalkerish.

the plodding piano, the synthesizer accents...it creates a Psycho feel made spookier by the backstory. the eriee video that Lionel made for this song tells the story of a music professor's unrequited love for his student. not that this means anything specific but...she's also blind.

i've seen you pass outside my door
in my dreams i've kissed your lips a thousand times...
i wonder where you are
i wonder what you do?
hello is it me you're looking for?

LIONEL SHE'S BLIND! and you're a CREEP!

and yes, it's a catchy song...

So, what's left? It is a song you can sing with windows up in the privacy of your own car to entertain your love.

I recommend. "Just to be Close to You"

It includes the always entertaining timely use of the hand held percussive over a smoldering spoken intro.

just to be close to you...girl

we'll live and love forever
we'll live our lives together


Happy Monday,

Amanda