Billy Boy, Ask Amanda for a date.

Lionel Richie - 'Hello' (Can't Slow Down - 1983)

“Hello” to new subscribers - and welcome to our 1980s month on The Run Out Grooves. April’s 1970s month saw us explore album closers by The Jam, The Velvet Underground, Marianne Faithfull, Elton John, Tom Waits, T.Rex, Kraftwerk and Pink Floyd. You can find another thirty-four 1970s album closers to explore in our index, which I’ve now added to the masthead.

You could be forgiven for thinking that Lionel Richie’s 1984 hit ‘Hello’, the third single from his multi-platinum-selling second solo album, Can't Slow Down, is an unexpected song to be featured on this Substack. In some regards, that is correct. We know that with some significant exceptions like ‘Purple Rain’ or ‘Glory Box’ songs that end an album tend not to be singles, let alone massive hits. So it is a surprise when one turns up.

The other elephant in the room is that it is called ‘Hello’ and not ‘Goodbye’, ‘Cheerio’ or ‘Do One’. It is hard not to expect a closing track to follow our expected trope of wishing us farewell after two sides of vinyl or two-thirds of a CD. But if you park the name of the song, the structure and sentiment of it sit well to finish an album which contains uptempo bangers like ‘All Night Long (All Night)’ and ballads like ‘The Only One’.

In the mid-1980s, Lionel Richie was at the peak of his solo career, having transitioned from his successful tenure with The Commodores. ‘Hello' played a significant role in solidifying his status as a solo artist, showcasing his versatility and ability to craft emotional ballads that resonated with audiences worldwide.

The song is a soulful ballad which we assume was chosen to be a poignant finish to the album after all the chopping and changing between up and downtempo music on the record, with the former more in keeping with Richie’s discography as part of The Commodores.

I wish it were possible in 2023 to only write about a song of enduring popularity, one that is a staple of adult contemporary radio stations and soft rock music channels across the globe. A transatlantic number one. A song that rounds out the album that won 1985’s Grammy for Album of the Year. It is a song of deep emotion with an intimate vocal performance to carry us along with the narrator as he wonders if he is on the precipice of discovering true love. As listeners, we hang on to every word he speaks to our hearts. It’s a song that Lionel Richie has said of;

I must tell you, I get more comments [on] 'Hello' than any other song I've ever written

I would love to live in that world. I don’t, you don’t, none of us do.

I can’t skirt around this, though, can I?

Got any cheese, Gromit, lad?

The music video, directed by Bob Giraldi, tells the story of a blind woman, played by Laura Carrington, who creates a clay sculpture of Lionel Richie's face, despite having never seen him. I don’t think I’d be doing it a disservice to suggest that it has a somewhat dramatic narrative, maybe a few over-the-top visuals, which have gone some way

¹

towards its meme status. Especially that line - "Hello, is it me you're looking for?" that has inspired someone to name themselves "Halal – Is It Meat You're Looking For?" at every pub quiz I’ve attended in the last 15 years.

The line was the song’s genesis. When the record producer James Anthony Carmichael visited Richie, the singer greeted him that way while randomly playing on the piano. Richie has stated in a GQ interview that the producer told him;

Finish that song.

Richie initially felt that the song was "corny", but ultimately "by the time I finished the verse, I fell in love with the song again.”

Whether it is the admiration for the song or the video as a meme factory, it has appeared on dozens of TV shows and in films. From The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Shrek Forever After, Trolls, Happy Feet and Scary Movie 4, barely anyone can resist dropping in that piano and opening line when the chance is presented.

Here is a clip from the German show Wetten Dass with Richie singing ‘Hello’ after knocking back some of the old He, which suggests that, like this guy Richie is somewhat aware of what has happened to the song since too many people were given access to the internet.

Despite all that silliness, there are a lot of non-meme-worthy parts to enjoy. That little bubbling line that Reginald "Sonny" Burke plays on the Fender Rhodes during the first verse. It must have been tempting to go overboard with adding a synthesiser to the song, this was 1983, after all, but it is done sparingly with the piano laying the foundations, and it enhances the romantic and dreamy feel of the track without overpowering the other elements.

1. All the way?