Lionel Richie Takes GQ Through All His Hits

I always tell people, the secret to writing is--

they say, what do you think about?

Don't think, just let it come through.

(instrumental music)

I didn't realize that at the time

but it was the greatest form of therapy

I ever had in my whole life.

Because things that I was feeling

could actually be expressed in lyrics.

I didn't know I was a lyricist back then,

I was just kinda discovering the whole process.

♪ That's why I'm easy ♪

♪ I'm easy like Sunday morning ♪

You know, with the Commodores, late at night in the studio,

they'd just presented us with a tour schedule

of a 366 page book, with 365 pages

of exactly where we'll be for the next year.

And, I wrote a little note down saying,

why would anybody put chains on me,

I paid my dues to make it.

Everybody wants me to be what they want me to be.

I'm not happy when I try to, when I fake it.

Leave me alone.

So, you know, you just walk in the door

and just hit those. (piano playing)

Forget about it.

After that, the story is told.

I think that was the first song

that actually gave me an opportunity to realize that

I could write a song and people would walk up to me

and go, I feel the same way, perfect.

♪ Ow, she's a brickhouse ♪

Of all the songs that I thought was going to be,

oh my God, this is not gonna work, was Brickhouse.

I don't know what was wrong with me.

But, you know, all I kept thinking about,

I think it was just the fear factor of

I have to play this song for my grandmother.

The song came out and she didn't go to church

for about two or three weeks because it was

just absolutely disgusting, you know what I'm saying.

And then, of course, as the song became a hit

she kinda got over it, because the check came in.

And, everybody was happy.

♪ You're once, twice, three times a lady ♪

I tried to write the funky song.

It came out Three Times a Lady.

People say to me, you left the conversation

with your parents and then you went over

and wrote the song, no.

I heard what my dad said, and I walked away from the table,

and I said that's a great thing he just said.

But, it has to go here into the universe,

and it comes back around.

And, when you're not thinking about it at all, it comes out.

It happens when you just let go and let it happen.

And, of course, Three Times a Lady was just

as far left as I could possibly imagine

something would come through.

But, once it comes through, my biggest problem,

now that I have it, I'm afraid of it.

So, Three Times a Lady, you have to understand

in the middle of funk, here's a waltz.

What am I gonna do with a waltz?

Eddie Levert was the one who said to me,

you know, you still have time to take it back

and put another one out, you know.

And, at that particular time it went straight to number one.

You know, because it was so disruptive,

and so left of center, that, you know,

it was James Carmichael the producer of the Commodores

who actually said, that's the one we want.

♪ We're going to party, karamu, fiesta, forever ♪

♪ Come on and sing along ♪

Now I have this song, well, my friends the time has come,

to raise the roof and have some fun, that's great.

Karamu, fiesta, forever,

♪ Come on and sing along. ♪

(singing)

♪ Come on and sing along ♪

♪ Come on and sing ♪

I don't have a hook.

And so, it took me probably another month

of just walking around my house and everywhere,

trying to find out what is the hook

to come on and sing along.

I've gotta give you the sing along.

So, I went to one of my dear friends houses,

Dr. Laurie Gray, and I went by for dinner.

He's from Jamaica.

And, I'm leaving at now, it's, I took a break

from the studio, I'm leaving his house now,

about 2:00 in the morning.

And, as I'm leaving the house, I'm saying to him,

hey man, I got to go back and work all night long man.

All night long, all night long.

♪ All night long ♪

♪ All night long ♪

Got it.

♪ All night long ♪

♪ All night ♪

♪ All night ♪

♪ All night ♪

♪ All night long ♪

♪ All night ♪

A military commander in the field came to me

and, I'm flying back from London, he said,

you know the story.

Now, I knew the first half of the story.

The story was, that the people in Iraq

wanted to welcome the troops in,

and they wanted them to know that

they were welcoming them, and it's friendly.

Every shop owner, every store, everything,

played All Night Long on the speakers

as they were coming in.

Here's the other half of that story.

The commander came to me and said,

do you know what happened with

when we were coming into the city?

I said, no.

We wanted to tell them that we were friendly.

So, they played Dancing on the Ceiling

on top of the Humvees coming into the city.

And, I said, you gotta be kidding me.

He said, no, we played Dancing on the Ceiling,

and they were playing All Night Long.

That's a true story.

We knew and enjoyed his song All Night Long,

and it kinda happened to fit our mission.

I guess you could say the rest is history now.

♪ Hello ♪

♪ Is it me you're looking for ♪

♪ I can see it in your eyes ♪

This is what I had, this is what I had guys.

(piano playing)

It's just

♪ Hello, is it me you're looking for ♪

That's it.

Carmichael, he walks in.

♪ Hello, is it me you're looking for ♪

Okay.

All he had to do was say, yes, and continue on.

He said, finish that song.

Finish what song?

He said, you gotta finish the song.

I said, hello, is it me you're looking for.

Now, I have gotten away with Sail On,

and Three Times a Lady, and I'm thinking, now,

by that time they've got me paranoid of hokey.

I'm thinking, hello is it me you're looking for,

they'll throw me out of the business

if I tried to do this.

And, of course, I'm now writing the song

to finish it, to make him happy.

But, I'm not thrilled about it.

Until, I write the lyrics.

Now, the lyrics, the story fits perfectly

with the choral changes.

But, it's now in lush form.

We have more strings, and more orchestra on top of this.

I spent the entire music video

trying to explain to Bob Giraldi one thing.

First of all, his story was, the video's gonna

be shot with all these two people hugging and kissing

through the whole movie, it's gonna be great.

He walks in and says, I'm gonna make the girl blind.

You're gonna do what?

I'm gonna make the girl blind.

I go, okay.

Because I wanted Bob Giraldi,

he is the ticket in terms of videos back in that time.

If you want Bob Giraldi to do it, let him have his way.

So, we're now doing she's gonna be blind.

And now, I get to the set and the whole thing

is built on the fact that she's now doing the bust.

And, I walk in, and as soon as I see the bust,

I'm going, oh my God, we got a problem.

The bust does not look like me.

So, I'm now talking to Bob, we're doing setup number one.

Bob, 'scuse me, I just saw the bust,

it doesn't look like me.

I know.

Second setup, Bob, before we get started,

have you seen the bust?

It doesn't look like me.

Third, fourth setup, I'm now panicking

because the last setup is that scene.

So, I go, Bob, doesn't look like me.

Now, it's time to do it.

So now, I'm looking at it.

I'm standing next to him, I say, Bob,

doesn't look like me.

He looked at me and said, she's blind.

And, I said, oh yeah.

That's the story.

♪ I can see it in your eyes ♪

♪ I can see it in your smile ♪

There's a time in your, I guess, in your creative discovery

where you have to ask the question,

where is this coming from?

Marvin Gaye was one of my instructors

at the University of Motown, you know.

Just said, you can find out if you want to,

but my suggestion is,

may you never know where it comes from.

And, he said, just let it go, and keep receiving.

If you get into the deepness of it, it'll nudge you out.

You just have to think for a moment,

keep moving forward, write as fast as you can.

Get it from that side to this side.

And, then as time went on, one song to the next song,

you start going, oh okay, I got this.

So, as I got more and more comfortable,

I could go to the other side

without trying to go to the other side.

And, you know, now I, the problem is,

you wanna stay over there more than

you wanna stay over here.

And, that's the creative process.

You know, when you can just shut everything off

on this side, 'cause this is the now,

this is what's happening.

But, to go over there and trust that you're,

you pick your songs, pick your notes,

pick everything you need, and come back over here,

and put it down.