When we were watching the Grammy Awards a few weeks back and Lionel Richie presented an award to Michael Jackson's kids, it reminded us that he still existed. Lionel Richie, we mean. Then, when the Winter Olympics opened last weekend, viewers were treated to the "We Are The World 2010" video, a remake for Haitian earthquake relief organized by Richie, who co-wrote the song, and Quincy Jones. Yes, Lionel Richie is back!
Younger readers may not know that Richie was a musical force in the 1980s, releasing three consecutive multi-platinum albums and scoring five #1 hits in the process. This week's song and video, "Hello," actually hit #1 on three different Billboard charts in 1984. The video casts Richie as a college professor, or some such, who's pining for an attractive blind student. (They took plot really seriously back in those days.) At video's end, we're stunned to discover...well, we don't want to spoil it for you, but it's quite a twist!
Please enjoy Lionel Richie and "Hello," and please join us again in this space next week when we'll be presenting an entirely different video.
1 -- "My love interest in the video is blind? Shouldn't she be deaf, too?"
2 -- Some found it troubling, this dancing on the ceiling.
3 -- "Um, hello to you, too, Mr. Richie. I can assure you it's absolutely not you I'm looking for. Not even close."
4 -- "But how did a race of fuzzy people find their way into the dimension of well-defined people?"
5 -- "What could have inflicted these wounds on Gummo? Isn't he invulnerable to all ballads of the 1980s, no matter how lame?"
6 -- "Say! Is that a sale on good-looking sweaters over there?"
7 -- "Let's see. I wonder which one is DiMartino."
8 -- The puzzling disappearances of Pumpkinhead and Snarehead are no longer a mystery!
9 -- Even in Braille, Framed is pretty darned funny!
10 -- "Actually, officer, I do have a picture of the mysteriously-moved rubber tree plant."
11 -- "Yes, I'm trying to reach Insanely Gigantic Phones, Inc."
12 -- "Now, sleep, human. Sleep, and let your soulless doppelganger assume your place at the top of the charts."