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I really enjoy this song, especially the weird-sounding solo which is heralded by Lionel Richie's exclamation of the noise "eeuw!" at the top of his lungs. But it all goes downhill – or perhaps uphill – later on in the song, when the ideas have run out and it's time to shift gear. You can tell from his cautious "whoa-oh" that he's beginning to regret the decision, but by that point it's too late, and the whole song is forcibly grasped by the horns and dragged a tone higher. But we can all identify with his elated whoop of relief on realising he's through to the other side, and it's plain sailing all the way to the fade. I don't know about anyone else, but I still experience a frisson of fear a few moments later, as the "dah-dah-dah-dah-dah" from the horn section threatens to undertake the whole operation all over again – but thankfully, the impulse is reined in.

I suppose I should acknowledge the existence of Faith No More's 1992 cover of this song, which is as pointless as it is pedestrian. For some reason they went to the effort of making two different versions – one with background strings, one without – but neither included the gear change, perhaps for reasons of dignity.

Listen!

Related stuff

Yes, somewhat predictably, there is an official site at www.lionelrichie.com, where you can deck your PC out in Lionel Richie wallpaper, listen to song clips from his most recent album Renaissance, and see a lot of pictures of him looking somewhat cheesy. However, if you want to re-live the legendary video for "Hello", it's not www.lionelrichie.com you're looking for.