abstract
| - %22All Night Long (All Night)%22 is a hit single for American singer-songwriter Lionel Richie from 1983. Taken from his second solo album, Can't Slow Down, it combined Richie's soulful Commodores style with Caribbean influences. This new, more dance music and pop inspired approach proved popular, as the single reached number one on three Billboard charts (pop, R&B and adult contemporary).In the UK, the song was kept off the top spot by Billy Joel's %22Uptown Girl%22, peaking at number two on the UK Singles Chart for three weeks.The song lyrics were written primarily in English, but Richie has admitted in at least one press interview that %22African%22 lyrics are in the song, such as %22Tom bo li de say de moi ya,%22 and %22Jambo jumbo,%22 were in fact made-up gibberish of his own invention. Richie has described these portions of the song as a %22wonderful joke,%22 written when he discovered that he lacked the time to hire a translator to contribute the foreign language lyrics he wished to include in the song.The song has achieved massive popularity in the Arab World, in which Richie is well known as much as if not more than in his native U.S. The Independent has referred to Richie as %22a phenomenon%22 over the past decade or so in nations such as Iraq, with %22Hello%22 also achieving much success.
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