"All Night Long (All Night)" is a song by American singer and songwriter

Lionel Richie Lionel Brockman Richie Jr. (born June 20, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality. He rose to fame in the 1970s as a songwriter and the co-lead singer of the Motown group Commodores; writing and recor ...

from his second solo album, '' Can't Slow Down'' (1983). The song combined Richie's

Commodores Commodores, often billed as The Commodores, are an American funk and Soul music, soul group. The group's most successful period was in the late 1970s and early 1980s when Lionel Richie was the co-lead singer. The members of the group met as m ...

style with

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

influences. The single reached number one on three ''Billboard'' charts (pop, R&B and adult contemporary). In the UK, it peaked at number two on the

singles chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include re ...

. The song lyrics were written primarily in English, but Richie has admitted in at least one press interview that "African" lyrics in the song, such as "Tam bo li de say de moi ya" and "Jambo jumbo", were in fact

gibberish Gibberish, also known as jibber-jabber or gobbledygook, is speech that is (or appears to be) nonsense: ranging across speech sounds that are not actual words, pseudowords, language games and specialized jargon that seems nonsensical to outsid ...

. Richie has described these portions of the song as a "wonderful joke", 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.

Production

When composing the song, Richie was able to write all of the verses easily but got stuck when he got up to the

hook A hook is a tool consisting of a length of material, typically metal, that contains a portion that is curved/bent back or has a deeply grooved indentation, which serves to grab, latch or in any way attach itself onto another object. The hook's d ...

. He told GQ that he kept repeating, "come on and sing along" over and over to no avail: Finally, inspiration struck him while he was visiting a friend's house and about to go back to work in the studio:

Reception

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' summed up its review of the single saying "Richie's command of these diverse musical elements and shifts in melodic direction is as impressive as it is pleasurable." Mat Snow of ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' said it "is amongst the most justly infectious floor-fillers ever."

Music video

An accompanying

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

for "All Night Long (All Night)" was produced by former Monkee and TV video pioneer

Michael Nesmith Robert Michael Nesmith (December 30, 1942 – December 10, 2021) was an American musician, songwriter, and actor. He was best known as a member of the Monkees and co-star of their The Monkees (TV series), TV series of the same name (1966–1968) ...

and directed by Bob Rafelson.

Notable uses

Richie performed the song at the closing ceremonies of the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. Richie performed the song live at the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize celebration. In 2024, the song was featured in advertisements for Mattress Firm.

Charts

Weekly charts

, align="center", 1 , - , - , - , UK Singles ( OCC) , align="center", 2 , - , - , - , - , scope="row", US

Hot Black Singles The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 po ...

(''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'') , align="center", 1 , - , US ''Cash Box'' Top 100 , align="center", 1 , - , Venezuela (

UPI United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ce ...

) , align="center", 1 , -

Year-end charts

All-time charts

Certifications

Personnel

Personnel as listed in the album's

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or cassette j-cards. Origin Liner notes are descended from the prog ...

are: * Lionel Richie – lead and backing vocals, Yamaha GS-1 synthesizer, rhythm and vocal arrangements *

Greg Phillinganes Gregory Arthur Phillinganes (born May 12, 1956) is an American keyboardist, vocalist, and arranger. A session musician, Phillinganes has contributed to numerous albums over a broad array of artists and genres. He has toured with artists includin ...

– Yamaha GS-1 synthesizer * Darrell Jones – guitar * Carlos Rios – guitar * Tim May – guitar *

Abraham Laboriel Abraham Laboriel López (born July 17, 1947) is a Mexican-American bassist who has played on over 4,000 recordings and soundtracks. ''Guitar Player'' magazine called him "the most widely used session bassist of our time". Laboriel is the fathe ...

– bass guitar * John "J.R." Robinson – drums *

Paulinho da Costa Paulinho da Costa (, born Paulo Roberto da Costa on May 31, 1948) is a Brazilian percussionist. Beginning his career as a samba musician in Brazil, he moved to the United States in the early 1970s and worked with Brazilian bandleader Sérgio Me ...

– percussion * Melinda Chatman – vocal sound effects * James Anthony Carmichael – backing vocals; horn, rhythm and string arrangements * David Cochrane – backing vocals * Calvin Harris – backing vocals *

Richard Marx Richard Noel Marx (born September 16, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter. He has sold over 30 million albums worldwide. Marx's first number one success as a songwriter came in 1984 with " What About Me?", which was recorded by Kenny Rogers ...

– backing vocals * Deborah Thomas – backing vocals * Kin Vassy – backing vocals Chant vocals * Diane Burt, James Anthony Carmichael, Melinda Chatman, David Cochrane, Dr. Lloyd Byro Greig, Calvin Harris, Brenda Harvey-Richie, Jeanette Hawes, Janice Marie Johnson, Richard Marx, Deborah Joyce Richie, Lionel Richie, Suzanne Stanford and Deborah Thomas Hoopa hollers * Marilyn Ammons, Sue Ann Butler, Melinda Chatman, Sheldon J. Cohn, Esq., Sandy Dent-Crimmel, Ruth Diaz, David Egerton, Sylvia Genauer, Rejauna Lynn Green, Gabrielle Greig, Sally Greig, Tanya Greig, Darrell Jones, David Malvin, Alison Maxwell, Jerry Montes, John Michael Montes, Billy "Bass" Nelson, Greg Phillinganes, Carlos Rios, Suzanne Stanford, Randy Stern, Wilbert Terrell and Susan Wood Production * Lionel Richie – producer * James Anthony Carmichael – producer * Calvin Harris – recording engineer * Steve Crimmel – second recording engineer * David Egerton – second recording engineer, gibberish vocals * Mark Ettel – second recording engineer

2011 version (with Guy Sebastian)

Richie recorded a new version of the song with Australian singer

Guy Sebastian Guy Theodore Sebastian (born 26 October 1981) is an Australian singer who rose to fame after winning the Australian Idol (season 1), first season of ''Australian Idol'', in 2003. Born in Malaysia and raised in Adelaide, Australia, Sebastian h ...

in 2011. All proceeds went towards the Queensland floods and New Zealand earthquake appeal. The re-recorded version was produced by

RedOne Nadir Khayat (, Latn, ar, Nādir Ḵayyāṭ; born 9 April 1972), also known as RedOne, is a Moroccan-Swedish record producer, record executive, singer and songwriter. He has worked in production for high-profile recording artists including La ...

Adams, Cameron (26 February 2011
Lionel Richie and Guy Sebastian have teamed up to record a charity single for earthquake relief
''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' (Sydney). Retrieved 27 February 2011 and was released to iTunes Stores in Australia and New Zealand on 18 and 16 March, respectively.

Charts

It debuted on the New Zealand Singles Chart at number twelve on 21 March 2011 and on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart at number twenty-six on 28 March 2011.

Jacob Collier version

In 2018, English singer, arranger, composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Jacob Collier collaborated with

Take 6 Take 6 is an American a cappella gospel sextet formed in 1980 on the campus of Oakwood College in Huntsville, Alabama. The group integrates jazz with spiritual and inspirational lyrics. Take 6 has received several Grammy Awards as well as D ...

and the Metropole Orkest on a version of "All Night Long". Collier's arrangement won the 2020

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

for ''Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals''. The version was included on Collier's studio album, '' Djesse Vol. 1'' (2018). The album peaked at number six on the

Top Classical Albums and Top Jazz Albums.

Benjamin Ingrosso version

In 2019, Swedish singer Benjamin Ingrosso recorded a version at the Spotify studios, Stockholm. It was released in March 2019 and peaked at number 5 on the Swedish charts and was certified platinum in June 2019. The rearranged version of the song, titled as "All Night Long (All Night) 020 Edit was released on 17 July 2020.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Sverigetopplistan

Thijs Boontjes Version

"Deze Nacht" is a song by the Dutch musician from 2020. The song is a Dutch-language adaptation of "All Night Long (All Night)" by

Samplings

Parts of the song were used in " I Like It", a 2010 song composed by

Enrique Iglesias Enrique Miguel Iglesias Preysler (; born 8 May 1975) is a Spanish singer and songwriter. He started his recording career in the mid-1990s on the Mexican label Fonovisa where he released three Spanish albums ''Enrique Iglesias (album), Enrique ...

, Pitbull, and

with samplings from

as the 1983 classic is interpolated after the first and third choruses.

References

External links

List of cover versions of "All Night Long (All Night)"
at SecondHandSongs.com {{authority control 1983 songs 1983 singles 2011 singles 2019 singles Lionel Richie songs Guy Sebastian songs Benjamin Ingrosso songs American reggae songs Calypso songs Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles Number-one singles in Australia RPM Top Singles number-one singles Number-one singles in South Africa Songs written by Lionel Richie Macaronic songs Songs in Swahili Motown singles Song recordings produced by James Anthony Carmichael Songs about dancing

Production

Reception

Music video

Notable uses

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

All-time charts

Certifications

Personnel

2011 version (with Guy Sebastian)

Charts

Jacob Collier version

Benjamin Ingrosso version

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Thijs Boontjes Version

Samplings

See also

References

External links