Angel by Lionel Richie.
I guess you could argue that part of Cluetrain means speaking with a human voice. And humans are deeply flawed, imperfect creatures. So I interrupt the real estate, marketing, and web 2.0 blogging to just expose really horrible personal habits to the whole world. Which in my case includes a soft spot for Lionel Richie.
I remember once arguing with a friend that Lionel Richie needs to be respected as a great musical pioneer of the 80’s, on par with The Gloved One, and Madonna. The man was a member of the Commodores, and had thirteen consecutive Top Ten singles, five of which were #1 U.S. singles as a solo artist. He’s been nominated for the Grammy’s 18 times and won four. He’s got a dozen American Music Awards, and five People’s Choice Awards for Best Song.
Plus, did you know he was a great tennis player and majored in economics from Tuskegee? I didn’t. Well, now I do, and so do you.
Lionel’s the man. Let’s have some respect for the curly-haired one!
Granted… he is largely responsible for Nicole Richie… but she’s still young. She may still turn out to be a great scientist who discovers the cure for cancer. Or perhaps a great world leader who solves the whole Palestinian issue once and for all. It could happen.
Plus, there’s this (from Wikipedia):
As ABC News reports:
Grown Iraqi men get misty-eyed by the mere mention of his name. “I love Lionel Richie,” they say. Iraqis who do not understand a word of English can sing an entire Lionel Richie song. He has performed in Morocco, Dubai, Qatar and Libya. There is obviously something up there. The more we talked, the more he theorized as to the reasons his music might be so popular here. He thinks it is because of the simple message in his music: Love. [5]
According to Richie, he was told that U.S. soldiers were playing “All Night Long” the night that Baghdad fell.[5] Said Richie, “I’m huge, huge in the Arab world. The answer as to why is, I don’t have the slightest idea.”
Neither do we, Lionel. Neither do we.
But you just keep on keeping on’
-rsh
