1983 No. 1, An English Teaching Tool In China, Hit The Top 43 Years Ago Today

There's no predicting what will happen to a hit song: no knowing how far it will travel and who's going to know the lyrics. When Lionel Richie performed on "Chinese Idol" in Shanghai, China in 2013, he noticed that the audience knew every word of "All Night Long (All Night)," which hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on November 12, 1983. Four decades after its impressive, four-week run at the top the U.S. charts — and on the other side of the globe — it had thousands of fans singing along. "They told me they teach English in the schools with my songs," he told the New York Post. "It's part of the curriculum. 'Hello,' 'Say You, Say Me' and 'All Night Long.'"

With its polished production, infectious hooks, and Richie's smooth delivery, this Caribbean-influenced R&B tune was destined to go places. Not only did "All Night Long (All Night)" knock Richie's friend Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton's duet "Islands In the Stream" out of the top slot, but it became an international sensation. It charted in countries all around the world, hitting No. 2 on the U.K. Singles charts, and No. 1 in several countries, including Australia, Brazil, and Canada.

But before it could take off, it took a flash of unexpected inspiration for the tune to come together. And "All Night Long (All Night)" broke down barriers on its way to becoming one of Richie's biggest hits and an '80s song that everyone agrees on.

Whether or not you learned English in China, you probably sing along to the titular chorus of "All Night Long (All Night)." You have to; Lionel Richie commands you to do so in the pre-chorus. But as easily as it gets stuck in your head, it was the part of the song that stumped the song's writer the most. The breakthrough came after a dinner at the home of Richie's friend. On an episode of "The View," Richie recalled having "everything but the hook," and telling his friends, "I said, 'Guys, I gotta go back to the studio, man ... 'cause I gotta work all night long, all night long'" (via Magic 98.3 FM). He knew what he had the moment those words rolled off his tongue.  

In the bridge of "All Night Long (All Night)," Richie adopts a kind of patois: "Tam bo li de say de moi ya / Yeah, Jambo Jambo," and so on. While they no doubt communicate the song's celebratory vibe and add Caribbean flair, the words are invented. Richie originally wanted to use actual phrases from Africa, but another friend, a UN worker, told him there were hundreds of dialects to choose from, and he'd need weeks to master even just a few words: time the singer couldn't spare. "It's like most of [Bob] Marley's chants," he told Record Mirror, "they don't really mean anything, but you know what they mean" (via uDisover Music). We do, and it's cool that it took a village to assemble them.

By the time "All Night Long (All Night)" came out, Lionel Richie had already scored hits with the Commodores, with Diana Ross on "Endless Love," and as a solo artist. But this chart-topper also helped break down racial barriers on MTV. In the early '80s, the network notoriously lacked representation and only featured white musicians for their suburban, cable TV audiences. Even after Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video became a sensation, network executives generally had to be convinced to diversify. "When MTV started, it wanted nothing to do with Black artists. But then I gave them 'All Night Long' after Michael (Jackson) had broken down the door," he remembered in the book "I Want My MTV" by Craig Marks and Rob Tannenbaum. "And from then on I was on MTV."

And poetically, "All Night Long (All Night)" and Richie also came to represent American culture on the global stage. Originally slated to perform with Diana Ross and Michael Jackson at the closing ceremonies of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, Richie turned out to be the only one available for the show. Undaunted, he turned in a rendition of "All Night Long (All Night)" for the ages. Midway through his performance, the band gets low, and the spotlight narrows as Richie takes a moment to thank the athletes on behalf of his country and the world. "There's one more thing we'd like to ask you to do tonight," he goes on, "Let the music play on!" The International Olympic Committee should've given him a medal for that performance: 10 out of 10.