"Hello" is a song by Lionel Richie. Taken as the third single from Richie's multi-platinum album Can't Slow Down, the song was released in 1984 and reached number one on three Billboard music charts: the pop chart (for two weeks), the R&B chart (for three weeks),[1] and the adult contemporary chart (for six weeks). The song also went to number one on the UK Singles Chart. It is considered by some to be Richie's signature song.
The song is particularly memorable for the line "Hello, is it me you're looking for?". In an interview broadcast in the UK on Channel 4's Top 100 Number One Hits, Richie said he had been thanked by a large number of normally tongue-tied men who had proposed marriage after a slow dance to the song.
[edit] Music video
The music video features the story of Richie having a seemingly unrequited love for a blind art student (Laura Carrington) until he discovers she shares the feeling as demonstrated by the discovery that she is sculpting a likeness of his head. The video has been parodied a number of times including a Starburst commercial when the sculpture is made from Starburst candy. According to the video's appearance in VH1's Pop-Up Video, the video was an adaptation of an unproduced screenplay called "Spaldeen Summers".
[edit] Charts
| Chart (1984) |
Peak
position |
| Australian Kent Music Report |
1 |
| Austrian Singles Chart |
3 |
| French Singles Chart |
25 |
| West German Singles Chart |
2 |
| Norwegian Singles Chart |
5 |
| Swedish Singles Chart |
6 |
| Swiss Singles Chart |
1 |
| UK Singles Chart |
1 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 |
1 |
| U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary |
1 |
| U.S. Billboard Black Singles |
1 |
[edit] Cover versions
- In 1985, Keith Almgren wrote lyrics in Swedish where the song was named "Du" ("You"), and covered by Kikki Danielsson on her album Bra vibrationer.[2]
- In 1986, The Shadows did an instrumental of the song on Moonlight Shadows.
- In 1994, Luther Vandross covered the song on his album Songs.
- In 2003, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes covered a punk version on their album Take a Break.
- In 2005, Paul Anka covered a swing jazz version of the song on his album Rock Swings.
- In 2005, Sonata Arctica guitarist Elias Viljanen covered the song as an instrumental on his solo album The Leadstar.
- In 2007, Shirley Bassey covered a version on her album Get the Party Started.
- In 2007, Northern Kings featuring Jarkko Ahola from Teräsbetoni, Marco Hietala from Nightwish and Tarot, Tony Kakko from Sonata Arctica and Juha-Pekka Leppäluoto from Charon covered the song and released it as the second single from their album Reborn.
- In 2011, Macedonian singer Tose Proeski covered the song live during his concerts and on his album So Ljubav Ot Tose.
[edit] Live cover performances
- Cuban nightclub singer Margarita Pracatan covered the song to great popular success on the BBC series Saturday Night Clive, hosted by Clive James.
- Dutch singer/actor Gerard Cox performed it as a bilingual duet with actress Marjolein Keuning on a 1999 nostalgia-show; Keuning sang the English-parts and during the third chorus Cox reminded that love doesn't come for free.
- American Idol (Season 7) winner David Cook covered the song during the Top 16 week, getting huge praise from the judges.
[edit] Sampling
[edit] Appearances and references in other media
- Richie's version of "Hello" has been featured in the films Bitter Moon (1992), The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005), Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005), Scary Movie 4 (2006), Are We Done Yet? (2007), and Shrek Forever After (2010).
- The line "Are you somewhere feeling lonely, or is someone loving you?" is used as a code in the 1992 Chinese John Woo action film Hard Boiled, and sung by Teresa Mo.
- In the sitcom Seinfeld, "Hello" was used as the background song during the scenes in which the characters of Seinfeld and George were on a pier, thinking about their lives.
- The song is performed by Jim Davidson in the 2006 film Colour Me Kubrick.
- The line "Hello, is it me you're looking for?" is sung by a male penguin in the film Happy Feet (2006). The line is also included with Richie's face on a t-shirt sold at kiosks in shopping malls.
- In the season six Family Guy episode from 2007, "Stewie Kills Lois/Lois Kills Stewie", Peter gives Lois, Richie's album, "Can't Slow Down", claiming "I didn't know who I was until I heard this album." In a cutaway, Peter is listening to "Hello" as he dramatically pleads with Richie to tell him "who hurt you."
- In the season three Community episode, "Geography of Global Conflict", the song is heard 3 times, all during the scenes involving Britta and Chang.
- The TV show Glee covered this song in the episode "Hell-O", sung by Lea Michele and Jonathan Groff.
- The song was used in a 2010 TV commercial for Yahoo!, as well as in an IKEA commercial.
- In March 2011, the "Hello, Is it me you're looking for" Missing person sign became a popular viral photo. The sign was placed on telephone poles, much like a missing pet sign, with a picture of Richie and in place of the "Call Now Number" tags at the bottom of, were the full lyrics. Another meme featured a tea set that featured a caricature of Richie's face that said "Hello"/"Is it TEA you're looking for?"
- In season 13 of Dancing with the Stars the song was danced as a rumba by Rob Kardashian and Cheryl Burke.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
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| Studio albums |
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| Live albums |
Encore (2002) · Live in Paris (2007) · Live - His Greatest Hits and More (2007)
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| Compilation albums |
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| Singles |
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| Related articles |
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