Transcript

Lionel Richie | SmartLess

From SmartLess · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 1 h 3 min · 12,971 words · 340 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "Lionel Richie | SmartLess", an episode of SmartLess published September 22, 2025 (1 h 3 min, about 12,971 words). It mentions 60 people, works and ideas, including Lionel Richie, The Commodores, Los Angeles, Kenny Rogers, SmartLess.

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 10:00: Lionel Richie, SmartLess, Smartless Mobile, SmartLess Mobile
  2. – 20:00: Harold Boon, Lionel Richie, Los Angeles, Paul McCartney
  3. – 30:00: Penny Lover, Chord chart, Endless Love, James Carmichael
  4. – 40:00: Stevie Wonder, The Commodores
  5. – 50:00: Kenny Rogers, The Commodores, American Music Awards, Bootsy Collins
  6. – 1:00:00: Lionel Richie, Alicia Keys, Band Aid, Bob Dylan
  7. – 1:02:53: Lionel Richie, Good Night, Oscar, Mark Hamill

Notable quotes from "Lionel Richie | SmartLess"

  • Tomorrow. No way. But at least she's going locally here to university here in Los Angeles. And so, so there might not be tears. I think if I think if I was to fly her somewhere and then fly away, it would be really Yeah. But it's nice.
    about Los Angeles · at
  • We'll set you up with the phone. And Jason said, You know what? I'm going to go to the Grove and I'm going to be a regular guy and I'm going to wait in line and get my so…
    about The Grove · at
  • Best cell phones. We can listen to our podcast on our cell phone and use smartless mobile.
    about SmartLess · at
  • All the way through his easy sale on three times the lady. Still he wrote Lady for Richie. You are. Yes. Yes. Oh my god. Richie.
    about Lionel Richie · at
  • And then believe it or not, Ronald Ared from the Commodores helped me out tremendously cuz he kept saying, No, that's not what happened. And then he starts calling it because as time goes on,.
    about The Commodores · at
  • Got it. And then after probably Penny Lover, probably after that, never played the never played that again. grand piano because technology came in and you can get sounds on the keyboard.
    about Penny Lover · at
  • Mean? like you're there's just it's a it's a choice to stay kind and I wonder if that would were would there struggles with that?
    about Stevie Wonder · at
  • Did because you also wrote some song like you wrote for Kenny Rogers, you wrote famously you wrote Lady. I mean you did.
    about Kenny Rogers · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Lionel Richie — Person · 9 mentions · first at
  • Kenny Rogers — Person · 3 mentions · first at
  • Stevie Wonder — Person · 2 mentions · first at
  • Maple and Franny — Person · 1 mention · first at
    You keep saying good. And you watched with Franny?
  • Harold Boon — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Still in Tuskegee. it calls off the names of everybody in life. Milton Cara Davis was one of them and u Harold Boon was another one and they just kind of said, Oh no, that's the guy's name.
  • Paul McCartney — Person · 1 mention · first at
    The greatest artists in the world cannot read or write music, there's Smokeoky, there's Paul McCartney. Once you start going down that list of folks, right, it's a pretty rare fraternity sorority, you know.
  • James Carmichael — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Long. I'll use Hello as the perfect example. Great. I wrote again, my co-producer, James Carmichael, was late for the little writing session we were having, and he walks in the…
  • Nick James — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Out with P Funk. Okay, Miss Parliament Funkadelics. when you're in Rick James, come on, guys. That's the class. for sure.
  • Bootsy Collins — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Wow. And so, Bootsie Collins, think about this. This is an era where, to get the phone call and say, I'm sorry that so and so died. That.
  • Bob Dylan — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Because we didn't have any of it. You were Oh my god, there's Lina Richie and there's Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen and Cindy Looper and like and you just go down all these…
  • Bruce Springsteen — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Because we didn't have any of it. You were Oh my god, there's Lina Richie and there's Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen and Cindy Looper and like and you just go down all these…
  • Jeffrey 71st – Miller, Charles — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Stevies were all there. Ray Charles were all there. and we had to kind of walk in and get used to each other.
  • Bob Marley — Person · 1 mention · first at
    You very much. I hang up the phone, call my friend from Jamaica. I said, When Bob Marley says, Yeah, boy.
  • Alicia Keys — Person · 1 mention · first at
    They're so connected to their spirit and they're so joyful. Like remember when Alicia Keys was on or I was just going to say she has been my favorite guest because of her light…
  • Mark Hamill — Person · 1 mention · first at
  • Beth Mike — Person · 1 mention
  • Cyndi Lauper — Person · 1 mention
  • Dave Gahan — Person · 1 mention
  • Jason Bateman — Person · 1 mention
  • John Coltrane — Person · 1 mention
  • Kevin Stitt — Person · 1 mention
  • Laura Anne Nelson — Person · 1 mention
  • Sean Hayes — Person · 1 mention
  • Smokey Robinson — Person · 1 mention
  • Waylon Jennings — Person · 1 mention
  • Will Arnett — Person · 1 mention

Books & papers

  • Truly — Book · 1 mention

Companies & orgs

Products & tech

  • SmartLess Mobile — Product · 2 mentions · first at
    Best cell phones. We can listen to our podcast on our cell phone and use smartless mobile.
  • Penny Lover — Product · 2 mentions · first at
  • Weapons — Product · 1 mention · first at
    Speaking of voodoo, I watched Weapons for the third time in last night. Yeah.
  • Endless Love — Product · 1 mention · first at
    Have memories of like when you first started to write or hum or come up with you know endless love let's say or all night long or do you remember like were you standing in the…
  • Brick House — Product · 1 mention · first at
    And as time went on, Brick House, we wrote that together as a group, but mainly the midsection of this whole thing was covered by Okay, I got you.
  • We Are the World — Product · 1 mention · first at
    I watch a lot of documentaries and one of the best ones I've ever seen my whole life was the making of We Are the World.
  • American Music Awards — Product · 1 mention · first at
    The morning. It was 7:00 8:00 in the morning from we didn't start until 2 because I was hosting the American Music Awards.
  • Good Night, Oscar — Product · 1 mention · first at
  • Academy Awards — Product · 1 mention
  • All Night Long (All Night) — Product · 1 mention
  • Grammy Awards — Product · 1 mention
  • Hello — Product · 1 mention
  • Jesus Is Love — Product · 1 mention
  • Lady — Product · 1 mention

Concepts & topics

  • ADD — Concept · 2 mentions
  • Chord chart — Concept · 1 mention · first at
    Forget it. You can't read a chord chart which just says this chord then this.
  • Hook (music) — Concept · 1 mention
  • Improvisation — Concept · 1 mention

Places & events

  • Los Angeles — Place · 3 mentions · first at
  • The Grove — Place · 1 mention · first at
  • Tuskegee, Alabama — Place · 1 mention · first at
    Tuskegee, Alabama. Right on the campus.
  • London — Place · 1 mention · first at
    Just came off of a European tour 36 34 dates from London to Germany to you name it O2 the big arenas and a couple of stadiums.
  • O2 Arena — Place · 1 mention

Sponsors

  • Smartless Mobile — Sponsor · 2 mentions · first at
    Best cell phones. We can listen to our podcast on our cell phone and use smartless mobile.
  • Apple Inc. — Sponsor · 1 mention

Full transcript with timestamps

So, this is me flying solo on a cold open. I don't know if I've done this before. I think maybe I've done this before. It's not great. This is what what you're going to find in the next few seconds is is is why this show works with three and not with one. It might work with just just Will or just Sean, but not just me. It's just not enough. It's like it's like one hand trying to clap. Um, it's just it's not it's not possible. It sounds like this. You want to know what it sounds like? One hand clapping. It's terrible, right? It's not entertaining at all. So, let me bring in the other two hands and uh let's light this candle. Here we come. Smart.

Smart. Smart. Yes. Wait. How's everybody doing today? It's morning where you are, Jay.

So good. JJ, it it is. It's morning and I'm still a little foggy from last I had a little too much sugar last night.

I know. I have a sensitive system, you know. Did you go to Sunday Funday? Yeah, we had a little peach cobbler for dessert and um it was great. It's you really the I was saying as I was driving home with Amanda saying,

you know, love love the groups there, but you just can't replace Sean or Will in the in a in a in a party dynamic, you know, dinner party dynast. Still, by the way, still, by the way, you could put cake on the ce on the picture in the head shot and I'd still probably enjoy it.

Somehow your picture would come to life and eat it up. And like voodoo, Sean, you'd all of a sudden you'd like feel a warmth in your stomach.

Speaking of voodoo, I watched uh Weapons for the third time in last night. Yeah. See it,

man. Big fan of that movie. That's Zack. You keep saying good. And And you watched with with Franny?

Uh Franny soaked it up. Loved it. It's a real director's uh uh accomplishment. Well, Franny's going away to start dress. She's going away to college. She's going away to college.

I know. I move tomorrow. Tomorrow. No way. But at least she's going locally here to university here in Los Angeles. And so,

so there might not be tears. I think if I think if I was to fly her somewhere and then fly away, it would be really

Yeah. But it's nice. You don't think that you're going to have tears? I don't think I'm going to have tears. No, because look, you know, as any parent at an early age.

Yeah, but you know, 17 year olds, 18 year olds, they they end up doing a lot of sleepouts anyway. So, you know, she's sort of like living here 3 days a week anyway.

Okay. Sleep out. Sleep out. Sleep outs. Yeah. What's the hell? Sleep out. Sleepovers. Yeah. You know,

sleep out. Hey, can you come over for a sleepout? What are you going to sleep out on the lawn?

Sean, were you Was it teary when you left? Uh, did your mom um shed tears out of her one eye when you left for college?

I think the other one still cried. It just didn't see in the box. It was in the box.

It was I opened the box later. It was cooling. It was cooling in the box. No, I remember move I remember my move in day for college though. It was like it was like 100° out. It was everybody just couldn't wait to be done with everybody. It was like get out.

It's going to be 100 tomorrow when we're shipping furniture up two flights of stairs. Is that what it was with you? Just like carrying crap. Who Who' you pay to do it?

Yeah, exactly. No, it's uh it's going to be me and Amanda and Maple. Yeah. Three cars worth of stuff.

Can I just say that were I there and this is not a hollow offer because I'm I would help to by the way.

Very safe offer that you make. That's true. But it was thousands of miles away.

I know. But it is true. I It was college was the best time of my life. I loved it. You know, I remember um before

you peaked in college. I did. I I remember my brother Mike was so impatient that before you could before computers and everything and you had to you had to um sign up for classes. He drove the car. There was a line from the building or whatever it is, the administrative building where you sign up for classes all the way down the entire street. There was like a thousand people waiting in line to sign up for class. He drove the car right up on the lawn, got me out, walked right up to the front and said, "Hey, I need to sign my brother up for classes." And they're like, "Well, there's a line." She's like, "Yeah, I know, but we were registered to come in. We had an appointment and she he just lied his way and she [ __ ] did it right away."

That sounds like me trying to get an iPhone. What do you mean? No, Jason, don't bring it up. Don't let people Google Jason Baitman's jumping line for iPhone in 2007.

Wait, what happened? Wait, Will, was it really 2007? Amazing. Yeah. So, wait, what month was it?

Uh, that's a good question. I that I don't know. I'm going to say the fall. You can give a good Yeah, because they usually release in the fall. That' be a good guess. But you got the year down. Is that right?

Yeah. Well, well, that's a year after they came out, right? Yeah, that's the year they came out. Uh Shaunie, so you know the story is JB and I, you know, the people the the nice people at Apple had sort of said, "Hey, we'll set you up with the phone." And Jason said, "You know what? I'm going to go to the Grove and I'm going to be a regular guy and I'm going to wait in line and get my so excited

romanticizing the whole queuing up, you know, like Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back, you know, and everyone like lined up.

So, so I was like, "Okay." And I was like, "I'm going to get mine delivered to my house a week early." Anyways, which I did. JB goes down. God bless him. God bless this little boy. He goes down to the crew and he's waiting in line all excited and diligently, right? He's there and the the employees at the Apple store there go, "Hey, look, that's Jason Babin Line." So they go out to him and they go, "Hey man, don't wait here. Come come come with us." So he kind of like obliges out of being polite and he goes with them. They bring him into the store and he gets a phone early. Well, wouldn't you know that Daily and Daily Mail or whoever paparazzi are taking photos of people lining up and the story comes out Jason Baitman skips line. He

jumped the line. I love that. And the story the story is out before I get back to the office. Right, Willie? I got to the office and it was already online.

Hey man, I was I was giddy. Here's the best part of the story that you didn't want the free phone sent to your house cuz you wanted to be a real person. Then you went in the line and you got out of the line anyway.

All these nice people were like, "Hey." And there was a photographer in the bushes that was taking pictures of me anyway, like in line. And so I probably should have put two and two together.

It was one of the best. Honestly, it felt like such a victory to me. And then the next year that they issued a phone, the our our nice person at Apple uh called us and said, "Hey, so we want to send you a new phone." And and we had a a staff meeting with I think it was Tim Cook at the time and he said, "Hey everybody, let's not pull another Baitman. Let's make sure we get the VIP phones out." No way.

I became a verb at the [ __ ] I love that. I love that PR fuckups at Apple are now called Baitman.

No, but they did everything right. It was me that that that uh said, "No, thanks. We're going to do today otherwise."

Well, and and now on our now we have the best cell phones. We can listen to our podcast on our cell phone and use smartless mobile.

You can use smartless mobile. Why wouldn't you? Because you're going to get less than

What's smartless mobile? What do you mean? I don't understand. Well, you have a provider. Let's say you have a provider. You have whoever

one of these big I guess if you had to. But why not save money? But why? Yeah. So why not save money

cheaper? It's less than half. What if I want to keep my number? No problem. Why are you so Why are you so tired and bullying?

I just feel like Well, on the outside chance people haven't heard our pitch. I guess I'm trying to not be annoying.

You keep our number. You can keep your number mobile. You can cut your your cell phone bill in half more than

a quick sign up. Is that what it is? You can get the app. Jason, you like apps?

I love it. We have a smart mobile the best. Go sign up everybody. Okay, let's get to our guest.

Okay, our guest, by the way, speaking Speaking of the best. We We I have brought today an absolute heavyweight. I'm so excited about this. This guy is a just bonafide decadesl long international superstar.

Okay, he is unbelievable. He has won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, multiple Grammys, Academy American Music Award things. He's written so many hit songs. He was in a band, then he had an incredible solo career, everyone. And then he wrote songs for all the biggest stars and he wrote songs for himself. And he had the hugest, he's one of the biggest record selling artists of all time. And I'm going to start to list some of his starting with his old band all the way through his easy sale on three times the lady. Still he wrote Lady for Richie. You are. Yes. Yes. Oh my god. Richie.

Oh my god. Wow. Good morning, sir. Good morning, guys. That that was the the the hamming up of the opening was just amazing.

Jason, the story about the cell phone is so embarrassing. I know. Listen, Lel, we'd love to welcome to the show, but more importantly, we'd love to get you signed up with Smartless Mobile. That's true.

What do you pay a month? Oh my god. Beautiful studio you've got there. Is that Is that the recording studio?

This is the recording studio. This is the hideout down here when I want to get totally away from everybody. The doors closed and don't

you are the man. You've been the man for so cool. It is such an honor to have you uh Mr. Lidal Richie here on the show. Let me just say Jason, Sean, and and uh and Will. Um you know, having the three of you in front of me right now is and listening is just probably the trip of my life because you know, I really admire the fact that your talent and the and you can kind of improv so seamlessly.

Well, but it's just dribble, you know, it's just talking. You know, you're going to you're about to get 50 minutes of it tuck in. Um well, uh it's such an honor to have you. Such a pleasure to have you. Uh, you're here. Here in Los Angeles. Yes.

I'm in Los Angeles. Yes. Yeah. And you've lived here how long? I feel like I know where your house is, too.

I know exactly. I've been here I've been here since 1981. In the same house? Not in the same house. No, no, no, no, no, no. I I I'm doing the I did the start off in the guest house, then you go from there to the to the main house, and then from there, okay, I'm out of here. So, you know, a couple of rentals here and there and then finally ended up here. Beautiful.

Where did you where did you start? Where where where where were you where did you where were you born? Where did you get raised?

Tuskegee, Alabama. Right on the campus. Really? Yeah. So, that's right. So, you grew up on the campus.

Right on the campus. It was It was Well, I shouldn't say right on. It was across the street from the gates of the campus. And since then, the campus has surrounded my place, my house. Oh,

and your house is not you you your parents are they are they still around? Are they still with us?

No, no, mom, dad, and grandma. But the the the memories are right there still in the house. I still own the house.

Do you really? The house is still on the campus and people pass by and go, "There's Lionel Richie's house."

Have they offered to buy the house? Do they want to absorb it and like build a new building right there for the school?

You know exactly what I why I want to hang on to it because you know, every time they say, "Lel, that's a wonderful spot." And I go, "Mhm, tear the house down and put another building up. We're not going to do that." But actually, I grew up right across the street from the president of university's house.

Oh my god. And then as time went on, they moved to the big mansion at the other end of the campus. But I mean, for the longest time, I was there with the What campus? I I don't What is it?

The University of Alabama? No, no, no. Tuskegee University. Tuskiggee University.

And what was your connection? Did you have a connection to to Tuskegee University?

Did I have a connection? Oh my god, guys. It was Tuskegee Airman. my this is my the moms and dads of of my whole little group. Number two, um believe it or not, on the deed of the house, uh you've got the Washington family who had the house before my grandmother had it and so and grandfather. So, it was one of those things where it kind of started right there on the campus with everything else. And of course, in 1923 is when they received the house

and I didn't show up at that time. I must assure you that I keep telling my kids I don't know Abraham Lincoln, but

it was pretty late after that that I showed up, but it was wonderful, man, just to have that history in the house.

And you went you went to college you went to college there, right? You went to Tuske. Oh, yeah. Yeah. You went to Tusk and that's where you kind of got your that's where you got your start. I remember reading this thing you were saying um your I want to mention that your book is coming out I want to say September 30th. Your book truly.

You named it. Oh, that and this is your first your first book. My first book. Listen, I'm telling you, if it takes me

the rest of my life. Have you ever done a book before? No. I He's never read a book.

No, never. It's left to right, top to bottom, right? I I'm going to read him a book later on tonight. It's going to be awesome.

So, let me just let me just tell you that it is painful because they keep asking you and then what happened and then you want to kind of go, okay, I don't want to talk about that anymore.

How is your recall? Cuz that I figure my recall is going to be so bad. I'm going to have to be in some sort of hypnosis to pull it all out.

You know, it all kind of worked out where, you know, the stories kind of fell into place, you know,

once you between the band, between going growing up in Tuskegee, between various episodes of that and then of course meeting and greeting around the world, it it it kind of fell into place, man. You you start calling off names and then the next name shows up and it takes a minute. Every once in a while, you have to make a phone call and go,

"Yeah, hey, who was that guy? What was that that lady's name?" You have to call somebody that remembers.

Who was the most helpful? Jason does that at home when his kids walk by. He says, "Who's that?"

Yeah. Which was that? Um, who was was there was there one person that was that was the most helpful for you uh in in uh in in recalling some of these things?

Yeah, I I have a couple of homeboys still in Tuskegee. it it calls off the names of everybody in life. Uh Milton Cara Davis was one of them and u Harold Boon was another one and they just kind of said, "Oh no, that's the guy's name." And and then believe it or not, Ronald Ared from the Commodores helped me out tremendously cuz

he kept saying, "No, that's not what happened." And then he starts calling it because you know, as time goes on,

it becomes Yeah. And I did this and remember we did that and I go, "Rich, Rich, you weren't there."

Right. Correct. Right. You're making up memories. You're like creating memories.

You know, I'm creating my And remember I came on stage and I told the crowd, "Rich, you weren't

Is that Is that Is that what people Yeah. Is that what people closest to you call you rich?"

No, they call me actually Ski is my nickname. Really? Where did that come from?

Believe it or not, of Okay. This is part of that painful book. Okay. So, what happens?

You know, your father walks in the room and looks at the baby and he goes, "Go on.

Sorry, hang on one second, Sean. father is a guy. Sorry. Yeah. My So he walks in, there's the baby, you know, and most guys would say, "Okay, yo, killer or

Bruce or you know, come here. Give me a rough name." My dad goes, "My Skioo." And I said, you know, I even questioned him. I said, "Dude, of all the names, why Skioo?" He said, "It just came out that way." Well, anyway, I'm now in high school. I carry Skioo all the way through elementary school, which is painful. painful, I tell you. And then I get to high school and the guy said, "You're gonna get killed in high school with Ski Boo." Yeah.

So, we're gonna change your name to Ski. And that was the And then it was Ski. It was never Lionel or

No. No. Yeah. Formality. Ski. That's kind of cool. Let me give you the other name so you'll know. Anytime you have a guy named Fungus, another guy named Cookie Man,

you follow me. So, Ski, I got away clean with Ski. Okay. Those are your two other be best friends.

Oh, no. We had Phead. We got some names. P Head and and Sunny Boy. We got some names. So, what a crew.

But believe it or not, can I tell you, can I tell you these guys went on to become great lawyers. One guy is a biomed nuclear engineer for NASA. I mean, come on. You know,

obviously. Yeah. So, he was the smartest guy in the stupid group. So, the rest of the guys. Wait, so getting back to recall were how good were you at keeping all your memorabilia? Um, news clippings and pictures and things like that. Good.

Got them all. You do? Really? You do? Yeah. And how did you know to do that? Was that a mom or a dad thing that that was like, "Son, keep your stuff."

It was mom, dad, grandma, cousins, aunts, uncles. They kept every clipping. And as they kind of said, I'm wrapping up the house here.

Yeah. So scrapbook after scrapbook after scrapbook. You've got volumes of the first time I did American Band Stand, the first time of this, and the first time I played it. Great.

They got it all, you know. And you got it in the book there, too. You got pictures of all that stuff.

You know what? That's in the Believe it or not, that's the second book coming. That's coming.

Wow. Smart. Wow. Let me let me ask Will and Jay. Do you guys Do you guys do it or do you have family members that archive your stuff?

No. Uh my mom was pretty good about it and I think I know where some of that stuff is. I've got some but I I think you've kind of

Scotty does every single thing I do. Oh, that's so great. That's cool. Believe it or not,

you want to lose like living with single white male. Yeah. You have candles under it with one eye open.

Wait, wait, L. I want to get I want to get into ski if I may. No, I'm kidding. Uh, I want to get into So, you start scared me, by the way. Okay, keep going.

Yeah, I'm sure. I I love that you you started. So, I read some excerpts from your book and you were talking about you were you you you owned a saxophone and you don't and you didn't describe yourself as a player. You describe yourself as a blower. And these guys were like, "Hey, man. We might

No, no. I hope I didn't write blower in the book." No, no. I'm That's the title of the book. Am I right?

No, I said saxophone holder. Holder. Holder. A big difference. It pays a big difference. Mind

blower. It's still a tricky title. Holder blower. But but but that you just kind of had it. You didn't really know how to play. you you kind of were able to you had a musical sensibility to you and you were able to mimic from stuff that you heard. Is that true?

By ear. And and that not only saxophone but by piano as well. I cannot read or write music to that point.

Wow. Wow. Amazing to me. So what makes it all kind of weird is that when you can pick up a horn and once you figure out you can now play along with Sunny Stit or you play along with Cold Train or you play along with you go, okay. And then when you sit down to the piano, you know, it's, you know, once you find out that some of the greatest artists in the world cannot read or write music, you know, there's Smokeoky, there's Paul McCartney. Once you start going down that list of folks,

right, you know, it's a pretty rare fraternity sorority, you know. Now, so do did you ever learn or want to learn the names of course like the 575 or the 164 or the sharp seventh or whatever that

Well, you know, I I I can I can say it. I can, you know, I can talk about it, but the point is

my problem was ADD or ADHD, which we didn't know back then, right? So, dota dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot dot. Okay, that's great. Now, try to read that on a page with dots.

So, tracking was the worst thing in the world for me. It wasn't that I couldn't read it, it's just I couldn't read read it fast enough to play it.

Right. So, interesting. So when you get in a room, I just forgot all that. Can you read a chord chart?

Yeah. Forget about it. Forget it. You can't read a chord chart which just says this this chord then this.

I can get it done faster by standing in a room with a group of musicians. Hum it to them.

Wow. That's amazing. That's And they are so gifted that what you do is by the time I finish the hum, they've already played it six times over.

Well, that's what I'm blown away by. all of the hit songs that we all know through all of these years that came out of your head. Like it's just fascinating to think about how did those melodies and those things come to into your head. It's it's it's just amazing.

That's the that's the weirdness of the of the God gift. You know what I'm saying? There's I I look at I look at actors, I look at comedians, I look at

and I go, you know, how did you put that together in your head? And sometimes they say that was improv, you know, half of that was this and

but how do you explain it though? Do do you just hum whatever you're feeling or Yeah.

For me, for me, if I told you there's a radio station playing right now and all I have to do is tap over into it. Now, it's only 12 notes. Here's the magic of this. It's not like I can go cheat on a lot of words and stuff. There's only 12 notes here, guys.

And so what happens is you have to know all you need is four chords and that's a whole album, you know, believe it or not. So what happens is just knowing what notes to put together. And believe it or not, I can hear that now. That's

Yeah. It's amazing. You know what I'm saying? And we will be right back. And now back to the show.

Have you enjoyed uh how it's changed over the years in your own head? Because any natural gift um does morph uh sometimes to the better, sometimes to the worse as your taste evolves and as you as you allow yourself to be influenced by things that you like and and as we get older and tempo and all that stuff. Um have you enjoyed that that process? How how your music has changed a bit?

In love with it. Yeah. You know what happens is, you know, remember it's all texture. It's all, you know, sounds. It's, you know, it's all about sonics. So when you can I started off probably about the first five years, six years on a grand piano.

Yeah. Got it. And then after probably um Penny Lover, probably after that, never played the never played that again. uh grand piano because technology came in and you can get sounds on the keyboard.

Yeah. So from that point on it I never played the same keyboard twice. Mhm. Do you do you do you remember moments like like Sean was saying like where the songs come from. Do you have you must have memories of like when you first started to write or hum or come come up with you know endless love let's say or all night long or do you remember like were you standing in the kitchen and you were like you know getting a glass of milk or you you know what I mean?

Yeah. No it's so many stories about I I'll use I'll use um probably all night long. I'll use Hello as the perfect example. Great. You know, I I wrote again, my co-producer, James Carmichael, was late for the for the uh little writing session we were having, and he walks in the door, and I'm just playing on the piano, and I said, "Hello, is it me you're looking for?" And I played the chords.

No way. And I was waiting I was waiting for him to say, "Uh, yeah, I'm here." Okay, let's get started. He said, "Finish that song."

Wow. So you already had So you already had the melody and the lyrics just came as a kind of a joke to

All I had was Hello, is it me you're looking for? Which is the corniest thing I could ever think about in life.

Oh my god, it's so great though. So if you really want to know the backstory of this, which I will tell you the backstory to this is I I didn't like it. I hated it.

Wow. And he kept saying, "Finish it. Finish it." I said, "James, this is I'll I'll be the laughing stock of the business. Who's going to write a song called Hello? Was it me looking for? And so enough, I I finished the song and then I fell in love with it and he hated it.

Because he was going, "Okay." Cuz he put the strings on it. It was very heavy heavy heavy. So are you ready for this? We threw it off the album and I wrote a song called Truly.

Uhhuh. To replace it. Of course. Yeah. No way. And then of course the next album we said, "Well, let's go back and put that Hello thing on." And that became the national anthem of As I Walk around Around the World. Hello Lionel.

Hello. It's amazing. Of course. Although Truly Truly was the number one single, too. So

Truly was the first, believe it or not, Grammy. Wow. Oh, wow. After all these songs, everyone said, "Well, you won the Grammy." No, no, no, no. You go to the Grammys and you just kind of sign up for your seat, but they don't give me anything for the first 10 years of your life.

And then finally, you walk up one day and they call off Truly. And I said, "Whoa, that's pretty cool." and and that was the beginning of the ride.

Is that is that often the way that it that it has worked for you where you you come up with you you write a bunch of melodies and then you write a bunch of lyrics and you sort of find what lyrics go with what melodies. Are they are they that separate?

I my mother was an English teacher so I I caught hell just trying to go to school every day and using the proper English. So mom can I go somewhere? I don't know. Can you? That kind of situation. So, you know, my problem with trying to write lyrics was or should I say write a song is what's the subject?

So, whatever the subject is, that's the most important thing. It's called the hook.

Yeah. So, if you write, you know, all night long, great. Or you write hello or whatever the case may be.

Then, if you have the hook, you'll write now the verses. It's only four lines per verse,

but you have to go back and put that together. My problem was I would never write the verses until the Commodore said, "We like it."

Because there's nothing worse than finishing a song and you get halfway through now. You spent your whole life on this thing

and all of a sudden they say, "We hate it. Next." Yeah. Right. Right. So, I would just go, "Here's the hook.

I'm not going to put any more work in. I'm not putting any more work." Yeah. Yeah.

But then the actual music for said lyrics just comes much later. You just figure out what melody might match this story.

It's it's da. It's all da. And occasionally you go uh perfect example is uh lady, you know, I'm your night and shining armor and I love you. Da da da da da da da da da da da. That's that.

Uhhuh. You just don't know the word. You follow me? You know, penny lover. It's almost like a call and answer.

You just kind of throw it out there. Now, there's some what we call God's words, which is why you're writing the song. some mumbles comes out in real words.

Yeah. Well, you want to hold those as much as possible. Yeah. Cuz that's the true essence of where the other side was trying to direct you really. But what about the great luck that your ear

has such incredible taste in what a melody sounds like and you also have a voice that is incredible as well. Like you've got both of these enormous talents. It's just it's it's uh it's a perfect storm.

There are a few others but uh not many. My god, you you you have just um um done my uh gratitude mantra. First thing I get up in the morning, the last thing I say at night, you know, how did it ever happen to me? Holy crap. I mean, you know,

you know, I mean, you think about very serious things in life and you don't really think about it. It was a someone said years ago when you're 19, 20, 25 and you win Wimbledon and you go, "Wow." You know, where we going to eat tonight?

Yeah. And then you turn 50 and you go, "I want Wimbledon." You know what I'm saying?

You know, when it's only looking back that you realize, "Holy crap, when was that for you?" I'm I'm so glad that you you know we we ask people that sometimes on the show, you know, do you allow yourself to

to pat yourself on the back and and appreciate where you are, where you've been, where you're going, all that stuff. It it sounds like you've got such a healthy relationship with uh and perspective on your on your life and your gifts and and I was going to that was going to be my next question is you know, you just you seem like such a a lovely man. Um how

would you tell that to my kids, please? That's um I would suspect I I would suspect JB if I can if I can jump onto your question before you finish it and just say what what I noticed is you you you mentioned early on that you got all your old buddies back and where you grew up and that you're really still in touch with um I forget it was funus no

oh yeah fungus fungus is among us fungus and all these and all these guys and and the and I think the idea that you stay so in tune and in touch with them probably has a lot to do with giving getting their perspective

well that you have. Yeah. The the beautiful part about this now, when I tell you how long we've known each other, then you're really going to know how strange it is and wonderful at the same time.

I've known these guys since preschool, elementary school, high school, college.

No way. Wow. That's really cool. I mean, honestly, and by the way, every month we have a Zoom call.

Oh, that's great. together. And we talk about just like you're sitting here talking now. We've got Zoom calls and we're sitting there talking about what you're doing and what's happening and

and who's doing what and what hurt you through. Sorry, Sh. But my my that my my question was was going to be really more about like the how many times did you was it ever tempting because we live in such a permissive culture and business, you know, like you're allowed to be your worst part often, right? Um, and was it were you conscious of making the choice to stay as sorry to use the word again lovely as you as you are? You know, like it could because it's it's easier. It's to be lazy and to be nasty and to allow people to sort of, you know, clean up after you and care for like, do you know what I mean? like you're there's just it's a it's a choice to stay kind and and I wonder if that would were would there struggles with that?

Well, I I'll be honest with you. I kind of grew up in a magical family a little bit here cuz I used to go back and ask my grandmother every day. I said, "Grandma, how do you have so much wisdom? You you know so much about life, but you've not been around the world. I've been around the world. How are you able to hold on to your your core?" Yeah. And she said, "If you learn how to treat people right in at home, the rest of the world is easy.

An [ __ ] is an asshole." Yeah. You know, and period. And so, again, we we're in this business. We're called It's called the entertainment business. We run across enough [ __ ] every single day.

Yeah. So, we kind of if you the motto that I have, if you can spot one Mhm. you make sure you don't act like him or her. Yeah, we we came we we we came across an [ __ ] recently and uh let me tell you something. We we I'm not joking. And we the three of us sort of appreciated getting that contrast of seeing that that GradeA a-hole behavior a way

gave us the gave us the perspective. And you know, it's funny. I was saying to my my one of my sons, my 15-year-old today, I was driving to work and I said, "Hey, man." I said, "Um, we're just talking about the go moving through life and so and I said, "You know what, dude? If the only piece of advice I can give you is no matter what, if you keep pushing out, love. Even in moments where you feel like you're not getting what you get, if you push it out, it creates a world where you get it back from the universe a million times. So, love on people. Be kind to people when you run into them.

Talk to people, not just here at home, we have a loving environment, but also out in the world, and it will come back and you and your experience. And don't do it with the with the hope of getting a result. Just do it.

That's right. I had the the wonderful pleasure of watching We have to go. Sorry. That was that was the at last kidding. No, go on. Go on. Go on.

I I had the pleasure of watching my dad. You know, he was one of those guys that, you know, he I just couldn't figure him out at the beginning. He would walk up to people and, you know, um um you could tell that he was a lover of people. And so he would come home some days and and um bring a man home to the house and he would uh Bert put on that's my mother Alberta. Bert put on another plate. This is Bill. Bill. Bert. Lionel. Deborah. And so he said, "I'll be back. I'm going upstairs for a minute." And so here's the guy at the table, Bill. And so okay.

And so my mother starts asking questions. Um so did you uh were you um do you work with Lionel? Um I'm a junior. So my dad's Lionel. Okay.

So, uh, have you worked with are you working with Lionel? No. No, ma'am. Were you in the military with Lionel?

No, ma'am. Are you all friends from where he grew up? No, ma'am. Well, where did you meet um Lionel?

Why are you here? He said, "Well, I just met him uh about uh at the at Kroger's." Right.

So, now my mother leaves the table to go upstairs, ask my dad. Yeah. Who the hell is this guy?

Who's this guy? Right. And of course Deborah and I, my sister, we go upstairs to hear this conversation because we want to know, too. Yeah.

And so what the the conversation was, he's going to do a job interview tomorrow

and he needs a suit. Wow. And my dad is reaching in the closet to get a suit that fits him and a tie and stuffing.

And my mother would say this argument, "Well, Lionel, it's it's one of your favorite suits." He says, "I can get another suit."

Yeah. The man needs a suit to look the part. Lionel, I am I I love that so much. You had a great example your whole life to

I was just telling somebody this story. It reminds me, so forgive me, but but it's just I love that. And and my grandfather, my mom's dad, who I was really clo I was just telling somebody last the last couple days this story. He was a great guy and I was really really close with him and he used to bring guys back. He'd he he'd bring he'd help out. He wasn't an alcoholic. He'd bring guys back from halfway house and and my make my grandmother bring them make him a meal and he'd he'd let them work. He'd pay them and then he and he'd talk to them. He died at 97.

Wow. Everybody who were his friends, his peers had died long years before. And I was just saying the remarkable thing was that church was packed.

Yeah. Cuz he reached he did stuff for people, young people all the time. I couldn't believe it. I was like, "This guy's 97. This church is packed."

Right. Yeah. That's so cool. You know, and it's just that's a testament to to his the whole life. Yeah.

Yeah. In college, I would bring guys home and no questions let's go to a break. Really?

Wait, please. Come back. I want to come back to this part. I want to come back.

No suits. I was giving no suits. Wait, no, you were taking off suits. Hey, listen, Lionel. Can you can you um ripping them off? Can we you started your first band was the Commodore. Your first big band was the comed. Can you talk a little bit about your experience, how that happened and then how you grad, you know, gradually moved away and went on a solo career. What just walk us through that a little bit if you don't mind?

Well, yeah, I was going to say that's a whole session by itself. Um well, okay, I'm back in school and it's my freshman year and of course, um I run across this guy on campus and he says, you know, do you play any instruments? And I said, "Well, yeah, I'm a fabulous horn holder." You know, I didn't tell him that I brought the horn to school to learn how to play it, but he didn't ask that, so I didn't tell him.

Horn holder. So, uh, you know, he said, "Well, we're starting a band. This is going to be a freshman talent show."

And basically what the freshman talent show was is that all the seniors and upper classmen would come in

and um laugh at the at the freshman. So, you know, we put this band together and believe it or not, at the freshman talent show, we killed it. killed it. We just we just surprised everybody.

Well, you guys just had chemistry like you just just vibe. Yeah, that's wild. You know, and back then all you had to play was James Brown and you got it, you know.

So, you guys covered a few a few songs. We we did nothing but covers. That's, you know,

and so the beautiful part about this was there was a guy in the audience who was in a band called the Jays,

which is the seniors, the greatest band in the world on campus, right? M. And so this guy, these guys were graduating and it was two guys that are going to stay around cuz they wanted to put a new band together. Michael Gilbert and Jimmy Johnson. And the next thing we got, a couple of guys got phone calls. Hey, can you guys stop by? We want to talk to you about putting a band together. Well, to get a call from them was like it,

right? And so we put the band together. Next thing we know, we have a band called the Commodores now.

That's just nuts. We played every sorority house, every frat house, every campus from here to there.

And then and then how did the songwrit how did the songwriting started? So you start you're doing covers and all of a sudden you're like, "Hey, we should write our own tunes."

Yeah. Well, that's a whole story. I mean, it's it's good though because, you know, we could cover everything. You want Sly Stone, we got Sly Stone. You what do you want? Temptations, we're Temptations. You want three dog night, we got three dog night. Whatever you need, we can play it. Um, and then it got to the point where we're trying now to figure out, okay, I think it's time for us to put a record out, right? It's going to happen. And so we started doing auditions. Well, we went to one audition that changed the whole trajectory of what we're going to do. And that was um, Philly International, Gamblin Huff, and we went in and we played every song. We killed it. It's bam. We nailed it.

And right after that, something happened. The guy came back and he said, "Guys, you all killed it." We said, "Right, we got a recording contract, right?" He said, "No." He said, "What we were thinking the whole time you were playing was cuz by the way, you sound just like Sly Stone. You sound just like the temps. You sound just like

who do you guys what what do you sound like? Wow." And I said, "Ah." He said, "I mean I mean we just waiting on what you guys sound like." Right.

That was the mission of the only way we find out who we are is we got to start writing.

Right. And then did you guys sit down and say, "Okay, well, who what which what songs do we really like covering? Which which are the ones we really explode with?" You know, was it more of a sly sound? Is it more of a Yeah.

Well, that's when the individuality came in. That's when the individuals started catching up. Some guys loved funk. Some guys loved I'm a James Taylor nut. I was a

Carol King thing, you know. I was a uh, you know, I could name it, you know. So, I was over there. Then I I realized, okay, I'm a Stevie person. I'm a Marvin person, you know, that was my wheelhouse. And then as time went on, okay, now I'm an Elton person. Now I'm a,

you know, I was in that piano man kind of thing. Sure. And so I would kind of bring in those kind of songs. Now, the joke with all of this was if you want to get a record on the Commodore album, don't try to do anything uptempo because everybody had 10 uptempo songs.

So, I figured my niche, okay? I'll bring the only slow song they have. Guaranteed I have a record on

because you got to you got to come down a little bit to go back up again when you're putting together.

You got to have that in the album. Gotcha. So the mid tempmpo I I got the mid tempmpo killed it. I got it. All right.

And as time went on, Brick House, we wrote that together as a group, but mainly the midsection of this whole thing was covered by Okay, I got you.

So the only thing happening was when the slow song came out, that was the hit. Wow. And then and then in that time when you were writing those songs when when did because you also wrote some song like you wrote um

you wrote for Kenny Rogers, you wrote famously you wrote Lady. I mean you did. Yeah. God bless.

When did you start writing for other artists outside of your own, you know? Well, Kenny was an interesting story because of the fact that it was not supposed to be for Kenny. It was supposed to be for the Commodores. Yet another slow song for the comed.

He's doing air quotes by the way, just for listening. Thank you. I forgot nobody can see this. And so what happens from here? The the the guys walk in and announce no more slow songs.

Okay. So that eliminates the brother right here. Gone. And so now I decided I'm going to put out a religious song called Jesus's Love. So I went left of that and put out a church song. Meanwhile, I got a phone call from Kenny Rogers.

Do you have one of those songs, man? I just need Right. And uh I said, "Kenny, I I I have it, but I don't have time. We're going to go on tour, and I don't really have time to do this, but I'll call you when I get back."

Yeah. Two weeks later, the drummer falls off of his motorcycle, if you can believe drummers and motorcycles.

And I called Kenny back and said, "Uh, I'm back from tour. You you I got it right.

I got it." And so, so the song was called Baby instead of Lady. That's all I had. Baby, I'm your night and shining armor and I love youa. That's it.

And I walk into the studio with him and I'm used to pitching for Commodores. Yeah. Right.

So he said, "So where's the song you got for me?" I said, "Baby, no way." No, no, no. Excuse me. He told me how much he loved his wife. And at that time, she said, "He's a fool. She's a lady. I mean, a real lady.

Okay, now what's the name of your song? I said, "Lady, baby. Come on. You got a breaking word."

I love that. You know, um, when I was 24 years old, I toured with Kenny Rogers. I was a Christmas elf in his Christmas tour.

Yeah. You played a little elf and you'd come out and you'd bring That's right. The microphone and a little

Give us Sean, just give us a little taste, Sean. just give us Well, we'd open ours the Christmas section uh session with um um we need a little Christmas right this very minute handles in the window and then um I was always high like every show I was high on my mind and um but Kenny was really nice he was a really good guy. Yeah, that's I have many many stories but not from

I know he's that guy. You could have stories forever. I could talk forever. Yeah.

Yeah. You you guys you guys were good friends for for a long time. Is that right?

Forever. Forever. Oh, really? Oh, that's great. Probably not only my friend, but my my one of my biggest mentors really.

We'll be right back. And back to the show. You wrote a lot of songs like All Night Long and Dancing on the Sea. A lot of sort of party with the Were you part of a party vibe?

I was the party animal. What are you talking about? Were you? Yeah. You know what's so funny? I mean, everyone keeps thinking, "Oh, you know, Lionel, it's really nice because you're such a street guy." Listen, man. I hung out with P Funk. Okay, Miss Parliament Funkadelics. I mean, you know, when you

when you're in Rick James, I mean, come on, guys. That's the class. I mean, for sure.

Where where were where were these years? So, you you'd left Alabama. Are we in Los Angeles now during a lot of this uh the Commodore stuff? I would say from 70 70 to probably 75 was was like everybody's going to die or everybody's going to live through it.

You know what I'm saying? This was in LA or we New York. It's across the country. LA, New York, you know, we were all touring. But

the only guys that didn't make it till late was the Commodores. Punk was already in motion three years before we made it.

Wow. And so, you know, Bootsie Collins, I mean, think about this. This is this is an era where,

you know, to get the phone call and say, "I'm sorry that so and so died." That was everyday occurrence, right?

You know, but at the same time, you know, you ask the question, how did I get through it?

You know, it's just the fear of dying, you know, because that's what's at the other end of everything you want to try there. But it was it was such an amazing period because you got a chance to see

either what you want to do or what you shouldn't do or you know cuz what's the end result? You're going to die. So not too much to think about.

I wanted to ask you um you know I'm a I I watch a lot of documentaries and one of the best ones I've ever seen my whole life was the making of We Are the World. And I know that people probably come up to you now because it just came out like a year ago or two years ago. God time is flying. Yeah, it was one year ago. I should Tracy should know that that that Lionel, you wrote that with Michael Jackson.

Jackson, right. Right. And and and as I'm watching, I'm sure I'm so sorry to like bug you about it, but I just

Please bug me. Not sorry enough. Yeah. It's just incredible that you put you with Quincy put that group of people together at a time when there were no cell phones, no computers, no. It was literally just phone calls. And I hope they call back and then I hope they show up. I hope they show up.

And they did. And it's one of the most famous songs in the history of the world, you know. Um, what was that like taking that on?

Um, I mean, it seems a massive mountain to climb. There's there's such a wonderful feeling of naive.

There's such a wonderful feeling of you don't know it's going to be a disaster,

you know, cuz there's a certain time in your life when you go, this is going to be the greatest thing in the world,

you know, and you just hang on to it, you know. And by the way, when we finish this song, we're going to save the world. We're going to we're going to wipe out hunger. I mean, think about this. We're all there to wipe out hunger, and this is going to happen.

Um, and then we start getting into the process of doing it after we finally get all these fabulous artists together. I mean, that one night was a mountain and a half to climb.

Yeah. One night. One night. One night. What time did you finish? Like 5 6 7 in the morning. It was 7:00 8:00 in the morning from we didn't start until 2

because I was hosting the American Music Awards. American Music Awards. Yeah. So I from 7 that morning to go into rehearsal the following morning.

I I had rehearsal all the way up until 5:00 for when we went on the air. We go on the air. I do the American Music Awards when it's over. Excuse me. by the way, in the middle of all this won six of these crazy awards and then at 1:00 in the morning drive over to&m studios

and we've got showtime. I mean, from that point on, I'm walking in the door and are they there or not?

And you have to explain the song probably cold to all of them, right? And this is going to be your part and this is going to be your part.

All they had was if they got a a cassette, think about that. If you got the cassette, you're doing good,

right? Most of them showed up just saying, "Okay, it's Quincy, Michael, Lionel. Okay, I I'll be there."

Yeah. Most of them didn't hear the song until they got there. Wow. So, that's just shows you blind faith.

And you just stayed up all night. This is the mid 80s. I wonder how you guys stayed up all night. It's crazy to think,

you know, and and the great words in the great words of my dear friend. Okay. Now, where are the drugs? Okay. We were talking about we were talking about Rosco's chicken and waffles. He said, "Yes, that sounds good. Where where were the drugs? Um, so then you were up for 24 hours, maybe 25, 26. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. That and that was called the B. But we didn't fall apart until about 10 11:00 the next day.

Yeah. Cuz now it's over. It's out. The baby's born. You know, we have it. You know, now we of course we got to put it together later. But the fact is the hardest part was getting it on tape.

That was the hardest part. And then what how was the what its it its reach and its effect the the desired effect uh was accomplished. Yes. The the the money that it earned and the the hunger that it alleviated.

It was beyond beyond. I remember I remember calling Quincy on the phone and I said, "Okay, they were saying, you know, we raised 10 million." Wow. Okay. 10 million. We did 20 million. 20 million. Wow. Wow. We did 30 million. 30 million. 30 million in 1980. Wow, that's like forever, you know.

So, I remember calling Quincy after we got to a crazy number and I said, "Cincy, did we say we're going to give half the money away or all the money?" And Quincy said, "Don't try it. Don't try it, Ski. Don't try it. They'll run us out of town."

Hey, Sean. Sean, out of curiosity, these days, what are you using to mop up hunger? Like, is it just a

I just use my shirt or whatever kind that I'm wearing at the No, like a sloppy joe or Okay. Um,

you know, you know, it's it was an impossible time. You have to understand everything was and and I will tell you the next thing that made it work.

No one saw it coming. Yeah. Back then, we didn't have cell phones. We didn't have live streaming. So, no one saw this coming. So, we can sneak up on the world and so they didn't. It was

I remember being a kid. I remember watching those watching you guys and watching Band-Aid and all that stuff and thinking like seeing all these superstars together

because we didn't have social media because we didn't have any of it. You were like, "Oh my god, there's Lina Richie and there's Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen and Cindy Looper and like and you just go down all these people and they're all in the same room." It was a mind blow. get this all in the same room with no managers, no lawyers,

no glam squad, no nothing. It was like, and I I I referred to it as your first day of elementary school,

right? And and your mother dropped you off, you know, and you got to go in and kind of deal with the rest of the kids on your own. I mean, Dylan was about to have a heart attack. I mean, but Bob showed up. Make that very clear,

you know. Springsteen were all there. Stevies were all there. Ray Charles were all there. and we had to kind of walk in and get used to each other.

Did you Did you see a few of them at the at the AMAs uh earlier and then say, "Hey, I I'm expecting you in a few hours. Take it easy at the party."

We I saw a few Yeah. And the ones that were coming off tour made it difficult. In other words, Stevie. Okay, I got it. Michael, okay. But is Dylan going to show up?

Yeah. I mean, is he's not known for like is he he might, he might not, you know? Springsteen's coming from his last concert in Madison Square Gardens.

Wow. Wow. But what am I saying? Stevie was in Philadelphia. Yeah. There's a snowstorm in Philadelphia. He might not get out.

Wow. Follow me. And by the way, we have no cell phone to know exactly where he is.

Right. But you've got contingencies as far as like, well then uh send Cindy Looper will sing sing this verse or

I mean it could have been the train wreck of life. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it was wild to see Whan Jennings walk out. Was that

By the way, it wasn't wild at all. Whailing was true to his Whaling was he was walking on ice just a little bit because he was there because of Willie,

right? Willie said it's going to be great and everything was fine, you know, good old boy. He's ready to go. And then we decided we're going to put some Swahili in there with Stevie walks in and the point we said was don't veer off course.

Yeah. Well, Stevie didn't get that memo. And so what happened was Stevie comes in and says, "We need a little some some African phrasing. Tutu why no Willy Moingu."

Right? I remember that. Tutu Y no Willy Moingu. And we said that about three times. And Willie said, "Ain't no good old boy ever sang no Swahili. I'm out. I'm out of here." And he left.

Gone. And the joke was joke was it wasn't Swahili, but it didn't matter. It didn't sound like good old boy. So I'm out,

you know. But we all when Willie when Willie said, "Well, there goes wh there goes whaling." I said, "Okay,

wait, wait, wait. I want to know what the I want to know what the speaking of like like the sort of like just like nonsense or words. There's all I think it's an all night long where they go there's that part goes to what is jumbo jumbo. It

It's a It's a wonderful phrase that has gone around the world that means absolutely nothing."

Yeah. So, say it again. Say yeah. Oh, we going to said demo. Right now, here's the joke. The joke was I am now trying to find some African stuff, right? And so I go in and I go, uh, let me call the the UN. I figured out call out and I said, u, I need, how stupid I was. I need some phrasing from African dialect that says infectuous partying. And the guy said, "Uh, Lionel, there's 101 African dialects." I said, "Okay, so let me get this straight." So, one part of Africa, he says, "One tribe doesn't know what another tribe is saying." Okay, thank you very much. I hang up the phone, call my friend from Jamaica. I said, "When Bob Marley says, "Yeah, boy."

What is he saying? He says absolutely nothing. Yeah. So, you follow me? Okay. So, okay. Nobody knows what the hell that is. Okay, great. Thank you very much. Hung up the phone. Tambble said license.

Yeah, that's amazing. That is so awesome. So, people stopped me. I couldn't tell you. For the first year, people would say to me, "Man, this is so great, man. You tie in. You tie in the mumbo with mumbo jumbo jumbo and they're trying to tell me what it means and I didn't want to tell them it means nothing. But I went along with it and then finally I just had to let the cat out of the bag.

That's great. I love that. Um how how often are you are you getting out there enjoying all the love that you deserve from the crowds? Uh are you still enjoying getting out there and and uh and performing live? You do a bunch of dates still.

People ask me uh you know how long does your tour last? I said it's been going on since ' 71.

Yeah. So, so how it works is very simp. We just came off of a uh European tour 36 34 dates um

from London to Germany to you name it O2 the big arenas and a couple of stadiums.

And the fact is it's still happening. I mean the point is it's still happening. So when you walk out on stage there's 100,000 people. you're walking on stage, there's 40,000 people. And the beautiful part about where it is now is that when I forget the lyrics, I just go, "Come on, and here we go."

And it gets to the point now where it's even getting to the point of the Rocky Horror Show. They know all the parts. And the next thing they do, they walk out with the the mustache, the hair, the afro, the whole thing. And those are the girls. Those are the ladies. So, so it it's really like coming to a I did Glastonbury which is the whole center of the book. The book starts at Glastonbury and and works back

and there's 200 let me give you that name. 200,000 people dressed up like Lionel Richie.

Wow. My god. And it starts there and goes back to the beginning of that's where the book is what it's all about. Yeah.

And so how did I get there? And um when you see the security guards break out dancing

that becomes okay this is a happening and so you know it's it's really the journey the the book is all about the journey.

Yeah. The longevity and the the level of quality that you've maintained for so long uh is just so astonishing. It's just really admirable.

Yeah, it is. You you you're just a you're such a like I said you're such a heavyweight. you're you're just an incredible talent and we just uh just admire the heck out of you and your your your book truly is on sale September 30th and uh I I I urge everybody to get out and and read it and I read bunch of

I can't wait to read it. It's so interesting and your story is so fantastic, man. And you you bring such positivity. You got such a positive vibe. I love it. Yeah.

And I'm I'm an MTV baby, so I grew up on you. This is this is a little surreal to meet you. It's really really cool. Well, first of all, I want to thank Will for inviting me. This has been more fun and aha discovery yet again,

you know, but it's it's it's wonderful to be able to kind of stay here at the other end. First of all,

to be alive clothed and in my right mind is probably a phenomenon clothed in our in our business. You know, normally what you have

at the end of this is well, when I came out of this clinic or when I came out of this rehab or when I you the the trick is just kind of surviving this business because it's treacherous as you well know, you know, and so,

you know, being a positive light, I found that there's there's probably one well, three simple words. I love you is what the whole world wants to hear. And

so, I didn't plan it. That's not me planning. It's just, you know, I happen to get that mission to use use those words and it's been it's serving me and and the world well.

Well, congratulations on keeping your your your light bright all of these years and untarnished and shining it on all of us. We really appreciate it. Thank you for the the hour you uh us Richie. Thank you, sir. What a pleasure pleasure pleasure. And uh I hope our our paths cross. I promise it's somewhere if you see me out just come over and tap me on the shoulder and say, "Hey, it's me, Will. Sean, Jason, come on." Hey, Rich, you wrote,

we're gonna take you up on that. Uh, thank you, Lionel Richie. Thank you so much. Continued success. His book truly comes out September 30th. Lionel Richie, uh, thanks for joining us, man.

Thank you, Lionel. Love you, too. Thanks so much. Bye. Love you. Bye. I feel bathed.

Me, too. Me, too. Isn't it awesome when you meet somebody like that who just brings like positivity and you get like contrast like just

I don't know. You know, a lot of musicians that we've had on the show, I don't know what it is if they if they if they've done if they found the thing at such a young age that they love to do that it feels it might sound really cheesy, but it seems like they've they're so connected to their spirit and they're so joyful. Like remember when Alicia Keys was on or

I was just going to say she she has been my favorite guest because of her light and her energy and and and he is a a co those are my two favorite interviews.

Yeah. Lionel Richie and Alicia Keys those are those are very good. I I I think that you're right, Sean. I don't think it's cheesy at all. I think there is something about uh musicians in that way connected to something. I don't know. And they're and then they emit that light.

By the way, you know I I ran into out here. You're going to love this shot. I forgot to tell you. Uh I ran into uh I was at this thing and all of a sudden I felt the tap on their shoulder and he goes, "Hey Will, it's Dave from Depes Mode

and it was so funny." He said the way he said Dave from Depes Mode. Wait, you was there?

He was a sweet guy. Yeah. Yeah. He was like this like a a couple weeks ago and I go, "Hey man, we just we died."

By the way, you know who's coming to the show on Wednesday? Who? Good night Oscar.

Mark Hamill. No way. Wow. Oh god. Scotty working on his outfit right now. Yeah. Are you are you putting it are you going to wear a depends?

Yeah. Or two. Or two. Two. Oh, I can't. Honestly, I can't get over that that Latin Richie though. I just got

amazing and and that we know I know like I said, I grew I was such an MTV guy. Like I would see him I would see him in all the music videos and and the the Hello video I was I was going to say and it became more beautiful because the video with the blind girl. I don't know if you guys remember that, but it was this about this blind woman and and it was beautiful. Anyway, I loved that.

The number of hits that guy has had, he's just kept he's got to be up there near the top as far as

it's like it's like it's like 150 million records sold worldwide. And he's and he's that guy. And he's like, "Hey, what's going on?"

Yeah. Yeah. Hey, what's going on? He's had like had like like like 10 or 12 number one hits. Like it's just it's insane.

Yeah. He's still touring and and he seems like he's 35 years old. No kidding. He looks amazing.

I mean, he's just I know what an inspiration man. I want to come back as Lionel Richie.

I know. Do you think he'll write a sequel? Do you think he'll write a sequel to the song Hello?

Oh, what do you think it'd be called? What kind of a name do you think he could give to it?

I mean, if you were going to do a second part to Well, that's weird. How would you How would you where would you even start? I would probably start my first I would say goodbye. Is it me you're not looking for?

We would get your nuts out of the vice first. Goodbye. Bye. Smart less. Smart glass

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Questions about this episode

What is discussed in "Lionel Richie | SmartLess"?

In order: 0:00 Lionel Richie, SmartLess, Smartless Mobile, SmartLess Mobile; 10:00 Harold Boon, Lionel Richie, Los Angeles, Paul McCartney; 20:00 Penny Lover, Chord chart, Endless Love, James Carmichael; 30:00 Stevie Wonder, The Commodores; 40:00 Kenny Rogers, The Commodores, American Music Awards, Bootsy Collins; 50:00 Lionel Richie, Alicia Keys, Band Aid, Bob Dylan; 1:00:00 Lionel Richie, Good Night, Oscar, Mark Hamill.

What is mentioned in this SmartLess episode?

60 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Lionel Richie, The Commodores, Los Angeles, Kenny Rogers, SmartLess, SmartLess Mobile. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Lionel Richie | SmartLess"?

The episode runs 1 h 3 min; the transcript is about 12,971 words in 340 timestamped sections.

More from SmartLess

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated November 18, 2025.