"All Night Long (All Night)" is a song by American singer and songwriter Lionel Richie from his second solo album, Can't Slow Down (1983). The song combined Richie's Commodores style with Caribbean 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. 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. 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.

Reception

Cash Box 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 pleasureable."

Music video

An accompanying music video for "All Night Long (All Night)" was produced by former Monkee and TV video pioneer Michael Nesmith and directed by Bob Rafelson.

Notable uses

Richie performed the song at the closing ceremonies of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. The song was used in the pilot episode for Miami Vice, "Brother's Keeper". While Richie was supposed to appear in the episode to sing it, he was on tour at the time and could not make it to the filming location; an unnamed band plays the song in the episode. The 1997 film The Fifth Element, introduces character Ruby Rhod singing a few notes of the song for his livestream broadcast. 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

Year-end charts

All-time charts

Certifications

Personnel

Personnel as listed in the album's liner notes are: Chant vocals Hoopa hollers Production

2011 version (with Guy Sebastian)

Richie recorded a new version of the song with Australian singer Guy Sebastian in 2011. All proceeds went towards the Queensland floods and New Zealand earthquake appeal. The re-recorded version was produced by RedOne 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 and the Metropole Orkest on a version of "All Night Long". Collier's arrangement won the 2020 Grammy Award 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 Billboard 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) [2020 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 Lionel Richie. Boontjes first performed "Deze Nacht" on the morning show Sanders Vriendenteam on NPO 3FM. Due to enthusiastic responses, Boontjes decided to record a studio version of the song and release it as a single. The song reached 7th position in the Dutch Tip Parade. This was Boontjes' first hit. The song also reached the Tipparade in Flanders.

Samplings

Parts of the song were used in "I Like It", a 2010 song composed by Enrique Iglesias, Pitbull, and RedOne with samplings from Lionel Richie as the 1983 classic is interpolated after the first and third choruses.