Songoftheday 5/24/15 - You know sometimes I sit and wonder just how this world would be, if we had all the people laughing and everybody living in harmony...

"Se La" - Lionel Richie
from the album Dancing On The Ceiling (1986)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #20 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 7

Today's SOTD comes from 80s pop superstar Lionel Richie, whose Dancing On The Ceiling album had already spun off four top-10 pop hits with the title track, "Love Will Conquer All", "Ballerina Girl", and the #1 "Say You, Say Me". The fifth single pulled from the record was the reggae-lite of "Se La", written by Richie with Greg Phillinganes. Roughly translated from Spanish as "Is The", I guess he might have been goin' for the French phrase "C'est La Vie" ("That's Life")....

"Se La" became the fifth top-20 hit from Dancing On The Ceiling in May of 1987. The record did much better at the adult contemporary (or "easy listening") format, where it peaked at #5, and the R&B chart, where it stopped at #12. Internationally, the single went to #12 in the Netherlands, but just missed the top-40 in both England and Germany. It would be Lionel's last hit for five years, as he took time off on his career to care for his father and to rest.

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..Here's Lionel on his Outrageous tour in 1987...

...and again from his tour in 2009...

Up tomorrow: An "American" British new wave singer goes to Motown.