Lionel Richie – Say You, Say Me

“Say You, Say Me” – Single by Lionel Richie from the album Dancing on the Ceiling
B-side “Can’t Slow Down”
Released: October 29, 1985
Songwriter: Lionel Richie
Producers: Lionel Richie, James Anthony Carmichael

For the 1985 film White Nights, a ballet drama starring Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gregory Hines, director Taylor Hackford asked Richie to write a title theme. Unable to compose a song with “White Nights” in the title, Richie submitted a demo of the ballad “Say You, Say Me”. Eventually, Hackford approved the song and included the completed version in White Nights. Produced by Richie and James Anthony Carmichael, the song was primarily recorded in Richie’s living room. In White Nights, “Say You, Say Me” was introduced over the closing credits.

In the US, the “Say You, Say Me” single sold a million copies and was no. 1 on for two weeks on the Billboard “Hot Black” chart and for four weeks on the Hot 100.

A music video, also directed by Hackford, was made for the song. It featured inserted clips from White Nights.

Embed

Copy and paste this HTML code into your webpage to embed.

Lionel Richie - Say you, Say me

lionel richie-say you say me04:02

Motown refused to let Atlantic Records include this on the movie’s soundtrack album because they didn’t want Richie’s first release since his 1983’s Can’t Slow Down to be from a different label. Richie included the song on his next album, Dancing On The Ceiling (he was going to call it Say You, Say Me, but too much time passed between the single going to #1 in 1985 and the album’s release in 1986). The single topped the Hot 100, the R&B chart, and the Adult Contemporary chart.

This earned Richie an Oscar for Best Original Song, beating out another #1 single from the movie, “Separate Lives,” performed by Phil Collins and Marilyn Martin. It also won a Golden Globe in the same category.

Visits: 1