1985 Songs: Nightshift

Tweet

Wow, this is 40 years old now. This is another song that almost made the top ten. (When you see the top ten you’ll probably wonder why it didn’t. ) This is a beautiful song about a very bad time in R&B. Let’s go back to 1985 and sing along. Nightshift - Commodores Lionel who? While Lionel Richie was scoring a lot of (really lame) hits, his old band, the Commodores, were floundering. Then came an awful year in R&B music, a lovely tribute, and a group revival. On September 29, 1975, Jackie Wilson was performing at an “oldies” show. He’d been told by Elvis Presley to sweat a lot onstage, so Wilson took a lot of salt tablets. It caused dehydration…and worse, a heart attack. Wilson survived but was left in a semi-comatose condition for the rest of his life. (Elvis paid a lot of Wilson’s initial medical expenses.) Finally, on January 21, 1984, Wilson died at 49 from pneumonia, one of the complications of his condition. And I don’t have to remind you about April 1, 1984. One of the saddest moments in music, Marvin Gaye was shot to death by his own father the day before the junior Gaye’s 45th birthday. My late, lamented friend, comedian Tim Wilson, used to say that Marvin Gaye was the greatest R&B singer ever, and offered, as proof, “He sang a song about fish with mercury in their stomachs (“Mercy Mercy Me [the Ecology]”) and women were taking their clothes off to it as fast as they could.” He gave “sexual healing” long before that song. So Commodores co-lead singer Walter Orange (the man who sang lead on “Brick House,” or as he sang it, “Brick OWWWse!”) wrote this tribute to two of R&B’s greatest performers. It was the first hit the Commodores had since Richie left the band, and it’s a memorable one 40 years later. Nightshift Written by Walter Orange, Dennis Lambert, and Franne Golde Recorded by the Commodores From Nightshift, 1985 Say you will sing your song forevermore: