Commodores – Nightshift
#quotefromthe80s
Gonna be a long night
It's gonna be all right, on the nightshift
You found another home
I know you're not alone, on the nightshift
#Commodores #Nightshift
On January 31, 1985, a song marked a special moment in the history of a famous American group. This group formed in the late 1960s in Detroit, and established as one of the leading soul and funk groups throughout the following decade. The group was recognizable above all by the particularly warm voices, typical of soul music. We are obviously talking about Commodores, who lived perhaps their best moment in 1977 with their masterpiece “Easy”, the famous and beautiful song that says “I’m easy like Sunday morning”, sung by the hottest voice in the world, the great Lionel Richie, who was the singer of the Commodores.
The Commodores had always been a very dynamic group, with members coming in and out from year to year and from album to album, but in 1982 they had a very critical moment, because Lionel Richie, who was not only the singer and the most famous member, but was also one of the main authors of Commodores’ songs, left the group. Few months later Lionel was already at the top of the charts alone with “All night long”. The Commodores found another singer, but in 1984 another change happened, and they welcomed the voice of J.D. Nicholas, who was one of the backup voices in Diana Ross’s records, and today is still part of the band.
The voice of J.D. Nicholas, along with the voice of drummer Walter Orange, led this beautiful song to become the Commodores’ biggest hit, as well as the only song that entered the charts, since the release of Lionel Richie.
They wrote the song in the wake of emotion for two great soul artists who had both died prematurely in 1984. We are talking about Jackie Wilson, who passed away at forty-nine, who in 1987 will return famous for the relaunch of his “Reet Petite“, exactly thirty years after its first publication. The second artist mentioned in the song is of course Marvin Gaye, who died at the age of forty-four.
And so the “Nightshift” mentioned in the text could actually be the new otherworldly life of these two artists, to whom the Commodores turn, thanking them for the emotions they had given, quoting the verses of their own songs and calling them by name.
In particular, Marvin Gaye’s “What’s going on” is mentioned, and a reference is made to two Jackie Wilson songs, “Baby Workout” and especially “(Your Love Has Lifted Me) Higher and Higher”.
The Commodores, compared to the pop of the eighties, were a very niche group, faithful to their soul tradition, but they had the merit of giving us with their emotion this beautiful and delicate song.
Commodores on Wikipedia
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