"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.
When composing the song, Richie was able to write all of the verses easily but got stuck when he got up to the hook. He told GQ that he kept repeating, "come on and sing along" over and over to no avail:
Finally, inspiration struck him while he was visiting a friend's house and about to go back to work in the studio:
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 pleasurable." Mat Snow of NME said it "is amongst the most justly infectious floor-fillers ever."
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.
Richie performed the song at the closing ceremonies of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
Richie performed the song live at the December 11, 2006 Nobel Peace Prize concert in Oslo.
In 2024, the song was featured in advertisements for Mattress Firm.
Personnel as listed in the album's liner notes are:
Chant vocals
Hoopa hollers
Production
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.
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.
In 2018, English musician 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.
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.
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.