You know that feeling when you're sitting at a family dinner and someone says something so simple it hits you like a ton of bricks? That’s basically how we got Lionel Richie Three Times a Lady. It wasn't some corporate strategy or a room full of professional songwriters trying to engineer a hit. It was a toast.
Lionel was at his parents' 37th wedding anniversary party. His dad, Lionel Sr., stood up to honor his wife, Alberta. He looked at her and said, "She’s a great lady, she’s a great mother, and she’s a great friend."
Richie was floored. He realized he had been married to his college sweetheart, Brenda Harvey, for years and hadn't once said anything that poetic. He felt guilty. Honestly, most of us would just go buy flowers and call it a day, but Lionel went back to his piano and wrote a waltz.
Why Lionel Richie Three Times a Lady almost didn't happen
Here is the weird part: Lionel Richie didn't think the song was for the Commodores. Not even a little bit.
At the time, the Commodores were a funk powerhouse. We're talking "Brick House" energy—heavy bass, sweat, and party vibes. Lionel looked at this sentimental, three-four time signature waltz and thought, "This is a Frank Sinatra song." He genuinely intended to pitch it to Ol' Blue Eyes.
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Can you imagine? If he’d followed his gut, one of the biggest hits of the 70s might have been a late-career Sinatra standard instead of the track that defined Motown's shift into the ballad era.
When he played it for the group’s producer, James Anthony Carmichael, he actually told him, "I want to give this to Sinatra." Carmichael, thank God, had better ears for the market. He told Lionel, "No you won’t, you’re going to give this to the Commodores." It was a massive gamble. The band was known for dance floors, not wedding dances.
The Breakout from the Funk
The song dropped in 1978 on the Natural High album. It was a total departure. While previous hits like "Easy" had a soulful, laid-back groove, Lionel Richie Three Times a Lady was pure, unapologetic easy listening.
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It worked. Boy, did it work.
- It became the Commodores' first number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100.
- It stayed at the top of the UK charts for five weeks.
- It proved that Lionel Richie wasn't just a guy in a band; he was a songwriter who could cross over into pop, country, and adult contemporary without breaking a sweat.
The Secret Sauce: It’s All in the Waltz
Most pop songs are in 4/4 time. You can march to them. You can bob your head. But Lionel Richie Three Times a Lady is a waltz (3/4 time). That’s why it feels different. It has that "1-2-3, 1-2-3" swaying motion that forces you to slow down.
Richie grew up in Tuskegee, Alabama. He was surrounded by a wild mix of music—classical piano from his grandmother, country music on the radio, and the gospel he heard in church. You can hear all of it in this track. The structure is almost classical, the sentiment is pure country, and the delivery is pure soul.
The lyrics are incredibly simple. "Thanks for the times that you've given me / The memories are all in my mind." It’s not complex poetry, but it feels real because it came from a real place of realization. Richie has often said he wrote it as a "thank you" to both his mother and his wife.
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What People Get Wrong About the Meaning
A lot of people hear the line "And now that we've come to the end of our rainbow" and think it’s a breakup song. It sounds a bit melancholy, right?
But Lionel has clarified this many times. The "end of the rainbow" isn't about a relationship ending; it's about finding the pot of gold. It’s about reaching that point of total contentment where you realize you have everything you need. It’s a song about arrival, not departure.
The Impact on Lionel's Career
Without the success of this song, we might not have gotten solo-era Lionel Richie. This was the "proof of concept." It showed Motown that Lionel could carry the weight of a massive, global pop hit on his own.
Soon after, Kenny Rogers came knocking, asking for a song. Lionel gave him "Lady" (sensing a theme here?). Then came "Endless Love" with Diana Ross. By 1982, the writing was on the wall. The Commodores were a great band, but Lionel was a superstar. He left the group shortly after, and the rest is 80s pop history.
How to Appreciate the Song Today
If you want to really "get" the brilliance of this track, don't just listen to it on a tiny phone speaker. Do these three things:
- Listen for the "Space": Notice how little is actually happening in the arrangement. It’s mostly piano and Lionel's voice. The "less is more" approach is why it doesn't sound as dated as other 70s tracks.
- Watch the 1978 Live Performances: Seeing the Commodores—a group of guys known for big afros and flashy outfits—standing still and harmonizing on a waltz shows how much they respected the song.
- Check out the Covers: Everyone from Conway Twitty to the chipmunks (yes, really) has covered this. Twitty’s version actually hit #1 on the country charts, proving Lionel’s theory that the song had deep country roots.
Lionel Richie Three Times a Lady remains a masterclass in songwriting because it took a specific, private moment—a son watching his father honor his mother—and turned it into a universal "thank you" note. It reminds us that sometimes, the best way to say something is to just say it plainly, even if you have to do it in 3/4 time.
To truly understand the legacy, your next step is to listen to the Natural High album in full. You'll hear the stark contrast between the heavy funk of the other tracks and the stillness of this ballad, which highlights exactly why it stood out so much in 1978.