Easy (Commodores song)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

“Easy”
Single by Commodores from the album Commodores
Released	March 1977
Recorded	1977
Length	4:15
Label	Motown
Writer(s)	Lionel Richie
Producer	James Carmichael Commodores[1]
Commodores singles chronology
"Fancy Dancer" (1977) "Easy" (1977) "Brick House" (1977)
Commodores track listing
"Patch It Up" (8) "Easy" (9)

"Easy" is a 1977 hit single by Commodores for the Motown label, from their fifth studio album, Commodores.

Written by Commodores lead singer Lionel Richie, the song, a slow ballad with country and western roots, expresses a man's feelings as he leaves his lover and ends their relationship. Since the narrator finds the girlfriend to be a bit of a drag, rather than being depressed about the break-up, he states that he is instead "easy like Sunday morning."

The single was released in the wake of the failure of the Commodores' single "Just to Be Close to You" at pop radio. Richie wrote "Easy" with the intention of it becoming a crossover hit for the group. "Easy" reached number-one on the Billboard R&B chart, and number-four on the Billboard Hot 100. Before "Easy's" success, the Commodores had primarily been a funk band, but the success of "Easy" paved the way for similar Richie-composed ballads such as "Three Times a Lady", and also for Richie's later solo hits.

Contents 1 Charts 2 Cover versions 2.1 Faith No More cover 2.1.1 Version differences 2.1.2 Track lists 2.1.3 Charts 3 Footnotes

[edit] Charts

Chart	Peak
Billboard R&B chart	1
Billboard Hot 100[2]	4
UK Singles Chart[3]	9

[edit] Cover versions

"Easy" has been covered by many artists, such as Clarence Carter, John Wesley Ryles, Jimmy Lindsay, Australian Idol finalist Holly Weinert Canadian Idol finalist Jason Greeley, American Idol winner Taylor Hicks, Irish boy band Westlife, America's Got Talent runner-up Cas Haley and others including Faith No More, who also released it as a single towards the end of 1992. "Easy" was sampled by the Houston-based rap group Geto Boys for the song "Six Feet Deep" from their 1993 album "Till Death Do Us Part".

[edit] Faith No More cover

“Easy”
Single by Faith No More from the album Angel Dust
Released	December 29, 1992 April 4, 1993
Length	3:08
Label	Slash
Writer(s)	Lionel Richie
Producer	Matt Wallace Faith No More
Faith No More singles chronology
"Everything's Ruined" (1992) "Easy" (1993) "Another Body Murdered" (1994)
Angel Dust track listing
"Midnight Cowboy" (13) "Easy" (14) "As the Worm Turns" (15)
Alternate covers
The Songs to Make Love To cover
The "I'm Easy/Be Aggressive" cover

Faith No More covered "Easy" following its repeated performance in the tour for their album Angel Dust and decided to record and release it in late 1992 - early 1993 was their highest-charting UK hit, reaching #3, and their final charting single in the American chart Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #58. It was originally issued on December 29, 1992, on the double A-side single with "Be Aggressive", listed as "I'm Easy", in Europe and over three months later in America on the Songs to Make Love To, it was later included on the European version of their album Angel Dust and, in 2006, on a Commercial for Levi's Jeans.

[edit] Version differences

There are two titles that the song was released under, "Easy" and "I'm Easy", the differences were based on the location that the release was intended for. Most European releases had the title "I'm Easy" whereas most of the rest of the world, including England, were labelled as "Easy". There are two different versions audio for the song, excluding live versions, which featured on the different releases. There was the "First version" which lacked backing strings and had the spoken intro "Turn out the lights baby, this one's for the ladies in the house", and there was the "Second Version" which had the backing strings but lacked the spoken intro and was referred to as the (Cooler Version) on some rarer releases. The "First version was featured on the releases:^[4]

• "I'm Easy/Be Aggressive"
• "Easy" (Japanese release)
• Angel Dust (Japanese, UK, and Brazilian releases)

And the "Second version" was featured on the following releases:

• Songs to Make Love To
• "I'm Easy"
• Angel Dust (iTunes digital and Australian releases)

[edit] Track lists

Songs to Make Love To

The Songs to Make Love To release, which was titled "Easy" on some pressings, was the American and Canadian release of the single. Its track list, which was almost identical to the German "I'm Easy" – special edition version which replaces track three with the rerecording of "As the Worm Turns" and is similar to the standard edition versions of "I'm Easy" which had the Revolution 23 Full Moon mix of "A Small Victory" as its third and last track, is as follows:^[4]

1. "Easy" – 3:10
2. "Das Schutzenfest" – 3:00
3. "Midnight Cowboy" (John Barry) – 4:15
4. "Let's Lynch The Landlord" (Jello Biafra) – 2:56

I'm Easy/Be Aggressive

The double A-side "I'm Easy/Be Aggressive" singles track lists had the first two tracks as "Easy" and "Be Aggressive" and two live tracks, with the exceptions of one fully live version which is identical to the Free Concert in the Park bonus disc and a two track French version, which are as follows.^[4]

1. "I'm Easy" – 3:06
2. "Be Aggressive" – 3:40
3. "A Small Victory" (Live †) – 4:49
4. "We Care a Lot" (Live †) – 4:02
5. "Mark Bowen" (Live †) – 3:15

Japanese version

The Japanese version was released separately as a seven track EP under the name of "Easy" with the "I'm Easy/Be Aggressive" cover image and with six live tracks that also featured on other versions of the single, its track list was as follows:^[4]

1. "Easy"
2. "Easy" (Live †)
3. "Be Aggressive" (Live †)
4. "Land of Sunshine" (Live ‡)
5. "RV" (Live ‡)
6. "Kindergarten" (Live †)
7. "A Small Victory" (Live †)

† Live in Munich, Germany in November 9, 1992
‡ Live in Dekalb, Illinois, September 20, 1992

[edit] Charts

Chart	Peak
ARIA Charts[5]	1
Norwegian Singles Chart[6]	2
UK Singles Chart[3][7]	3
Swiss Single Charts[8]	9
Dutch Top 40[9]	10
Irish Singles Chart[10]	10
Swedish Single Charts[11]	11
Billboard Hot 100[12]	58

[edit] Footnotes

Preceded by "Best of My Love" by The Emotions	Billboard's Hot Soul number one single (The Commodores version) July 16, 1977	Succeeded by "Best of My Love" by The Emotions
Preceded by "Are You Gonna Go My Way " by Lenny Kravitz	ARIA (Australia) number-one single (Faith No More Version) 15–May 22, 1993 (2 Weeks)	Succeeded by "That's the Way Love Goes" by Janet Jackson

v • d • e Faith No More Roddy Bottum · Billy Gould · Mike Bordin · Mike Patton · Jon Hudson Chuck Mosely · Jim Martin · Dean Menta · Trey Spruance Joe Pye · Walter · Paula Frazer · Courtney Love · Jake Crucifix · Mark Stewart · Desmond Trial · Scott Colbertson · Mark Bowen Studio albums We Care a Lot · Introduce Yourself · The Real Thing · Angel Dust · King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime · Album of the Year Live albums Live at the Brixton Academy Compilations Who Cares a Lot? · This Is It: The Best of · Epic and Other Hits · The Platinum Collection · The Works Videos You Fat Bastards: Live at the Brixton Academy · Video Croissant · Who Cares a Lot?: Greatest Videos · You Fat Bastards/Who Cares a Lot? (DVD) Singles We Care a Lot · Anne's Song · From out of Nowhere · Epic · Falling to Pieces · Midlife Crisis · A Small Victory · Everything's Ruined · Easy · Another Body Murdered · Digging the Grave · Ricochet · Evidence · Ashes to Ashes · Last Cup of Sorrow · Stripsearch · I Started a Joke Related articles Discography · EZ-Street · Imperial Teen · Mr. Bungle · Brujeria · Peeping Tom · Tomahawk · Fantômas · Cement · Matt Wallace Categories Albums · Songs · Members