Easy

There are songs that, when played, invite you to feel a special calm. *Easy*, by the Commodores, is one of those. Written by Lionel Richie, this pop-soul ballad, released in March 1977, conveys a sense of relief at the end of a relationship. Instead of lamenting, the protagonist feels "easy like a Sunday morning", an image that Richie associated with those small southern towns that quiet down early on Saturday nights, like his hometown of Tuskegee, Alabama. The piece, originally in A-flat major, rises a semitone to A major, giving it an interesting nuance. When listening to it, one can hear an electric guitar with a distinctive slide in the bridge, right after the line "I wanna be high, so high", and a solo of electric guitar in the instrumental section.

The self-titled 1977 album, which included *Easy*, was a milestone for the Commodores. It spent eight weeks at the top of the R&B/soul charts and became their first pop album to reach the Top 5. The song *Easy* was released as a single and reached number one on the Billboard Hot Soul Singles, as well as the fourth spot on the Billboard Hot 100. This success paved the way for other ballads composed by Richie, such as *Three Times a Lady* and *Still*, and influenced his later solo hits.

In 1992, the American rock band Faith No More recorded a version of *Easy* for their album *Angel Dust*. They included it as a single later that year. This reinterpretation, which omitted the original second verse and featured a slightly more intense drum and guitar solo, became a worldwide hit. It reached number one in Australia and the top ten in eight other countries, though on the US Billboard Hot 100 it peaked at position 58. Members of Faith No More commented that they recorded it because they liked it "in a painful way", evoking childhood memories, and also as a way to distance themselves from their heavy metal fans' expectations. Lionel Richie, for his part, felt flattered by the version.