Easy

Album: Commodores (1977)
Charted: 9 4
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Songfacts®:

  • Commodores lead singer Lionel Richie wrote this song, which became a crossover hit for the band, bringing them into pop and adult contemporary territory when they were previously pure funk. This led to more soft hits for the band like "Still" and "Three Times A Lady." When Richie went solo in 1981, he became a soft rock superstar with similar songs.
  • In this song, Richie sings about giving up on a relationship because it's bringing him down. He feels liberated after the breakup and has a sense of calm that's "easy like Sunday morning." The song is often misinterpreted as a sweet love song.
  • The guitar solo, played by group founder Thomas McClary, was tricky business. He explained in a Songfacts interview: "When you have lyrics in a song that say, 'Why in the world would anybody put chains on me? I've paid my dues to make it,' you have to match the intensity of those lyrics to a sound and a feel that musically portrays the same intensity and the same context of what you're saying.

    A lot of ballads, the song would just end, but we wanted the guitar solo to take it to another level of intensity. So that was basically the inspiration behind it."
  • This was an unlikely cover by rock group Faith No More, who were known for their hit "Epic." Their 1993 version was their biggest UK hit, coming it at #3.
  • This was used in TV commercials for Levis jeans. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Bertrand - Paris, France
  • Richie explained to Spin magazine the "Easy like Sunday morning" lyric: "'Easy like Sunday morning' applies to anybody who lives in a small Southern town. Small Southern towns die at 11:30 p.m. Saturday night. They roll up the sidewalk. So I kind of got that from my own experiences - that was Lionel Richie from Tuskegee, Alabama, where there is no such thing as four-in-the-morning partying."
  • We'd like to take this opportunity to explain how the Commodores got their name: The seven original members each had a name they liked, so they agreed to throw a dictionary in the air and blind-pick a word on the page it landed on. That word with "Commodore," which was a ranking in the United States Navy that is no longer used. They came very close to being "The Commodes."
  • In 2016, Lionel Richie sang this song in three DIRECTV commercials with the lyrics altered to "It's Peyton on Sunday Morning." The spots featured recently retired NFL quarterback Peyton Manning, now a fan rather than a player, discovering how he can watch the games on the network.
  • Sky Ferreria sings "Easy" as Baby's mother during a flashback scene in the 2017 movie Baby Driver.
  • Lionel Richie got into the fragrance game in 2019 with a scent called Hello. He released another in 2023, Easy Like Sunday Morning, because "even if it's a Tuesday, you want to be easy like Sunday morning."

Comments: 12

  • Contrarian Me from Los AngelesCommodores had a great horn section as most R&B bands had in that day. Lionel wrote this song with a tiny horn part to let the follows know he would soon be parting from them.
  • Costee from WbilComplete BS! Bassist Ronald LaPread wrote this song for his sister who was dying of cancer. How do I know...? I was there.
  • John Hughes, Jr. from Nashville, TnThe Commodores and their manager were in an intense yet productive business meeting with Motown. During this meeting, Lionel scribbled in his notebook "Why can't success be easy like a Sunday morning?", "Why is Motown putting chains on me when I paid my dues to make it?", and "I just want to be free from all this pressure". Later on, Lionel looked at his notes and wrote the song.
  • John Glynn from Dublin (ireland)The memorable sinewy guitar solo was played by Commodores founder, 27-year-old Thomas McClary.
  • Sam from NycHeather from LA, I too feel that this song is more than a relationship song. I see it as a song about kicking a drug habit. Back in the time this song was recorded, drugs were always referred to as a girl (she's alright, cocaine). Only for drugs does one "beg, steal and borrow" although i guess people will do it to impress a girl.
    When one is using (particularly opiates), they feel pain when it wears off ("I just can't stand the pain"). When one finally kicks the habit, they feel "easy like Sunday morning".
    In this song, I feel he's saying that he's finally decided to really kick the habit and the thought of living a drug free life already makes him feel "easy, easy like Sunday morning".
    He wants to be high (not on drugs..high on life), free to know the things he does is right. Because when you're high you don't do the right things. He wants to be himself again ("I wanna be free, just me").
    Relationship or Rehab, it's a beautiful composition. One I'll always love & cherish.
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn May 29th 1977, "Easy" by the Commodores entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart at position #78; and on August 21st it peaked at #4 (for 2 weeks) and spent 22 weeks on the Top 100...
    And on July 10th, 1977 it reached #1 (for 1 week) on Billboard's R&B Singles chart (the record that preceded it and then succeeded it at #1 was "Best of My Love" by the Emotions)...
    The week "Easy" peaked at #4 their next release, "Brick House", entered the Top 100 at position #72 and eventually reached #5...
    Between 1974 and 1986 the group had twenty-five Top 100 records; ten of them made the Top 10 with two reaching #1, "Three Times A Lady" (for 2 weeks in 1978) and "Still" (for 1 week in 1979)...
    On the R&B Singles chart they had seven #1s.
  • Dave from Wheaton, IlLionel wrote 'Easy' 'cause he was stung by charges that 'Just to be close to you' was 'too black' to played on pop radio. Info courtesy of the Billboard book of #1 R&B hits.
  • Camille from Toronto, OhWhat an excellent song! "Easy like a Sunday morning" is such a poetic phrase that immediately draws a picture in your mind. "Why in the world would anybody put chains on me?" is the perfect question to ask; people want to live their lives freely, anyone singing along to those lines sings as tho they're personally asking the question to anyone who would listen. I also love the cadence, the delivery of the words to the tune, it's like walking down a long country path, slow and easy.
  • Jordan from Los Angeles, CaStings and brass instruments accompany this song as well.
  • Jordan from Los Angeles, CaThis song features an electric guitar solo, in the instrumental section of the song. It also features the backup vocals from the Commodores during the Chorus. In addition, this song also features an unusual feedback sound that echoes in the bridge section of the song.
  • John from Nashville, TnLionel Richie wrote this song while in a grueling business meeting with Commodores manager Benny Ashburn, Berry Gordy and other members of the Commodores. While in this meeting, Lionel started scribbling down some thoughts in a notebook like "I wish success was easy like a Sunday morning", "Why does success have to put chains on me?", and "Success makes you be what everybody wants you to be". He later looked at his notes and turned it into a love song.
  • Heather from Los Angeles, CaI can understand how this could be a "relationship" song, but I have always felt that it meant something more. I like this song because it seems to talk about the constraints life and the living of life can put on people. It talks about how life can wear you down. When he says, "I'm easy like Sunday morning" to me he is talking about the calm that a weekend morning brings, and a respite, although brief, from the sorrows in life.
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