Eddie Murphy's "How Could It Be"
Last weekend, I was playing a little music trivia game with my boyfriend when Eddie Murphy's 'Party All the Time' came on. Shocked he asked me "Eddie Murphy made music!?" I exclaimed "Yes! 'Party All the Time' is him! I didn't know for years either". So, after SNL's 50th anniversary special and the new Shrek movie on the way, I thought it about time to cover Murphy's music on here!
Without further ado, let's take a deeper look at his 1985 album "How Could It Be".
'Party All the Time' was produced and written by Rick James
The song was a top ten hit, making it to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100! James is also featured on the song. The album was also produced by Aquil Fudge and Stevie Wonder (who produced and wrote tracks, 'Do I' and 'Everything's Coming Up Roses'.)
The song's music video won best urban contemporary video award at the 1985 American Video Awards.
The album was part of a bet
"How Could It Be" was recorded as part of fulfilling a $100,000 bet that Richard Pryor had made with Murphy. Pryor bet that Murphy wouldn't be able to produce a musical album without jokes. In the album's liner notes, Murphy wrote: "To Richard Pryor, my idol, with whom I have a $100,000 bet. No, motherfucker, I didn't forget."
Murphy addmited in a 2023 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel that Pryor never paid him the money before his death in 2005.
Murphy's experimental writing approach
Murphy wrote three tracks on the album: 'C-O-N Confused', a disco track, 'I, Me, Us, We', a Parliament homage, and 'My God Is Color Blind', a song about anti-racism. Murphy wanted to test himself and his writing, seeing what he could do with music.
Famous photographer Annie Leibovitz shot the album cover
Reviews
Barbara Bryson criticized the song in the LA Times, stating "Gumby goes disco". LA Times also placed the song at number one on "The Video Bottom 10" list.
Critic Scott Benarde (Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel) declared the song as the worst single of 1985: "catchy uptempo dance number...Murphy adds nothing but his ego to it. His voice is paper thin and buried in the mix. Anyone could have sung that tune the way it was produced. Murphy should stick to imitating Gumby". Ouch!
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