Tonight on Sunday ` she survived the earthquake, but could she survive the rescue? Calm, collected and buried alive. Hey, people are doing everything to save you! And the whole ordeal unfolding before Sunday cameras. SOBS: Oh my God... Have you talked to your wife? Have you talked to your wife? Yes. Is she alive? Is she alive? Yes. I am here with three or four students who are alive. Others are dead. My name's Jessica Clarke. I'm 18 years old. I'm super excited. Breaking into Victoria's Secret. She was one of the most beautiful girls I'd ever seen. What does set Kiwi girls apart? Jess will be the next big thing. Cos I know there's another melody in there. SINGS: # Stuck on you. # Got this feeling down deep in my soul now I just can't lose. # Right? Love Song Lionel. SINGS: # I know it sounds funny, but I just can't stand the pain. # How melodies are born. Eight, nine, 10, 11, 12. I don't know. Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright TVNZ Access Services 2012 Kia ora. I'm Miriama Kamo. It was our first national emergency. Our response teams had been planning ` training ` for such an event for more than a decade. And yet, when the February 22 earthquake hit Christchurch last year, a lot went wrong with emergency services. Alec Cvetanov knows this more than anyone. His wife, Tamara, was trapped for more than 12 hours by the collapse of the CTV building. It was an horrific ordeal played out in front of our cameras. Hey, people are doing everything to save you! The Christchurch earthquake has plunged the city into chaos. Are you in the classroom? Alec Cvetanov has finally got through to his wife, Tamara. But she's still trapped under the rubble nine hours after the CTV building collapsed. WOMAN: Is she alive? > WOMAN: Is she alive? > Yes, there's another five people alive. I wouldn't believe she would be alive, but she was. The main thing was to... to locate her. Well, in which classroom you are?! Elated that Tamara is alive, Alec convinces fire and police officers to let him help search for her. Here he is, scrambling over the rubble. For Alec, it would be the longest night. Tamara and Alec Cvetanov came here from Serbia and Macedonia to Christchurch to begin a new life; to start a family. ALL CHANT MELODIOUSLY The Russian Orthodox Church remained a big part of their family life. (CHANTS) Now their son Todd and daughter Katarina worship here. Back in Serbia, Tamara was a paediatrician. That was actually here. Wife go here to work as a doctor. But she didn't automatically qualify to be a doctor in NZ. She knew even before even come here that it's hard to get registration, but she accepted that challenge. That's why, last February, she was on a course at King's English Language School in the CTV building when it collapsed. Frantic, Alec raced to the scene. It was ruined and in smoke. The area was cordoned. Police wouldn't let you in. Alec didn't know if his wife was dead or alive. I could see, the western part of the building, I could see rescuers cutting the concrete. And then tried to call Tamara. For hours, he tries ringing her, but the network is down. Then, incredibly, Tamara answers. What Alec doesn't know is Tamara has already spoken to police-emergency many times an hour earlier. What's more, Tamara has given the police a clear description of where she is in the building. MAN: Next to the television centre? MAN: Next to the television centre? Yes. Yeah. What level were you on? You're on level three? You're on level three? Yes. Yes. I'm sorry. You're on level three? Yes. Yes. I'm sorry. OK. OK. Um, what are your injuries? Um, what would you be looking at if you looked out the window? Alec knows Tamara sits each day in a third-floor classroom overlooking Madras St. And I just jumped on the building. Now, when I say building, I could recognise her floor. I could count the bonding beams up to the third floor. But now those beams are tightly stacked before him. Then I went knocking with the stone, and on the phone, she said, 'I can hear your... knocking.' At the meantime, some of the rescuers came, and they would knock once. Answer from inside is once. They knock twice. Answer is twice. When you heard that, you must have had a pretty good idea where she was. Because I knew where she was prior to the quake. Tamara is under concrete that was once her classroom. I was excited. You know, w-we located somebody no more than 3m by 3m. Let's say 10m2. She said, 'I'm in a` in a small tunnel. 'We are five of us. There are four Filipino, uh, students.' I'm talking to the police. I'm telling him what I heard. Then some volunteers turn up with listening devices. They were actually pretty antique. One instrument looked like a funnel. He would go on the spot. Knock. Listening. And he would tell me, 'Alec, I can hear they are talking between them. I can hear conversation.' What happened then? What happened then? Nothing happened. I wanted to go back again. Pull away the rubbles. Nothing happened? You must have been terribly frustrated. I was absolutely frustrated. But you wouldn't give up. That's the eastern side where your` where your wife was trapped, yeah? That's the eastern side where your` where your wife was trapped, yeah? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So where was your wife relative to this? So where was your wife relative to this? Somewhere here. So she's in behind this wall here, yeah? So she's in behind this wall here, yeah? Yes. And you've already been up there to show them where it was, yeah? And you've already been up there to show them where it was, yeah? Yes. So you believe you were standing just a metre or so away from where Tamara was trapped. That is... the thing that's... I can't say killing me, but being metre or two away from... someone you love and she's dying and you can't help. Can't help because having found where his wife is located, the police are now ordering Alec to leave. I was feeling I was not wanted there. And that's all because of my safe` safety. I'm surprised why, but somehow they surrounded me, many of them, and, OK, we back off, we back off, we back off. And then they put the tape around. Everyone must go behind the tape. And... I was separate from there. You'd found roughly where Tamara was. Why didn't they bring in concrete cutters to open up a hole and rescue her? Uh, I was surprised there wasn't a-a concrete cutter there. That was the device we needed that moment. As these police photos show, there were concrete cutters used on the western side of the building. But what about on the side where Tamara and four others were trapped? After the break ` Was there a shortage of concrete cutters on that side of the building? There wasn't any there, John. Hello?! She's in... She's in the classroom! Alec has located his wife, Tamara, and four Filipino students still alive but trapped under the collapsed CTV building. He's found them by using a cellphone and tapping on concrete, but Alec has been removed from the site by the police. I said, 'Police, listen. Nothing is happening. I want to go up. I'll pull it out stone by stone.' 'No, you're not allowed.' We wanted to know what should the emergency services have done. Tamara and four others were still alive under the rubble. In this situation, what is international best practice? The answer: tunnelling. Carefully moving in by securing the` the area around that tunnel. And this would require the use of hand tools ` cutting tools, small lifting tools. Steve Jensen is a professor of disaster management at California State University. There's some places where you just can't build any more. He's studied the emergency response at Christchurch and reckons emergency services were unprepared. We would have expected more extensive pre-planning, uh, for, what uh, was possible in Christchurch. So why didn't the rescuers do as Steve Jensen suggests and use small lifting tools, concrete cutters and tunnel in to save Tamara? Was there a shortage of concrete cutters on that side of the building? There wasn't any there, John. Alan Edge, owner of Southern Demolition. He was driving one of two huge cranes used to clear debris from the eastern side of the building. A local distributor arrived early in the place with a lot of cutting equipment. Um, he was sent away. Um, they didn't think they'd need him, and I don't` uh, to this day, I don't know who sent him away. So I went back there at, uh, around about 4.35 in the morning. Uh, approached both cordons again and, um,... still... Still didn't want your concrete cutters? Still didn't want your concrete cutters? No. Darrin Rich is a professional concrete cutter. His diamond-tipped portable cutters can rip through a slab of concrete in less than five minutes, and he was just one of 10 cutters at one firm itching to help open tunnels for rescuers. It felt really horrible driving away from a place that, you know, needed help. Yeah. Yeah. And, um, I was basically not wanted when I was there. SOBS: Oh my God... But no one is as frustrated as Alec Cvetanov. That looks OK. You see, he's an engineer, but once he was also a soldier trained in fire-fighting and emergency search and rescue. There was no idea what to do now. OK, we know someone is alive underneath our legs, and we can't help. And we just wait and wait... and wait. It was probably... best described as organised chaos. The chain of command, um, was sadly lacking. YELLING When the quake hit, neither the regional fire commander nor the area commander were in Canterbury. SIREN WAILS The operational headquarters was damaged. Digger driver Alan Edge says, at first, there was no coordinated team effort. There was a lot of chiefs, uh, running around, an-and sometimes the loudest voice got heard. Was there no one person in charge? No. At CTV, the quake cut the mains. Fire appliances soon ran out of water. A helicopter was called in, but the fire in the lift shaft soon took hold. I know that my crew and myself, we did everything we humanly could to` to help people out of that building. Steve Warner ` he's a fire-service veteran. He commanded the first appliance to get to CTV. < Were you short of any specialist equipment? No, initially we weren't. Um, because as we first pulled up, we were assured of water. Did you use concrete cutters? We weren't using concrete cutters o-on the east side of the building. Um, we were using hammers, uh, crowbars and things like that to get through. Steve Warner was the officer in charge of the east side of the CTV building where Tamara was trapped. You had to get the rescue done fairly quickly because there was the threat of people suffering from smoke inhalation as well as being trapped. And that meant making a controversial decision. I made the decision to start delayering on that building very early on. I thought it was quite early on, simply because there was the risk of smoke inhalation. Delayering ` using the huge cranes to remove concrete slabs. I think it was three or four bucketloads of stuff that they took off before we found the first person we could rescue. However, delayering is extremely risky. It's possible that we could destabilise that whole pile and, in fact, crush a victim that's maybe salvageable. Steve Jensen believes delayering using digger drivers untrained in search and rescue illustrates major flaws in the rescue response. To somebody that is working in construction all their life ` to throw them in a digger into a pile of rubble is a big ask and could have a lot of consequences for that person. < You didn't think about tunnelling right away? No. No. Not from where we were. There was just no option of tunnelling. The, um, the floor... the floors and ceilings were just` just so close together. Couldn't you have used concrete cutters to cut through those slabs? We didn't have a concrete cutter. So we used hammers and crowbars and chipped through. For digger driver Alan Edge and his staff, the next 19 hours are a nightmare; confronted by carnage they could never have imagined. Uh, one of them's still getting, uh, counselling. Uh, one of them had a breakdown. Uh, one of them had a breakdown. And yourself? Uh, one of them had a breakdown. And yourself? I'd rather go to war. < It was pretty horrible. < It was pretty horrible. It was disgusting. < What were your instructions in terms of the way that the diggers were used? (INHALES) Vague. I talked to the two digger operators working on that side of the building before we started and, um, and I explained to them why we were doing it; why we had to do it quickly. There was no radio communication between the digger drivers and the ground-rescue team. MAN: Roger. Tamara didn't know it, but when she first got through to police emergency at 9.39, tons of rubble were being lifted above her. Were you aware that there were five students trapped on the east side, talking to police emergency? No, I wasn't. No. If you had had that information, would you have continued with delayerisation? I may have suspended the delayerisation. I may have stopped it and ascertained, um, w-where those people exactly were. Steve Warner was stood down at about 10 o'clock, but did Tamara's pleas for help get through to the officer who then took charge? No, he heard nothing about a 111 call or anything like that. But even if the emergency call wasn't relayed, surely they listened to Alec. He said that he saw Alec, and he took him over to the police and he explained what was going on. Who do you think was in charge at that stage? I asked USAR members, police, fire-fighters. 'We don't know.' And the answer will be this... It did not appear that there was any attempt to, at least at that side of the building, to be able to move in an-and effect any kind of a rescue. Hello?! For hours, Alec keeps phoning his trapped wife. She was, for sure, alive until 1.13 after midnight. So Alec's wife, Tamara, is trapped in the rubble of the CTV building. Alec's been waiting for help for her for over 10 hours. We're back in a moment. Now,... I can't blame those people. (SNIFFLES) These are still my heroes. 1am, February 23 ` Tamara Cvetanov has been trapped under the rubble of the CTV building for more than 12 hours. She can hear the rescuers outside and has spoken by cellphone with the police and to her husband 31 times. She's having trouble breathing. They know she's alive, and they know where she is. So why can't they rescue her? It's ringing. (SPEAKS SERBIAN) I was 110% sure she'll be, uh, pulled out. As the delayering continues into the next morning, Alec Cvetanov keeps talking to his trapped wife. His last call to Tamara is at 1.13am. She, uh, suggested, 'Alec, my phone battery is going down. I'm down to two bars. I want to turn it off. 'What do you think?' 'Good idea. Turn it off. Switch it on when you need me.' And that was last conversation. From behind the police cordon, Alec calls out to the digger drivers. To a few of the digger drivers, I said, 'Please be careful. My wife is still alive there with four others.' 'Don't worry, Alec. We will take care.' I spoke to Alec. I spoke to Alec. What did he tell you? Uh, that his wife was in there. That he'd been talking to her on the cellphone. He probably couldn't work out why things weren't going faster. And he told you where he thought his wife was, did he? And he told you where he thought his wife was, did he? Yeah, um... It was pretty hard not... knowing how the building had fell. Uh, there was digger lights and temporary lights, but to actually get the full layout of the way the building had, um, fell down, we didn't really see it until the next morning. The next morning would be too late. 20 minutes after he'd last spoken to Tamara, Alec watches in horror as delayering starts on the corner where she's trapped. One of the diggers had a big sci` uh, scissors. They decided to cut the bonding beam. He lifted the scissors and complete bonding beam went up. Dust. And one of his men who was guiding him said... he whistled, 'Cut off.' Did you actually see the digger lift the beam? Did you actually see the digger lift the beam? Yes. What did you think when you saw that? What did you think when you saw that? Hope is gone. Is it possible that when the diggers went in there, there were still survivors underneath? Anything's possible in... in... in that situation. Alec waits, watching throughout the night. At 6am, he finally sees concrete cutters being brought across from the western side of CTV. They cut three holes on the location where we were. That took them less than one hour. And I believe, at that stage, they could see the bodies. Alec now believes Tamara was killed by falling concrete when the beam was cut. Body was crushed and burnt. I can't blame those people. (SNIFFLES) These are still my heroes. How are you, Alec? How are you, Alec? Hello, Alan. How are you, Alec? Hello, Alan. CHUCKLES: How are you, mate? How are you? How are you? I'm very well. 13 months have past since Alec and Alan last met. Plenty of time for reflection. As I said before, I can't blame anyone that was on the site. They... people did their best. There was no coordination. No-Not a leader. And regardless of the individual skills of the people involved, if you` if you don't manage them, they wouldn't succeed. Uh, that's damn right. Uh, that's damn right. Isn't it? It comes to that. Yep. Yep. No communication between the teams. Just wait and wait and wait. Uh, I don't know what we were waiting for. CHILD SINGS IN SERBIAN Alec, Todd and Katarina still remember Tamara with flowers. Katarina carries a photograph album so she won't forget what her mother looked like. And Todd sings the songs Tamara once was so proud of. And Alec? He wants an inquiry. Not just a coronial inquest into Tamara's death, but for the Government now to order a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the whole emergency response. Alec is still haunted by questions about Tamara's death. Were her emergency calls relayed to the rescuers? Why was there no attempt to tunnel in and save her? Why was she and four others crushed beyond recognition more than 12 hours after the earthquake? This is not a blame game. This is about public service. Absolutely, and that will th-the best tribute for my wife. Sunday has its own questions, like just who was in charge of search and rescue at the CTV building, and for that matter, the whole city? The fire service and police wouldn't comment because it's now before the coroner. As you saw, Alec Cvetanov hopes the Government will order the Royal Commission to investigate. Attorney-General Chris Finlayson declined our invitation to be interviewed. So we will keep you posted. Later on Sunday ` Lionel with lessons on love songs. SINGS: # I'm easy. # I'm easy like Sunday morning. # Right? You get that verse, then you figure out... (SINGS) da-da-da-da-da-da. Love him. All right, next, the Kiwi sharing Victoria's Secrets. My name's Jessica Clarke. I'm 18 years old. I'm super excited. Classically beautiful, but with a modern twist. Jess will be the next big thing. She's just 18, she's from Palmie, and she scored one of the biggest coups in the modelling world. Jess Clarke from Palmerston North is the first Kiwi model to appear on the catwalk for Victoria's Secret. the $6b a year underwear icon. Tim Wilson met her in New York and discovered she's at the forefront of a new wave. Increasingly, style's 'it' girls are Kiwi girls. Lights, rappers,... Are you ready? ...lingerie. The Victoria's Secret Show is a gaggle of skinny girls in their scanties. There's a lot of adrenalin pumping, and there's all these dancers around you. A three-ring circus of legs and curves attracting 10 million viewers in the US alone. And then you get down the catwalk, and everything's black, and everyone's looking at you. In the middle of this stylist glittering mash... This is my first year in Victoria's Secret, and I'm 18 years old, so I'm super excited. Victoria's Secret's first Kiwi on the catwalk. Hi, my name's Jessica Clarke. I'm from NZ. Fresh out of Palmerston North and making big strides in the world's fashion capital. I got scouted, uh, at the movie theatres when I was, um, with my family in Auckland. Everything kind of took off when I graduated high school... and came over to New York, and that's when it started, yeah. When I first saw a picture of her, I fell off my chair. My jaw dropped. Just said she was one of the most beautiful girls I'd ever seen. Jess grew up playing hairdressers with Mom as the guinea pig. Brutal! > Now the 18-year-old gets paid a king's ransom to sit and have her hair done by a battalion of fixers. To be honest, we didn't actually really know what Victoria's Secrets was. But it turns being quite a... quite a flash thing. And a big deal for an 18-year-old who was just a little over a year ago at Palmerston North Girls High. It's always kind of, I guess, been in the back of my head ` modelling. Um, but I've never` I've never wanted to pursue it as a career. So it was kind of like a` just a 'give it a go' type thing. So, um, yeah, no, I didn't think much of it, I guess, at the start. WHISTLE BLOWS, CROWD CLAMOURS Good try, Jess! > Back then, her world was netball, and her dream was to win a Silver Fern bib. Well done. > We've never really seen Jess as being particularly good-looking or she's just another scruffy kid who... (INHALES) She's not ugly. Fantastic. Would you like to give us a twirl? Fantastic. Would you like to give us a twirl? APPLAUSE < That's beautiful. Thank you, Jessica. You could be a model one day. We're still getting our head around that she's actually a model. Good girl. That way. I'm really proud of being, like, a Maori girl, and nobody I know is Maori in the industry, so it's something different. Something I have to explain to people, unfortunately. Cos we're a little isolated in NZ, but, uh, yeah, it's cool to be unique that way. ENGINE HISSES, REVS This locally bred glamour puss is equally comfortable feeding cows on the family farm. I wasn't a typical girly girl. Kind of like always up a tree somewhere. Or, like, playing sports with all the guys. Just not the typical girly girl. Kind of like a Kiwi girl, I think, I would describe myself as. Oh, I was always kind of a dork. Heels against the wall. And while she struts her stuff all over the world, to her cousins back home, she's still just Jess. You'd think she'd be, like, 'Oh, I broke my nail,' or something like that, but she's not. How old are you? You're taller than auntie now. How old are you? You're taller than auntie now. BOTH CHUCKLE She likes to kick back and stuff. She likes to kick back and stuff. Do they understand 'kick back' there? She's pretty much got two lives, eh? One on the camera and one off the camera. CAR HONKS Two lives, yet at the moment, it's the Big Apple and the big dollars that are calling, making her world spin. Do you sometimes feel that someone's going to come and tap you on the shoulder and say, 'We've discovered that you're an imposter. You don't belong here. Hop it.' I don't know. It's kind of surreal. It all happened so fast, so you kind of just... I haven't, to be honest, really got to sit down and realise the things that I've done. London, Paris, Milan and her new home, New York. Once she got off that plane, everybody was floored. Jess will be the next big thing. As well as posing provocatively for Victoria's Secret, Jess has stalked the catwalk for Calvin Klein, Paul Smith and Armani and caught the eye of America's Top Model judges. Sexy. She has sleepy, dreamy eyes. So that means trouble. Good stock; good blood. Um, you know, and wh-who knows? Maybe it's all that milk. We're backstage at D&G. She's in an exclusive club, including these Dolce & Gabbana ads shot by Mario Testino, who often photographs British royals, which helps explain how this photograph alone earned Jess more than NZ$150,000. And that basically was, like, half my year's wages. So what? Around $125,000. For one picture. For one picture. For one picture? For one picture. For one picture? Yep. It's her personality. It's obviously how she looks, and she's just a little bit different from all the other girls cos she's really genuine. More of it these days is more about your personality because it's your personality that really goes a long way. It's not just Jess. She's leading the charge of a growing number of Kiwi models who are hot property in New York right now. I think NZ girls have a great energy, great sense of style. Um, and I think, just in general, they're really positive. Lisa Diruocco, a model manager at industry powerhouse IMG, represents some of the biggest names in the business, like Gisele Bundchen, Kate Moss and Heidi Klum. Right now, you are starting to see a lot of NZ models and I think, you know, y-you find one, and then, before you know it, there's, you know, 10 in the industry and then that sort of starts the... the trend. Indeed, the very day we arrived, IMG had just received some exciting news. We just found out that Anne-Marie, one of our NZ models, just confirmed Givenchy exclusive for the fashion show in Paris. What does that mean for a young model's career? I guess it would sort of be like winning the Oscar. That could start a whole new trend where people then start, you know, flying to NZ. Just find more girls like Anne-Marie. Jess is managed by a smaller agency, but one that's known for turning good looks into gold. What have we got here? What have we got here? OK. Well, this is, um, kind of the model wall. This is the wall of glory? This is the wall of glory? CHUCKLES: Yeah. This is the wall of glory? CHUCKLES: Yeah. Where's you? Typical modelling; I'm hardly recognisable. (CHUCKLES) (CHUCKLES) Is this you? CHUCKLES: Yeah. CHUCKLES: Yeah. You're blushing. Because it doesn't really look like me. It's pretty sweet. As for some of the prejudices about models' vagueness, Jess admits they aren't entirely unfounded. Good view. You can see the ocean and stuff, which is nice. Uh, that's actually the, uh, Hudson River. How long have you lived here for? (CHUCKLES) Wow, that's embarrassing, right? That's the stereotypical model that just came out. My dad's going to kill me for that one. My dad's going to kill me for that one. Is he? Dad might be halfway around the world, but Jess still turns to her parents for guidance. It's extraordinary, actually, because she went to New York as a 17 year old. She was effectively living by herself in Manhattan and travelling across the Atlantic a couple of times every month. (CHUCKLES) It wasn't faultless, but you know, she really was in the deep end. A sink or swim thing, really. Parental advice comes via the internet nowadays, but when Jess was starting, they went with her as she travelled the world. She has some tricky times. It's not all beer and skittles with what she's doing, and we're sort of coaching by Skype. (CHUCKLES) It seems to be the way it's... the way it's done now. That coaching kicks in when dealing with the N word. Nudity doesn't sit comfortably with me at all, um, cos she's my daughter. But it is Jessica's choice now. Cos once that's shot, obviously, that's out there. We're comfortable with a certain level. We would like to think we could still intervene if she made bad decisions around the nudity thing. Don't you feel like a bit of a minus, strutting around in your gruts? CHUCKLES: Yeah. I know. You feel a little bit dorky. But I guess it's` it's` everyone's doing it at the show, and it's part of my profession now. Fitting in trips back home these days isn't easy for this globetrotting teenager. Is that a good size? That is all right. But she savours every minute when she gets the chance. Like, fill up this a little more, eh? Skype and all the technology's great, but still not quite being home and eating pauas and cream or, you know, just being with the family. Look at that. Look at that. Yum. If she's unhappy, I mean, it's time to come home. It's time to pull the plug. Guys, I made cupcakes. No danger of that yet. Thanks. The right people are paying attention to her and the right designers, so we're really excited. The face has the glamour world running to her right now,... The sky's the limit. I really think she'll do extremely well. Um, she's doing really well right now, so, and she'll go all the way. And Jess isn't ready to call time just yet either. New York's one of those places where if you're there, everything's going. If you` If you stop and walk, you're going to get run over, you know? Every turn, there's something different and new, and there's always something unexpected around the corner to look forward to. Man, isn't that cool? Last year, Jess banked US$500,000 from modelling. Not bad for an 18-year-old, remember, but Jess did spend half travelling to jobs, $2000 a month for rent in New York, and the rest for flash clothes on auditions. It is expensive being famous and in demand, isn't it? All right. Next, Lionel Richie deconstructs a love song. It's the same chorus. (PLAYS LYRICS) SINGS: # Say you, say me. # Now if I just play those chorus by themselves, and you go... (PLAYS PIANO) Lionel Richie has written and sung some of the greatest love songs ever ` Three Times A Lady, Say You Say Me. About 30 years of schmaltz. Well, tonight, a Sunday masterclass with Lionel Richie. How does he do it? How has he seduced the world? How has he made his millions? So to answer the question for you ` I don't know. LAUGHS: And the reason for that is because... (PLAYS PIANO) there's no logical reason why I know that there's another melody in there. < Yeah. # Stuck on you. # I've got this feeling down deep in my soul now that I just can't lose. # Right? Now, that's-that's... Now the same... # I know it sounds funny but I just can't stand the pain... # That's the same... Keep going. Keep going. # Deep-river woman. # See what I'm saying? See what I'm saying? Yeah. # Lord, I'm coming home to you. # Now watch me. Same thing is when you start dealing with... (PLAYS CHORD) Same chord. Same chord. < OK. # Well, my friends, the time has come to raise the roof and have some fun. # Throw away the work to be done. # Let the music play on, play on... # Everybody sing, everybody dance. # Lose yourself in wild romance. # We're going to party, Karamu, fiesta forever. # Come on and sing along! Now, to answer your question ` how do I get there? God only knows. God only knows. < Yeah? I'm just glad he lets me know from time to time so that I can put the song down. # All night long. # Oh. # All night long. # Yeah. # Understand where we're going with this. Understand where we're going with this. OK. If you were to leave this house right now, do you hear that silence? That piano does not play one note for you. That piano does not play one note for you. < It does not. It's the loneliest feeling in the world. I mean, everyone goes, 'What are you going to do next, Lionel?' And the answer is,... 'Did you... Did you hear that, God?' 'Did you... Did you hear that, God?' BOTH LAUGH It's very lonely here. So I want you to know that I'm very happy that you're impressed. So I want you to know that I'm very happy that you're impressed. I am so impressed. But then I go back into my workshop and go... (PLAYS PIANO) # Da-da-da-da-da-da # da-da-da-da-da-da. # There's only 12 notes. You've got to find the next one, so that's the beauty of this thing. And so` Working within the confines of those notes? Working within the confines of those notes? It's only 12 notes. So if you think, now ` do the math ` 35 years of records with 12 notes. Whoa! OK? Whoa! OK? < Far out. Whoa! OK? < Far out. So that's my story. (CLAPS ENTHUSIASTICALLY) So, Lionel, this is what success buys? So, Lionel, this is what success buys? Um, yeah. Yeah. Now, the simplest thing I can say to you is I write hook first. So you get... # I'm easy. # I'm easy like Sunday morning. Right? Right? < Yeah. You get that first. Then you figure out... # da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. # You've got it. And then you go home and try to figure out... write about it. So,... # sail on down the line # about a half a mile or so. # And I don't really wanna know, ah, # where you're going. # Maybe once or twice, you see. # Time after time I tried # to hold on to what we got. # But now you're going. # And I don't mind... Now, that's the story. # ...about the things you're gonna say, Lord. # I gave all my money and my time. # I know it's a shame... # You write` You write` This is happening. This is happening. Wow. Lion-el. Lion-el. Wow. Lion-el. Lion-el. Because it's such a slab... This is the joint. This is my tranquillity. And here's the scary part. Are you ready for this? You have to go inside yourself. Ah! What's that word now? You have to be vulnerable. It's almost like group therapy. I'll be very vulnerable for a minute, and you'll think, 'Oh, this is the sappiest song I've ever written in my life.' And then you realise the sappier it appears, the more vulnerable it is, the more honest it is,... < Yep. ...I just told the truth. < And the more it speaks to people. < And the more it speaks to people. That's exactly right. # That's why I'm easy. # I'm easy like Sunday morning. # Yeah. # How did Three Times A Lady come about? How did Three Times A Lady come about? Oh God. Now, you know, you're talking about 200 years ago, and I'm thinking, 'How did that happen?' I-I heard it was something your father said to your mother. That's exactly right. I was at, I think, a thanksgiving or... It was one of those celebrations where we were all around the table, and my father had done something that I absolutely thought was out of character for him. He decided to make a speech about my mum. Your mother's special, so he was, 'Toast to Alberta. She's more than just a mother, 'she's more than just a friend, she's more than just a lady.' You know, 'she's kind of three times' was his theme. And, of course, I wrote this song, Three Times A Lady, and, of course, he worried me for the rest of his life ` where's his cheque? Fair enough. So I spent the rest of his life paying him off. # You're once, # you're twice # three times a lady, # and I love you. It's your turn. ALL: # Yes, you're once, # you're twice, # three times a lady... # I don't know whether I found the pot of gold or not, but love is the only subject that does not go out of style. I don't care whether you're a gangster, a mobster, a politician ` whatever. It doesn't matter your occupation, sooner or later, you're gonna use 'I love you', and you're gonna say it to somebody. # Tell me how to win your heart, # for I haven't got a clue. # But let me start by saying, # 'I love you.' # It's that simple. They don't want to hear 'I like you' or 'we could be good friends'. That's cute. But those three letters, and the whole world wants to hear it. That's it. # What a feeling # when we're dancing on the ceiling. # I'm more of a hazard to the golfers than I am to... < Well, the next album, Tuskegee` The fact that you can say it... The fact that you can say Tuskegee ` I am shocked! Well, Shania Twain. Well, Shania Twain. Oh yeah. > She got involved, but it was pretty hard to get her involved, wasn't it? She lost her voice. I didn't know she lost her voice. It sounded great to me. See, I didn't know that this was happening. First of all, I just want to thank you for... after all of this time off pondering, that you chose this route back in. I said, 'Here's the problem. When was the last time you sang on stage?' She said, 'Seven years ago.' 'When was the last time you sang in a recording studio?' 'Seven years ago.' I said, 'Oh, there's the problem.' See, most artists` We're egotistical maniacs with inferiority complexes. As long as we're standing in front of a microphone or standing on a stage, we're fine. BOTH: # ...tell me how much you care. # Oh, oh, yes. # You will always be # my endless love. And she turned around and looked at me, and I said,... 'Of course.' Welcome back, Shania. Welcome back. Um, and by the way, um, I told you so. Thank you very much. # And love. # And love. # Oh, love, oh, love. BOTH: I'll be a fool for you. # I'm sure... < Well, you cured her. < Well, you cured her. Not so much. I just introduced her back to herself. BOTH: # You mean the world to me. # Oh... # # Oh... # Well, just keep on singing. # Oh... # Well, just keep on singing. ALL LAUGH # You mean the world... Shits. Oh! You see... Did you see how you just left Lionel Richie standing right looking at you? # Say you, say me. # Say it for always. # That's the way it should be. # Say you, say me. # Now, if I just play those chords by themselves, you go... That was magical. That was magical. That was a musical lesson in 'I don't know'. Well, thank you so much. Well, thank you so much. My pleasure. Welcome to my house and-and my crazy world. and-and my crazy world. < Oh! (LAUGHS) Man, I love that story. So fans like me will be delighted that, uh, Lionel is releasing that new album, uh, albeit featuring duets with a parade of country stars like Shania Twain. Uh, that is our show for tonight. Don't forget to look us up on Facebook. Thanks for joining us. See you next week. Pomare.