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Normally, I'm not a big fan of some radio advertising, but I have to admit, if this aired here, I'd give it a listen. This one's airing in Britain but what makes it so unusual is that it's a re-record of an old hit, with all the commonly misunderstood lyrics, known as mondegreens, replacing the real thing.
The song is "Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley, and it has a good motive - telling people to get their hearing checked.
"In the new version of the track, Astley now sings about “dessert spoons”, instead of “desert you”, and has replaced “your heart's been aching” with the line “your aunt’s been naked”.
As well as this, the music legend can now be heard singing about “broken mittens” and “seeds” at various points in the track."
There's a reason they turned to Astley, who admits he's now suffering from mild hearing loss and can understand how the words can be misinterpreted. He's urging those suffering similar problems to get their hearing checked.
The spot is for Specsavers, a relative newcomer to Canada, but a well-known chain in the U.K.
It's not exactly Rick Rolling. Maybe more like Rick Trolling. But at least it's for a good cause.
Rick Astley re-records top hit 'Never Gonna Give You Up' - but with a twist
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This isn't the first time "misheard lyrics" have been used in a commercial. In fact, this was the first one of those I ever saw and it's one the few ads that kept me watching everytime it aired, because it's 30 seconds of brilliance.
It was for Maxell tapes back in the late 80s and it used a huge hit record to make its point. To this day, it still makes me laugh. Some here may still remember it.
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RA:
Great commercial, my laugh for the day. Thanks for posting.