Rick Astley sings his misheard song lyrics for Specsavers

For years, a friend of mine was adamant that the lyrics in The Stone Roses’ iconic “I Wanna Be Adored” were in fact “I Wanna Be A Door” – which is why Specsavers’ hearing campaign struck a chord with me this week.

True human insights are the ultimate catapult to brilliant creative work, and Specsavers did that and then some.

We’ve all been victims of singing incorrect song lyrics. It’ll be happening all over the country right now – people cooking at home singing along to the radio, punters at gigs trying to pretend they know the obscure B sides, or six-pint deep karaoke singers, adamant they sound great, even without knowing the words.

Specsavers – known for glasses rather than hearing aids – wanted to highlight the fact that everyone's hearing is different to reduce the stigma associated with hearing loss.

They did it with a man who stole the show at Glasto last year (that The Smiths set, yikes), who lights up social media any time he goes near it and is universally loved across an ever-divided Great Britain.

Mr. Rick Astley.

Astley re-recorded ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ using the lyrics people have misheard for years and the result is incredible.

Some stand-out lyrics include:

“Never gonna run around with dessert spoons.” 
“A broken mittens what I’m thinking of.”
“You wouldn’t get nits from any other guy.”

The campaign was executed beautifully; it Rick-rolled through social, content gave an insight into Rick’s own hearing loss, and of course, there is set to be a mini-series – ‘Rick’s Guide to Never Giving Up On Your Hearing’ – to follow.

Specsavers had plenty of other bits in the PR arsenal for this one, including research and psychologist commentary. However, the combination of the “I feel seen” insight, a national hero who can relate to the subject and some genuine laugh-out-loud misheard lyrics has led to outstanding earned results. 

Personally, it’s left me humming “Never Gonna Give You Up” all day and being very aware that if I have any hearing problems, I should be going to Specsavers.