Never Gonna Give You Up

"Never Gonna Give You Up" is a song recorded by British singer and songwriter Rick Astley, released as a single on 27 July 1987. It was written and produced by Stock Aitken Waterman. The song was released as the first single from Astley's debut album, Whenever You Need Somebody (1987). The song was a worldwide number-one hit, initially in the singer's native United Kingdom in 1987, where it stayed at the top of the chart for five weeks and was the best-selling single of that year. It eventually topped the charts in 25 countries, including the United States and West Germany.[5]

"Never Gonna Give You Up"
Single by Rick Astley
from the album Whenever You Need Somebody
Released27 July 1987[1]
Format
Genre
Length
  • 3:35 (album version)
  • 3:32 (7" vocal mix)
  • 3:30 (instrumental version)
LabelRCA
Songwriter(s)Stock Aitken Waterman
Producer(s)Stock Aitken Waterman
Rick Astley singles chronology
"When You Gonna"
(1987)		 "Never Gonna Give You Up"
(1987)		 "Learning to Live (Without Your Love)"
(1987)
Audio sample
"Never Gonna Give You Up"
  • file
  • help
Music video
"Never Gonna Give You Up" on YouTube

The song won Best British Single at the 1988 Brit Awards. In 1990, Nick Lowe quoted from the song and called it "ghastly" in the lyrics to "All Men Are Liars", a song on his album Party of One. In 2004, "Never Gonna Give You Up" was voted number 28 in 50 Most Awesomely Bad Songs... Ever by VH1.

The music video for the song has become the basis for the "Rickrolling" Internet meme, leading the song to also be referred to as "The Rickroll Song". In 2008, Astley won the MTV Europe Music Award for Best Act Ever with the song, as a result of collective voting from thousands of people on the Internet, due to the popular phenomenon of Rickrolling.[6] The song is considered Astley's signature song and it is often played at the end of his live concerts.

In 2019, Astley recorded and released a 'Pianoforte' version of the song for his album The Best of Me, which features a new piano arrangement.[7]

Production

"Never Gonna Give You Up" was recorded at PWL Studios in South London, England. The song's basslines were produced using a Yamaha DX7 digital synthesizer, while a Linn 9000 was used for the drums and sequencing. Other equipment used included a Roland Juno 106 analog synthesizer, and Yamaha Rev5 and Rev7 reverberators.[8]

Original success

On 12 March 1988, "Never Gonna Give You Up" reached number one in the American Billboard Hot 100[9] after having been played by resident DJ, Larry Levan, at the Paradise Garage in 1987.[10] The single topped the charts in 25 countries worldwide.[5]

The single also reached the No. 1 spot on the year-end singles charts in the UK and South Africa.[11][12]

Rickrolling
Main article: Rickrolling

"Never Gonna Give You Up" is the subject of a popular Internet prank known as "rickrolling" involving misleading links (commonly shortened URLs) redirecting to the song's music video.[13] Originally started by users on 4chan, by May 2007, the practice had achieved notoriety on the Internet, and it increased in popularity after its use as a 2008 April Fools' Day joke by various media companies and websites, including YouTube rickrolling all of its featured videos on that day and websites allowing people to rickroll their friends' devices.[14]

In "a couple of weeks", about 13 million people had been tricked into watching Astley's video, the BBC reported on 1 April 2008. "I think it's just one of those odd things where something gets picked up and people run with it", Astley told the Los Angeles Times in late March 2008, adding: "That's what's brilliant about the Internet."[15][16]

Astley also appeared in the 2008 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, interrupting a song performed by those on a float promoting the Cartoon Network program Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends with a lipsynched performance of "Never Gonna Give You Up".

There were reports that despite the video garnering millions of hits on YouTube, Astley earned almost no money from the online phenomenon, receiving only US$12 in royalties from YouTube for his performance share, as of August 2010,[17] but Astley denied those reports in 2016.[18]

Impact and legacy

Time Out listed "Never Gonna Give You Up" at number 33 in their The 50 best '80s songs list in 2018, adding: "Those synthesized strings, that thumping boots-and-pants beat, Astley's weirdly robust croon and his romantic-wooing-as-used-car-salesman pitch ('You wouldn't get this from any other guy')… It all adds up to three-and-a-half of the most effervescent minutes in the '80s canon."[19]

During the live version of the song, Astley often says to the audience during the last verse, "We've known each other since 1987!" referencing to the year the song was released in and later in the verse, he sings "And if you ask me how I'm feeling" and then shouts "I'm feeling bloody marvellous!" In some countries, Astley will say things like "I'm doing pretty good!" or "I'm feeling fantastic, thank you very much!" instead of the usual 'bloody marvellous' comment.

Cover versions
  • In 1997, French boy band 2Be3 covered the song under the name "Toujours là pour toi", which had success in France (No. 4) and Belgium (Wallonia) (No. 12).[20]
  • In 1998, an Italian cover entitled "Non ti lascerò" was made by Fiorello.[21]
  • Eurobeat artist Kevin Johnson covered the song in 2004 for the album Super Eurobeat 149.[22]
  • A group of London dance producers called The Rickrollerz made a house music cover version of "Never Gonna Give You Up".[23] In May 2008, the track entered the UK Club Charts at no. 22.
  • In August 2007, internet celebrity and singer Tay Zonday covered the song.[24]
  • On 25 November 2008, Barry Manilow released a version of the song on his The Greatest Songs of the Eighties album.[25]
  • In 2008, Ashley Tisdale released a cover of the song, along with three other songs of the 80s.[26]

Music video

On 24 October 2009, the music video for "Never Gonna Give You Up", directed by Simon West, was uploaded to YouTube. It has more than 650 million views as of February 2020.[27]

Track listings
7" single
  1. "Never Gonna Give You Up" (7" Vocal Mix) – 3:32
  2. "Never Gonna Give You Up" (Instrumental) – 3:30
12" maxi
  1. "Never Gonna Give You Up" (Cake mix) – 5:46
  2. "Never Gonna Give You Up" (Instrumental) – 6:19
  3. "Never Gonna Give You Up" – 3:32
  4. "Never Gonna Give You Up" (Escape to New York mix) – 7:01
  5. "Never Gonna Give You Up" (Escape from Newton mix) – 6:23
12" maxi
  1. "Never Gonna Give You Up" (Cake mix) – 5:48
  2. "Never Gonna Give You Up" (Instrumental) – 6:21
  3. "Never Gonna Give You Up" – 3:32
12" single
  1. "Never Gonna Give You Up" (Escape from Newton mix) – 6:30
  2. "Never Gonna Give You Up" (Escape to New York mix) – 7:00

Personnel
  • Written and produced by: Stock, Aitken & Waterman
  • Engineer: Mark McGuire, Bill Gee, Mike Duffy, Jon Herroon
  • Tape Operator: Burni Adams
  • Mixed by:
    • Escape from Newton mix: Mixmaster Pete Hammond
    • Escape to New York mix: The Extra Beat Boys

Charts

Certifications and sales
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[28] Gold 35,000^
Canada (Music Canada)[66] Gold 50,000^
France (SNEP)[67] Silver 267,000[68]
Germany (BVMI)[69] Gold 250,000^
Netherlands (NVPI)[70] Platinum 100,000^
Sweden (GLF)[71] Gold 25,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[72] Platinum 1,000,000[73]
United States (RIAA)[74] Gold 500,000^

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone

See also
  • Rickrolling
  • List of best-selling singles by year in the United Kingdom
  • List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of 1988
  • List of Cash Box Top 100 number-one singles of 1988
  • List of Dutch Top 40 number-one singles of 1987
  • List of number-one adult contemporary singles of 1988 (U.S.)
  • List of number-one dance singles of 1988 (U.S.)
  • List of number-one singles in Australia during the 1980s
  • List of number-one singles from the 1980s (New Zealand)
  • List of number-one singles of 1988 (Canada)
  • List of number-one hits of 1987 (Germany)
  • List of number-one songs in Norway
  • List of number-one singles and albums in Sweden
  • List of number-one singles of 1987 (Spain)
  • List of UK Singles Chart number ones of the 1980s
  • VG-lista 1964 to 1994

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