Rhapsody Reminder: Rick Astley's "It Would Take a Strong, Strong Man" and Its Function in Courtship

The first song that Rhapsody spit out on random play this morning was Rick Astley's "It Would Take a Strong, Strong Man," that delightfully smooth and tiny bit funky late-80s love song meant to make you ache and shake as much as Rick does in the chorus. I love how the music video contrasts Rick's coolly tortured romantic with his spastic band and backup singers (they're in fine form at the :52 mark):



In a moment of courtship bonding and mutual nostalgia, my first boyfriend and I ran out to the Tower Records in the Castro in San Francisco to purchase Rick Astley's Greatest Hits after we started singing "It Would Take a Strong, Strong Man" at each other. This was long before the easy days of Rhapsody or iTunes or imeem or YouTube, when you could just conjure up a song with the power of a few keystrokes. So a Tower CD purchase?—man, that shows connection and commitment (or, at the very least, horniness). Ah, memories. We don't talk to each other anymore, and he doesn't even read this blog. I can't say that either of us are aching or shaking, but that's all right. Good ol' Rick takes on that burden for us. For you. For the whole wide world.