We do not have any highlights of this year's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, but we have one from the previous year. I believe it was Nick Lowe who summed it up for the rest of humanity in “All Men are Liars” when he said: “Do you remember Rick Astley? / He had a big fat hit that was ghastly. / He said I’m never gonna give you up or let you down. / Well I’m here to tell ya that Dick’s a clown.”


He was referring, of course, to Astley's overexposed 1987 hit "Never Gonna Give You Up." Soon after, the phenomenon known as “rickrolling” was born. You're listening to something on the radio, or you're clicking on a link that you expect to take you somewhere, only to come face to face with the realization that you've been "rickrolled" as in the above example.

Well, we wouldn't be man with black hat unless we provided you with the "literal remix" version, would we? And for another example, we show the fat guy from "Family Guy" getting the rickrolling he richly deserves. He was warned. (Hey, didn't Astley follow up with another turkey of a tune that sounded too much like the first one? Something about moving heaven and earth? No wonder he's relegated to "Behind The Music" segments and celebrity convention appearances for the rest of his life.)

Alas, not even executive privilege can stop the wrath of the mighty rickroll from entering into ... hey, wait. You clicked on it, didn't you? Obviously the good old-fashioned Chicago political machine did its dirty work from inside the Beltway. But be advised that such a fate awaits all of us. Something to consider for this week's Friday Afternoon Moment of Whimsy.
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