"Can't Fight This Feeling" is a number-one power ballad from
REO Speedwagon about a man falling in love with a girl with
whom he has been a friend for a long time.
The song first appeared on REO Speedwagon's 1984 album
Wheels Are Turnin'. It was the group's second number-one
hit on the U.S. charts (the first being 1981's "Keep on Loving
You", also written by Kevin Cronin) and reached number sixteen
in the UK. "Can't Fight This Feeling" has appeared on dozens of
'various artists' compilation albums, as well as several REO
Speedwagon greatest hits albums. It has also been featured on
soundtracks of movies such as
Not Another Teen Movie,
Waiting..., and, most recently,
Kickin' It Old Skooland
Sex Drive. The song was also heard on the
South Parkepisode "Miss Teacher Bangs a Boy", the
Fringeepisode "Power Hungry" as well as in the Showtime
hit series
Queer as Folk. REO Speedwagon performed the song at the
1985 Live Aid concert and it was sung at the end of
Horton Hears a Who!.
It was referred to again recently in The CW show
Supernatural(in the second season episode #5, "Simon
Said", Jo Harvelle turns this song on for Dean Winchester in
Harvelle's Roadhouse, later he sings it in the car claiming the
song had stuck in his head). It was also featured prominently
in advertising for the film
Horton Hears a Who!, and sung by the major characters
near the end of the movie as the titular character celebrates
his vindication and his charges' salvation. It was also used in
a Valentine's Day 2009 commercial for Hallmark Cards, and was
sung in the hit show . It was again featured in an early
episode of King of the Hill when Dale marries Nancy.
Two different music videos exist for the song. One is a
basic video, appearing almost homemade, featuring the band in
the studio. It begins with Kevin Cronin playing the piano,
attempting to find the key in which he can best sing the song
(starting off in G major, he later decides he can sing it
better in A). After Cronin exchanges some laughs with his
bandmates, the song officially begins; the video essentially
consists of the band members lip-synching to the original track
of the song. It then concludes with Cronin uttering the
memorable line, "That warmed the cockles of my cockles!" The
other version of the video is much more "professional," and
makes various references to the life-cycle. Both videos have
been shown at various times on VH1 Classic.