Weezer's "Say It Isn't So" vs Hall & Oates' "Say It Isn't So"

YES I AGREE!

Weezer is so entirely inconsequential.

I am frequently castigated for my H20 love. I'm so glad there's H20 love on ILM.

I'm always amazed that Hall'n'Oates has all these singles people are ape for and its fucking "Private Eyes" and "Maneater" I hear everywhere.

Miccio totally OTM! I've been gradually really getting into H&O over the last year or so, and it's not like I've never been to a dentist's office before...they just never play the really great shit!

Also, I would fucking love to hear Hall and Oates in their prime covering "Say It Ain't So." The Weezer performance is one of the high points of 90s rock (certainly the best thing they ever recorded) - but I think Hall could pull it off.

Yeah, since this thread started I've heard "SIIS" and it is sweeeet. "Say It Aint So" might be one of my least favorite Weezer singles, though it's still fine enough.

There was this band in my high school that did basically Beach Boys songs, "Runaround Sue" and "Say It Ain't So." Singer was a fat kid with a cowboy hat.

They weren't an intentionally quirky band or anything, they were just kinda inexplicable.

I'm ready to like "Say It Ain't So" a little now, but still.

I take back what I said about Weezer.. Of course around the time I wrote that message was probably around the last time I listened to 90s Weezer up until a few weeks ago. Their streak of brilliance pretty much ended when Sharp left, obviously.

This TS is still very difficult for me. "Say It Isn't So" might be my fav H&O song.

This is that Weezer song I was trying to remember the name of some weeks back while I was in the car and couldn't! Yeah, I liked that one at the time, I really did, but it makes me wince now. It's got that same "cooler-than-thou" thing that so much fucking emo crap has these days, and it's really just a bunch of power chords and little else isn't it? The Hall & Oates tune on the other hand has never been one of my faves of theirs, but I like the way they make it sound like everything is echoing. So yeah, Hall & Oates win. Which I didn't expect when I first clicked on this thread!

it's really just a bunch of power chords and little else isn't it?

Well to be fair/pedantic it does start off with the full chords and has a few bitching licks/good solo.

And Say it isn't so is probably my third least favourite song on the Hall & Oates greatest hits I have after One on one and Wait for me.

Alfred! He dared to diss One On One! My heart is breaking. Please stop now.

I haven't stopped.

The laid-back Southern rock comping on "SIAS" is actually pretty good, but its not nearly one of my favorite Weezer songs.

The weezer tune is great but the progression is basically lifted from "Where is My Mind" by The Pixies.

OMG the H&O video ends with a shot of the WTC. "SAY IT ISN'T SO" INDEED.

Anyway, the H&O song is too damn long. I choose Weezer for brevity.

That's cuz the video uses the 12" version!

Holy shit, I think Steve's on to something re: Pixies. I've played them side by side now and it isn't really a ripoff but the comparison is definitely valid. And I feel like I knew that subconsciously. Wow.

The weezer tune is great but the progression is basically lifted from "Where is My Mind" by The Pixies.

-- St3ve Go1db3rg, Sunday, April 27, 2008 6:44 AM (12 hours ago) Bookmark Link

isn't every chord progression pretty much lifted from some other pop song?

The video uses the 12" version! Hahah. I love it.

xpost

Perhaps, Surmounter, but an awful lot of bands ripped off the Pixies.

I feel the chord sequence is fairly common. Is it not also in "Teenage dirtbag"? :/

a lot of chord sequences that make for really catch songs are fairly common, IMO

it's really just a bunch of power chords and little else isn't it

There is more to rock music than chord progressions.

Say It Ain't So and Where Is My Mind share the same chords but in a different order, and the tempos are similar.. however they also have different vocal melodies, different counter melodies, different guitar fills, different production, different lyrics, and the musicians play the songs differently, and also Frank Black and Rivers Cuomo do not have similar vocal styles.

also the instruments used on both songs are different

also different producer

Yeah.. what I was saying is that I'm sick of people saying that song was "ripped off" from another because the chord progressions are similar.

Perhaps, Surmounter, but an awful lot of bands ripped off the Pixies.

H&O didn't!

I don't think SIAS was "ripped off" from WIMM and I don't think the shared progression takes anything away from it being a great song. But I think the case for WIMM influencing SIAS is strong and I think it's an interesting connection. It's not a super-obscure chord progression (and not just power chords-- WIMM verse goes E C#m G# A, SIAS verse goes C#m G# A E), but it's not exactly a "standard" progression either. The G# following the C#m rather than preceding it and then resolving deceptively to the A is pretty distinctive.

Can we get back to discussing what is clearly the superior of the two tracks?

I love this thread.

What if you think they're equal?

Hall & Oates' "Say It Isn't So" is the greatest song of all time.

Are you people out of your fucking minds? I hoped that the hipster world's brief foray into Hall and Oates apreciation ended that stupid week where Ben Gibbard made that dumb list on Pitchfork, then Pitchfork had that dumb news feature about their tour. It's not like the Weezer "Say It Ain't So" falls under their dubious ironic period, it's just great.
― Roadkill Bingo (Roadkill Bingo), Wednesday, April 6, 2005 11:11 PM

I listen to H&O about 10x more than Weezer, but "Say It Ain't So" is Rivers' best song, and "Say It Isn't So" wouldn't make my list of top 20 H&O tracks
(I'm sure Alfred already made this list, so I'm off to compare it with my own mental list).

https://humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2017/01/02/mano-a-mano-the-best-of-daryl-hall-and-john-oates/

Say It Isn't So would sound amazing coming from nearly any other band, but it's up against things like I Can't Go For That and Kiss On My List.

Why haven't Weezer ever put out a greatest hits btw? They're totally a singles band.

they did, it's the one with the blue cover

No Head, no cred.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhTa2PeIdxs

I would not have guessed that that guy had a soft-rock/folkie period