Say It Ain’t So by Weezer is one of my top ten favorite songs ever. Without doubt, it is my go-to karaoke hit. Many a person has seen my screaming these lyrics into a mic in front of ten, maybe twenty people! My passion drips as I scream, “LIKE FATHER, STEP-FATHER!”
I like a lot of Weezer songs but this one I like the most. It is in my head. I hope it is now in yours.
SAY IT AIN’T SO by WEEZER
I wonder if there’s a Wikipedia for only this song? This is!
Written by frontman Rivers Cuomo, the song came to be after he had all the music finished and one line, “Say it ain’t so”.[2] Cuomo made a connection to an incident in high school where he came home and saw a bottle of beer in the fridge. He believed his mother and father’s marriage ended because his father was an alcoholic and this made him fear the marriage between his mother and step-father would end this way as well.[3]
In 2008, Rolling Stone ranked “Say It Ain’t So” #72 on “The 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time.”[4] Pitchfork Media included the song at number 10 on its Top 200 Tracks of the 90s.[5]
“Say It Ain’t So” is a playable track in the video games Rock Band [6] and Rocksmith 2014[7] in addition to appearing on an episode of Hindsight.
Any more, I dare ask?
The music video for “Say It Ain’t So”, directed by Sophie Muller, met with less success than the previous two Weezer videos directed by Spike Jonze, but the song still successfully climbed to the top 10 of the Modern Rock Tracks chart.
As noted in the Weezer DVD collection Video Capture Device and the slip cover of the re-released special edition of the group’s debut album, the band filmed the music video at the house where the band used to rehearse and record. The video also features a cameo by the band’s webmaster/band photographer/archivist and close friend for many years, Karl Koch.
A small poster of Mercyful Fate/King Diamond frontman King Diamond is visible several times throughout the video, most clearly during the final chorus, just as Rivers Cuomo turns his mic around
Aren’t you glad you clicked now?
