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Say It Ain't So

1995 single by Weezer

Field	Value
name	Say It Ain't So
cover	weezer_say_it_ain't_so.png
type	single
artist	Weezer
album	Weezer (The Blue Album)
released
studio	Electric Lady (New York City)
length
label	DGC
writer	Rivers Cuomo
producer	Ric Ocasek
prev_title	Buddy Holly
prev_year	1994
next_title	El Scorcho
next_year	1996
misc

Note

the song by Weezer

| B-side =

"No One Else" (live acoustic)
"Jamie" (live acoustic)
Alternative rock
emo
power pop

"Say It Ain't So" is a song by the American rock band Weezer. It was released as the third and final single from the band's self-titled 1994 debut album on May 15, 1995. 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." Cuomo made a connection to an incident in high school where he came home and saw a bottle of beer in the refrigerator. 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 stepfather would end this way as well.

"Say It Ain't So" is widely considered one of the band's best songs. In 2015, Loudwire ranked the song number three on their list of the 10 greatest Weezer songs, and in 2021, Kerrang ranked the song number two on their list of the 20 greatest Weezer songs. In 2008, Rolling Stone ranked "Say It Ain't So" number 72 on their list of "The 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time." Pitchfork included the song at number 10 on its "Top 200 Tracks of the 1990s."

Background and composition

"Say It Ain't So" is an alternative rock and emo song with a duration of 4 minutes and 18 seconds. According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Hal Leonard Music, it is written in the time signature of common time, with a moderate rock tempo of 76 beats per minute in the key of C minor.

In an official Genius annotation made by Cuomo, he said that Patrick Wilson helped him to write the song; he asked Pat what a two-syllable word for refrigerator was and Pat immediately said "Icebox!"

Music video

The music video for "Say It Ain't So", directed by Sophie Muller, was met with less success than the previous two Weezer videos, which were directed by Spike Jonze. However, 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.

Track listing

Standard CD, 10-inch, and cassette single

"Say It Ain't So" (remix) – 4:17
"No One Else" (live and acoustic) – 3:15
"Jamie" (live and acoustic) – 3:53

All live acoustic tracks were recorded on 99X in Atlanta, Georgia

Personnel

Rivers Cuomo – lead and backing vocals, guitar
Matt Sharp – bass, backing vocals
Patrick Wilson – drums

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1995)	Peak
position

Year-end charts

Chart (1995)	Position	US Modern Rock Tracks (Billboard)
14

Certifications

Release history

Region	Date	Format(s)
May 15, 1995	Alternative radio	DGC
June 27, 1995	Contemporary hit radio
July 3, 1995	CD	Geffen
July 10, 1995		DGC
	Geffen

Sample

Asher Roth sampled the song for his debut rap single "I Love College". After the song leaked onto the internet, Rivers Cuomo reportedly refused to clear the sample, which prompted Roth to debut a remixed version of his song as his official debut single.

In popular culture

"Say It Ain't So" is a playable track in the video games Rock Band and Rocksmith 2014, in addition to appearing on an episode of the television series Hindsight (2015). In October 2024, "Say It Ain't So" was added to the Epic Games rhythm-based game Fortnite Festival.

References

"Wireless".
Luerssen, John D.. (2004). "Rivers' Edge: The Weezer Story". ECW Press.
Cornell, Jeff. (March 6, 2015). "10 Best Weezer Songs".
Law, Sam. (August 9, 2021). "The 20 greatest Weezer songs – ranked".
"The 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time".
(September 3, 2010). "The Top 200 Tracks of the 1990s: 20-01".
(August 6, 2015). "The 95 Best Alternative Rock Songs of 1995".
Sigur, Matthew. (June 19, 2018). "'Say It Ain't So': Weezer's Scott Shriner on how the band has stayed relevant for nearly 25 years". [[The Advocate (Louisiana).
Cuomo, Rivers. (20 August 2012). "Weezer 'Say It Ain't So' Sheet Music in C Minor". [[Hal Leonard LLC.
"Somebody's Heine / Is crowding my icebox / Somebody's cold one / Is giving me chills / Guess I'll just close my eyes".
(1995). "Say It Ain't So". [[Geffen Records]].
(1995). "Say It Ain't So". Geffen Records.
(1995). "Say It Ain't So". Geffen Records.
(December 23, 1995). "The Year in Music: Hot Modern Rock Tracks".
(April 28, 1995). "New Music for May".
(June 23, 1995). "Selected New Releases".
(July 2, 1995). "New Releases – Product Available from : 03/07/95: Singles".
(June 30, 1995). "New Single for July".
(July 10, 1995). "New Releases: Singles".
(November 18, 2008). "Weezer Frontman Refuses To Clear Asher Roth Single".
"Rock Band – Say It Ain't So by Weezer". rockband.com.
"Rocksmith 2014 – Say It Ain't So by Weezer". rocksmith.com.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

1994-songs 1995-singles dgc-records-singles geffen-records-singles music-videos-directed-by-sophie-muller song-recordings-produced-by-ric-ocasek songs-about-alcohol songs-about-divorce songs-about-marriage songs-written-by-rivers-cuomo weezer-songs

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