Songoftheday 04/14/13 - Now wicked things can happen you see 'em goin' down on in war...

Daryl Hall & John Oates - "Say It Isn't So"
from the album Rock 'N' Soul Part 1 (1983)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #2 (four weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 15

Today's Song of the Day is by the 80's biggest hitmaking duo, Hall & Oates, who had a pretty big year in 1983, with their highest-charting album, H2O, a single that topped the pop charts for a month ("Maneater"), and two top-10 followups with the ballad "One On One" and the modern rock-ish cover of Mike Oldfield's "Family Man".

In the fall of 1983 the duo released their first compilation of songs from their RCA years, Rock N Soul Part 1, with all of their previous top-10 singles except the recent "Family Man" (which was included on the CD reissue) and "Did It In A Minute" (which criminally wasn't). Two new songs were added to the set, and both were issued as singles. The first, the Hall-penned "Say It Isn't So", returned the duo back to the top-10 on both the singles and albums charts...

"Say It Isn't So" became another crossover smash for Hall & Oates, reaching five of Billboard magazine's big charts - spending a month at #2 (stopped by another duo, Michael Jackson & Paul McCartney) on the pop chart, topping the list on the dance chart, reaching #8 on the Adult Contemporary format, commanding a respectable #45 on the R&B chart, and making it to #18 on the rock radio chart. The single also went to #4 in neighboring Canada, but stalled out at a disappointing #69 in the UK.

(Click below to see the rest of the post)


The duo would speed up the song in concert, as shown here in their 1985 gig in New Jersey...

...and here's a more earthy take from them in 2008...

Up tomorrow: The Monarch of Maudlin.