"Say It Ain't So" is a song by American
rock band
Weezer
Weezer is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1992. Since 2001, the band has consisted of Rivers Cuomo (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Patrick Wilson (drums, backing vocals), Brian Bell (guitar, keyboards, backing ...
. 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
The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...
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 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.
"Say It Ain't So" is widely considered one of the band's best songs. In 2015, ''
Loudwire
''Loudwire'' is an American online media magazine that covers news of hard rock and heavy metal artists. It is owned by media and entertainment business Townsquare Media. Since its launch in August 2011, ''Loudwire'' has secured exclusive i ...
'' ranked the song number three on their list of the 10 greatest Weezer songs, and in 2021, ''
Kerrang
''Kerrang!'' is a British music webzine and quarterly magazine that primarily covers rock, punk and heavy metal music. Since 2017, the magazine has been published by Wasted Talent Ltd (the same company that owns electronic music publication ...
'' ranked the song number two on their list of the 20 greatest Weezer songs. In 2008, ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason.
The magazine was first known fo ...
'' ranked "Say It Ain't So" number 72 on their list of "The 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time." ''
Pitchfork
A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials.
The term is also applie ...
'' 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
Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...
and
emo song with a duration of 4 minutes and 18 seconds. According to the
sheet music
Sheet music is a handwritten or printed form of musical notation that uses musical symbols to indicate the pitches, rhythms, or chords of a song or instrumental musical piece. Like its analogs – printed Book, books or Pamphlet, pamphlets ...
published at Musicnotes.com by
Hal Leonard Music, it is written in the
time signature
A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates th ...
of
common time
A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates the ...
, with a moderate rock
tempo
In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given musical composition, composition, and is often also an indication of the composition ...
of 76
beats per minute
Beat, beats, or beating may refer to:
Common uses
* Assault, inflicting physical harm or unwanted physical contact
* Battery (crime), a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact
* Battery (tort), a civil wrong in common law of in ...
in the key of
C minor
C minor is a minor scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. Its key signature consists of three flats. Its relative major is E major and its parallel major is C major.
The C natural minor scale is:
Cha ...
.
In an official
Genius
Genius is a characteristic of original and exceptional insight in the performance of some art or endeavor that surpasses expectations, sets new standards for the future, establishes better methods of operation, or remains outside the capabiliti ...
annotation made by
Rivers Cuomo himself, he said that
Patrick Wilson
Patrick Joseph Wilson (born July 3, 1973) is an American actor. He began his career in 1995, starring in Broadway theatre, Broadway musicals. He received nominations for two Tony Awards for his roles in ''The Full Monty (musical), The Full Mont ...
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
Adam Spiegel (born October 22, 1969), known professionally as Spike Jonze (), is an American Filmmaking, filmmaker, actor, musician, and photographer. His work includes films, commercials, music videos, skateboard videos and television.
Jonze ...
. However, the song still successfully climbed to the top 10 of the
Modern Rock Tracks
Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks between 1988 and 2009, and Alternative Songs between 2009 and 2020) is a music chart published in the American magazine ''Billboard'' since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-playe ...
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
Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
.
Personnel
*
Rivers Cuomo – lead and backing vocals, guitar
*
Matt Sharp
Matthew Kelly Sharp (born September 22, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. Until 1998, he was the bassist for the Rock music, rock band Weezer, which he co-founded in 1992. He appears on their first two albums, the ''Weezer (B ...
– bass, backing vocals
*
Patrick Wilson
Patrick Joseph Wilson (born July 3, 1973) is an American actor. He began his career in 1995, starring in Broadway theatre, Broadway musicals. He received nominations for two Tony Awards for his roles in ''The Full Monty (musical), The Full Mont ...
– drums
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
Release history
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
''Rock Band'' is a series of rhythm games first released in 2007 and developed by Harmonix. Based on their previous development work from the Guitar Hero, ''Guitar Hero'' series, the main ''Rock Band'' games have players use game controllers mod ...
'' and ''
Rocksmith 2014''
in addition to appearing on an episode of ''
Hindsight''.
In October 2024, "Say It Ain't So" was added to the
Epic Games
Epic Games, Inc. is an American Video game developer, video game and software development, software developer and video game publisher, publisher based in Cary, North Carolina. The company was founded by Tim Sweeney (game developer), Tim Sween ...
rhythm-based game ''
Fortnite Festival''.
References
{{Authority control
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