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About

Genius Annotation

Ranked as #10 on Pitchfork Media’s Top 200 Tracks of the 90s, #72 on Rolling Stone’s The 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time in 2008, “Say It Ain’t So” is the third and final single from Weezer’s 1994 debut album.

Rivers Cuomo uses vivid imagery to weave a tale of teenage despair in the wake of alcoholism that was tearing his family apart.

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

What did Weezer say about "Say It Ain't So"?
Genius Answer

As Cuomo is quoted on a very old fan site (which itself is presumably drawing from an early Weezer fan zine issue):

It’s such a complicated story, way too complex to write a song about. I should never have done it. I was really afraid of alcohol at the time. I didn’t drink till I was 21, not even a sip. I was petrified of alcohol. “Say It Ain’t So” was about when I was 16. I opened up the refrigerator and I saw a can of beer. All of a sudden I made the connection that my step-father was leaving…because my father started drinking when he left my mother.

In an interview with Billboard on the 25th anniversary of The Blue Album, Patrick Wilson shares his view on the song:

I remember when we first started playing it, we hadn’t quite found our sound. But local writers – when they did write about us – would always mention that song, and say we were trying to sound like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, which baffled me. It’s insanely slow, and it’s a pretty earnest song. So it was funny to be compared to The Uplift Mofo Party Plan, or something! We often close our sets with this now. It’s the set’s emotional heft.

Credits
Produced By
Written By
Rhythm Guitar
Lead guitar
Backing Vocals
Lead Vocals
Recorded At
Electric Lady Studios, New York City
Release Date
May 10, 1994
View Say It Ain’t So samples
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