FEATURE:
Too Good to Be Forgotten: Songs That Are Much More Than a Guilty Pleasure
Daryl Hall & John Oates - Maneater
___________
I have not included that many…
hits from the early-1980s in this feature. Whilst I always have to start by qualifying I do not believe in guilty pleasures, others certainly do. There are these songs that have a reputation as being a bit cheesy; like one has to feel slightly embarrassed about loving! I have seen Daryl Hall & John Oates’ Maneater appear on lists of guilty pleasure songs. To me, it is one of the best songs of their career; maybe one of the strongest songs from the early-1980s. Before going into more detail, here is some more information about the classic track:
“Maneater" is a song by the American duo Hall & Oates, featured on their eleventh studio album, H2O (1982). It reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on December 18, 1982.
Released on the duo’s 1982 record, H2O, “Maneater” is certainly one of the most well-known Hall & Oates songs of all time. To date, the track has more than 130 million views on YouTube. While the concept of the song on paper is dark and bleak, the song itself reads as more playful than film noir. The idea of a “maneater” is, in the end, cartoonish, of course. Nevertheless, the idea of danger runs throughout the track’s lyrics”.
Many people either do not know about Daryl Hall & John Oates, or they have avoided their music. H2O is a solid and endlessly intriguing album with hits like One on One, and Family Man. Maneater opens the album and ensures that the listener is hooked from the start!
I love Daryl Hall’s led vocal blending with John Oates’ backing and guitar. The video is pretty cool too. We see a woman walking down a red staircase. The band playing in a dimly lit studio with shafts of light projecting down on them. The members step in and out of the light for their lip sync. A young woman in a short party dress is shown in fade-in and fade-out shots, along with a black jaguar (hence the song line). It is a great video for a song which is far stronger than many have given it credit for! Last year, John Oates spoke with American Songwriter about the creation of Maneater and its enduring popularity:
“Maneater” begins with a bouncy bass line that immediately offers energy and joy. It’s a bit of an odd introduction but soft keyboards, a bright guitar and a crooning saxophone melody quickly follow the bass. Next, Daryl Hall’s voice sparks up, beginning the first verse. Hall describes a character worth steering clear of — the maneater. “Watch out boy, she’ll chew you up,” he tells us. But what, exactly, does he mean? What is a maneater?
We caught up with one half of the duo, John Oates, to ask him about the origin of the song and the meaning behind the song’s subject. We discussed the literal meaning of the chorus, whether he knows any actual maneaters and from where his gift of songwriting might originate.
There are lots of rumors, but I have to ask, is “Maneater” really about a woman or New York City?
Well, it was about New York City, after the fact. I got the idea for the song because there was a woman who was very — she was beautiful but had a very foul, you know, vocabulary. It was the juxtaposition of this great beauty with this foul mouth that really kind of sparked an idea to me that she would chew you up and spit you out. But neither Daryl nor I wanted to write a song that was anti-women or negative toward women. So, what we did was we transpose that initial idea and use New York City in the ’80s as a metaphor. New York City became the maneater, the city that would chew you up and spit you out. And that is really what the song is truly about.
When did you and Daryl start writing “Maneater”?
Well, I can’t tell you for sure, it was so long ago. One thing I will tell you, though, is that our natural schedule turned out such that we’d always seem to record in the late fall. There was a reason for that. Because we would tour in the spring through the summer and we would write in the late summer and early fall and then we’d record in the late fall. So, my guess is that song was either written in the late summer or early fall of 1982, the year the record came out.
Is there something that’s particularly magical to you about the song “Maneater” after all these years?
That particular song? Well, all the songs are magical, in a way, because they all came from nothing. That’s what songwriting is all about. That’s why I like American Songwriter so much because the magazine can really get deep and delve into the psyche and the motivation that songwriters seem to have and really explain and expose songwriters on their process. And I think that’s interesting. The beauty that songwriters and the skill that songwriters seem to have is that they can take things that are happening in the world, whether they’re emotional or physical or literal, and they can somehow translate that into music and some sort of musical expression that people can relate to. That’s what songwriters do and that’s what makes it so unique”.
I am going to wrap up soon, but I found an interesting article from Stereogum. The feature discusses possible angles of misogyny in the song and reassess – not believing that there are any negative tropes that one would find in songs of that period:
“I don’t believe Oates. “Maneater” sure seems like an ode to a gold-digging femme fatale, a pop-music archetype that’s been at the center of plenty of songs. The woman, a lean and hungry type who only comes out at night, is ready to tear apart any guy with more money than self-control: “A she-cat tamed by the purr of a Jaguar,” “The beauty is there, but a beast is in the heart.” None of that sounds much like a city to me.
That whole image is a classic misogynist trope, but “Maneater” never really judges the woman at its center. Instead, it seems to admire her drive and her magnetism, maybe to the point of envy. Like Kim Carnes’ “Bette Davis Eyes,” “Maneater” is structured as a warning. But just as in “Bette Davis Eyes,” Hall’s narrator knows that he’s not going to convince anyone to stay away from this woman, and he seems to look at her with a kind of awe. “I wouldn’t if I were you,” Hall sings. I don’t believe Hall, either.
Musically, “Maneater,” just like “I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do)” before it, does great things with brittle, itchy minimalism. The song has mood and momentum in equal measures. It surrounds that big Supremes beat with delay-drenched keyboard tones and icy, skanky guitar strokes. Charlie DeChant’s saxophone solo, the closest thing that the song has to a bridge, is effective atmosphere — an eerily echoing growl-purr with its own sense of momentum and its own climax. The end of the song repeats the chorus a few too many times, and I don’t think much of Hall’s vocal ad-libs. But “Maneater” works. It’s hard, sharp, memorable pop music.
IN THIS PHOTO: Daryl Hall & John Oates in 1982/PHOTO CREDIT: REX USA/Andre Csillag
The “Maneater” video builds on that atmosphere. Hall stares at the camera, his face half in shadow and his hair perfectly in place. He looks like a poster on a hairdresser’s wall. John Oates and GE Smith are the comic relief — leaning into the camera, their eyes suspiciously darting all over the place, to hit the backing vocals. We don’t see too much of the maneater herself — just some high heels prowling down a sidewalk, or a pair of eyes that fade into extreme close-up. Those eyes blur into the eyes of an actual panther, who also wanders around the set.
I’ll tell you what, though: That panther looks cool as hell. In the moment that MTV was taking over pop music, little moments like that mattered.
“Maneater” stayed at #1 for longer than any previous Hall & Oates hit. It’s the duo operating at their absolute peak. Hall & Oates weren’t done after “Maneater.” They’ll be in this column again”.
I have a lot of time and respect for Daryl Hall & John Oates and songs like Maneater. I am writing various features about MTV’s fortieth anniversary before August. I will look at some of the best videos featured on the network. I think that Maneater was pivotal when it came to MTV’s image and popularity back near the start. Some of dismissed the song as defining the worst aspects of 1980s’ music; others (rightly) highlight what a strong and worthy song it is! The fact it is played and so popular almost forty years since its release shows that people have a real appetite and affection for Maneater. Rather than a guilty pleasure, this is yet another song one should play loud…
AND sing along to!