B-side "Unguarded Minute" Format 7" single
12" single Genre R&B
jazz | Released December 14, 1981 Recorded March 1981 | |
Length 5:09 (album version)
4:14 (video edit)
3:45 (single edit)
6:05 (extended club mix) | ||
"I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)" is a song by the American duo Hall & Oates. Written by Daryl Hall and John Oates, and co-written by Sara Allen, the song was released as the second single from their tenth studio album, Private Eyes (1981). The song became the fourth number-one hit single of their career on the Billboard Hot 100 and the second hit single from Private Eyes. It features Charles DeChant on saxello.
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"I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)" is one of 14 Hall & Oates songs that have been played on the radio over one million times, according to BMI.
Composition
Daryl Hall sketched out the basic song one evening at a music studio in New York City, in 1981, after a recording session for the Private Eyes album. Hall began to play a bass line on a Korg organ, and sound engineer Neil Kernon recorded the result. Hall then came up with a guitar riff, which he and Oates worked on together. The next day, Hall, Oates and Sara Allen worked on the lyrics.
Speaking about the meaning of the lyrics, John Oates has stated that while many listeners may assume the lyrics are about a relationship, in reality, the song "is about the music business. That song is really about not being pushed around by big labels, managers, and agents and being told what to do, and being true to yourself creatively." This was done intentionally, he explained, to universalize the topic of the song into something everyone could relate to and ascribe personal meaning to in their own way. Naming "Maneater" as another example, he revealed that this was a common theme for the group's songs.
Chart performance
On January 30, 1982, "I Can't Go for That" ended a 10-week run at the top of the Hot 100 by Olivia Newton-John's song, "Physical" (which had knocked out Hall & Oates' "Private Eyes" from the top spot). The song also went to number one on the Hot Dance Club Play chart for one week in January 1982.
Thanks to heavy airplay on urban contemporary radio stations, "I Can't Go for That" also topped the US R&B chart, a rare feat for a white act. According to the Hall & Oates biography, Hall, upon learning that "I Can't Go For That" had gone to number one on the R&B chart, wrote in his diary, "I'm the head soul brother in the U.S. Where to now?"
It also peaked at #1 on the Radio & Records CHR/Pop Airplay chart on December 18, 1981 staying at the top of the chart for six weeks and remaining on it for fifteen weeks, making it their biggest hit on the R&R Airplay chart. This single was also the first top 10 hit for the duo in the UK peaking at number 8 in the UK singles chart.
Awards and accolades
"I Can't Go for That" was voted number six on VH1's list of "The 100 Greatest Songs of the '80s."
Influence on "Billie Jean"
According to Daryl Hall, during the recording of "We Are the World", Michael Jackson approached him and admitted to lifting the bass line for "Billie Jean" from a Hall and Oates song, apparently referring to "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)." Hall says that he told Jackson that he had lifted the bass line from another song himself, and that it was "something we all do."