Maneater (Hall & Oates song)

"Maneater"
Single by Hall & Oates
from the album H2O
B-side	"Delayed Reaction"
Released	October 31, 1982
Recorded	1982
Genre	Dance-rock New Wave Blue-eyed soul
Length	4:33
Label	RCA Records
Writer(s)	Sara Allen Daryl Hall John Oates
Producer	Daryl Hall John Oates
Hall & Oates singles chronology
"Your Imagination" (1982) "Maneater" (1982) "One on One" (1983)

"Maneater" is a single recorded by American duo Hall & Oates from their 1982 album H₂O. It reached number-one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on December 18, 1982.^[1] It remained in the top spot for four weeks, more than any of the duo's five other number-one hits, including Kiss on My List, which remained in the top spot for three weeks.

Background and writing

In an interview with American Songwriter, Daryl Hall states:

John had written a prototype of "Maneater;" he was banging it around with Edgar Winter. It was like a reggae song. I said, "Well, the chords are interesting, but I think we should change the groove." I changed it to that Motown kind of groove. So we did that, and I played it for Sara [Allen] and sang it for her…[Sings] "Oh here she comes/Watch out boy she’ll chew you up/Oh here she comes/She’s a maneater… and a…" I forget what the last line was. She said, "Drop that shit in the end and go, 'She’s a maneater,' and stop! And I said, 'No, you’re crazy, that’s messed up.'" Then I thought about it, and I realized she was right. And it made all the difference in the song.^{[Full citation needed]}

Hall also opined -

“

We try and take chances. Our new single "Maneater" isn't something that sounds like anything else on the radio. The idea is to make things better.

”

NME - November 1982^[2]

Music video

The Hall & Oates music video opens with a woman (Aleksandra Duncan) walking down a red staircase, and the band playing in a dimly lit studio with shafts of light projecting down on them. The band 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 "The woman is wild, a she-cat tamed by the purr of a Jaguar." The song refrain is "Whoa, oh here she comes; watch out boy, she'll chew you up; whoa, oh here she comes, she's a maneater."

Nelly Furtado sample

In 2006, the song and its subject matter were adapted and re-interpreted by Nelly Furtado for her song, also called "Maneater" from her album Loose. The song was sampled once more in 2006 when the Ying Yang Twins (featuring Wyclef and Mr. Collipark) released the song "Dangerous." The Hall & Oates version features a saxophone solo by Charles "Mr. Casual" DeChant. American rapper Hot Karl used the music and chorus in a song, also called "Maneater," satirizing the hip hop industry. In his introduction, Karl alludes to the original song's popularity, telling the audience "I don't want to see any of you really hard guys not singing the words, because I know you know 'em! You don't not know 'Maneater'!" A cover of the song is also used as the theme for the pilot episode of the Adult Swim show Lucy, the Daughter of the Devil. Hall and Oates also appeared on Will and Grace during Grace's wedding to James, singing "Maneater" as she walked down the aisle.

Legal action

In November 2008, Hall & Oates initiated legal action against their music publisher (Warner/Chappell Music). An unidentified singer-songwriter was alleged to have used "Maneater" in a 2006 recording, infringing copyright, and by failing to sue for copyright infringement, Warner Chappell Music were alleged to have breached their contract with Hall and Oates.^[3]

Cover versions and pop culture references

The song "We're Live (Danger)" by rapper Royce Da 5'9" (which was featured in the highly acclaimed game Grand Theft Auto III) contains a sample from the Hall & Oates song "Maneater".

The now defunct Chicago band Split Habit covered the song live, and also included it on their 2004 album Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is.

Indie rock band Harvey Danger recorded a cover of this song for their final album Dead Sea Scrolls.

Las Vegas band The Kickwurmz released two versions of the song circa 1998: Maneater, and Man Eata' Digital Media House Remix.

The original version of the song is heard in the 1999 film Runaway Bride, and appears on the soundtrack. Early in the movie Richard Gere's character Ike Graham describes several mythological 'Maneaters' in a newspaper column, and then cites one human one, Julia Roberts's Maggie Carpenter, who's left multiple men standing at the altar.

In the season one Scrubs episode "My Bed Banter and Beyond," Dr. Cox tells a psychologist that his wife is "a man-eater. And I'm not talking about the 'whoa-whoa, here she comes' kind."

Jazz/electronica group The Bird and the Bee covered the song live with John Oates on March 5, 2010 at the El Rey Theater in Los Angeles, California. Their album Interpreting the Masters Volume 1: A Tribute to Daryl Hall and John Oates includes a studio recorded cover of "Maneater," featuring backing vocals from Garbage vocalist Shirley Manson, and was released March 23, 2010.

In 2009, the song appeared on the "Ballad Of Gay Tony" episode of the video game, Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City, as a part of the Vice City FM radio station.

The North American release of Ys I and II Chronicles features a reference to Maneater at the start of Ys I.

In the Beavis and Butthead episode "Sign Here," the duo watches the music video.

In 2011, indie rock band The Wooden Birds covered this song as a b-side on their "Two Matchsticks" single.

Chart performance

Chart (1982-1983)	Peak position
Canadian Singles Chart	4
Netherlands Singles Chart	18
New Zealand Singles Chart	4
Norwegian Singles Chart	6
South African Singles Chart	2
Swedish Singles Chart	5
Swiss Singles Chart	2
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	1
U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks	14
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs	18
U.S. Billboard Hot Soul Singles	78
UK Singles Chart	6

References

1. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 8th Edition (Billboard Publications)
2. ^ Tobler, John (1992). NME Rock 'N' Roll Years (1st ed.). London: Reed International Books Ltd. p. 372. CN 5585. 
3. ^ "Hall and Oates take legal action". BBC News. November 7, 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7714909.stm. 

External links

• VHI VSPOT "Maneater"

Preceded by "Mickey" by Toni Basil

Billboard Hot 100 number one single December 18, 1982- January 8, 1983

Succeeded by "Down Under" by Men at Work