incubus band maneater cover hall and oate

Is there something that’s particularly magical to you about the song “Maneater” after all these years? So, my guess is that song was either written in the late summer or early fall of 1982, the year the record came out. 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. 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. Well, I can’t tell you for sure, it was so long ago.

When did you and Daryl start writing “Maneater”? And that is really what the song is truly about. New York City became the maneater, the city that would chew you up and spit you out. So, what we did was we transpose that initial idea and use New York City in the ’80s as a metaphor. But neither Daryl nor I wanted to write a song that was anti-women or negative toward women. 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. 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. Well, it was about New York City, after the fact. There are lots of rumors, but I have to ask, is “Maneater” really about a woman or New York City?

We discussed the literal meaning of the chorus, whether he knows any actual maneaters and from where his gift of songwriting might originate. 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. But what, exactly, does he mean? What is a maneater? “Watch out boy, she’ll chew you up,” he tells us. Hall describes a character worth steering clear of - the maneater.

Next, Daryl Hall’s voice sparks up, beginning the first verse. It’s a bit of an odd introduction but soft keyboards, a bright guitar and a crooning saxophone melody quickly follow the bass. “Maneater” begins with a bouncy bass line that immediately offers energy and joy. Nevertheless, the idea of danger runs throughout the track’s lyrics. The idea of a “maneater” is, in the end, cartoonish, of course. While the concept of the song on paper is dark and bleak, the song itself reads as more playful than film noir. To date, the track has more than 130 million views on YouTube.

Released on the duo’s 1982 record, H 2 O, “Maneater” is certainly one of the most well-known Hall & Oates songs of all time.

Incubus band maneater cover hall and oate