I Can't Go For That (No Can Do) Lyrics
I don't think this song has anything to do with an affair. I think he's just a little jaded. Men and women have different hearts. Women are such testers of limits and boundaries with men. And men...I think they're so wrapped up in ego that sometimes they aren't really sure what they're in it for. I think he's probably played what he sees (at this point at least) as a game a couple too many times. Here's this woman he's involved with intimately and he's thinking: uh-oh here we go. It's not enough that I adore her...I'm ready, willing, never missing a beat...she wants to push and test and make me draw a line. Define it. She wants to know how deep I'm in. And here I'll go with the same lines, the same emotions, (oh I want to be with you forever..I think I'm in love..I've never felt this way before..I won't ever leave you), and to him it just sounds exhausting. You have my body...is that not enough? That's my interpretation.
She probably wants him to pay for dinner. He can't go for that.
LOL. Than he shouln't be on a date. I'm old school with a twist... we can take turns. Once dated a man who, in seven months, bought me a $5.00 holiday dinner and a pack of cigarettes...on over a $100,000 yearly salary. Dumped his arse after I had had enough (or not enough:)
LOL. Than he shouln't be on a date. I'm old school with a twist... we can take turns. Once dated a man who, in seven months, bought me a $5.00 holiday dinner and a pack of cigarettes...on over a $100,000 yearly salary. Dumped his arse after I had had enough (or not enough:)
Not a big Hall and Oates fan, but this song is especially annoying. There's not much to it and their voices are like fingernails on a chalk board.
Not a big Hall and Oates fan, but this song is especially annoying. There's not much to it and their voices are like fingernails on a chalk board.
This song is actually about how disillusioned they got with their record label making demands on them to write certain types of songs and have a certain sound.
He can't go for what? Not very clear. Kind of like Meatloaf's "I'll do anything for love but I won't do that" - won't do what? Well there's not a lot of words anyway so I guess he's just saying that she can't have his soul. All right then any ideas?
I'm happy for you (your stools being hardy and all) but I'm even happier with your post. You are so right; Meatloaf's song IS along the same lines and I've always wondered what the short big guy wouldn't do. (I always figured he was game for about anything:). I'm with you on the 'soul' thing. Perhaps both songs are about being fearful of love.
I'm happy for you (your stools being hardy and all) but I'm even happier with your post. You are so right; Meatloaf's song IS along the same lines and I've always wondered what the short big guy wouldn't do. (I always figured he was game for about anything:). I'm with you on the 'soul' thing. Perhaps both songs are about being fearful of love.
This made me think of Sweatloaf''s song as well! I think the girl is into some religious bullshit :
This made me think of Sweatloaf''s song as well! I think the girl is into some religious bullshit :
I can't go for being twice as nice I can't go for just repeating the same old lines Use the body now you want my soul Oh forget about it say no go. I think it's about some chick he was with trying to get him into some religious nonsense and he was like, "nope, not gon' do it, wouldn't be prudent" haha, to quote, the Senior George Bush! What a highly quotable pair for a pair of idiots! I don't know why, but 'I suspected it was...
I can't go for being twice as nice I can't go for just repeating the same old lines Use the body now you want my soul Oh forget about it say no go. I think it's about some chick he was with trying to get him into some religious nonsense and he was like, "nope, not gon' do it, wouldn't be prudent" haha, to quote, the Senior George Bush! What a highly quotable pair for a pair of idiots! I don't know why, but 'I suspected it was about something like that, even without knowing the "twice as nice, repeating the same old lines," bit. like, chanting, or professions of creeds or whatever religious nutters do.
Okay. I really think this song is about a man who loves a woman but does not want to convert for her to her faith. The lines that support this: "I can't go for being twice as nice. I can't go for just repeating the same old lines". As a Catholic, I have seen this time and again, husbands who marry faithful women but they don't want to convert their souls.
Could be about a girl wanting commitment from a guy but all he wants and needs is sex for the time being. Or it could be the other way around (which it is in my case) and be about a relationship between a guy and a girl but instead the guy wants to be serious but the girl wants to sort of play around and test him. Test other guys etc, and the guy simply "can't go for that" because of ego, pride etc...
I found this on UltimateClassicRock.com, in an article where John Oates talks about the true meaning of songs. Now it all makes sense to me.
"Discussing the 1981 Hall & Oates hit ‘I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do),’ Oates told Philly.com that what might sound like a guy telling off his significant other is actually “about the music business.” Explained Oates, “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. Calling it “typical of a lot of the lyrics we’ve written over the years,” he added, “It seems like it’s about one thing, but it’s really not. What we have always tried to do, and if we have any kind of philosophy for our lyrics over the years, it was to try to take a universal subject and somehow make it seem personal so that people could relate to it as if it was a personal thing.”
Read More: John Oates Reveals the Real Meaning Behind Hall & Oates' Hits | http://ultimateclassicrock.com/hall-oates-song-meaning/?trackback=tsmclip"
It’s about boundaries. True to your soul boundaries. Cross my final boundary on whatever universal level and I’m out.
heh good question
I agree, stoolhardy. I just think he's saying, "You can't have my soul - otherwise I'll love you." And the rhythm is catchy and has been used now in two songs - Simply Red's "Sunrise" - which was a gem of a song - and Jon Secada's "My Baby Don't Rock Like That" from his new album, Same Dream.