"I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)" (Hall & Oates)

In the early 80s, Daryl Hall & John Oates somehow figured out a way to combine the leanness of New Wave with the spirit of smooth soul.  And make all the jokes you want about Hall and/or Oates, but just try not singing along to "Maneater," "One on One," or "Private Eyes."  Those singles have the infectious melodicism of Thom Bell/Philadelphia International songs with the skinny tie and sneakers sensibility of The Cars.

Same is true of my favorite Hall & Oates track, "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)."  

Everything about this song—the funky keyboard bass, the subtle synths, the muted guitar, and the chugging funk box with just a hint of New Wave-y gate reverb—made me like it from the moment I heard it on the car radio in late 1981.

Maybe it's because I first heard it at night, but it always evoked an after-hours/pre-dawn feel to me.  It's appropriate, considering that the duo came up with the song late at night at New York's Electric Ladyland Studios after wrapping up a recording session for their 1981 album, Private Eyes.  All of the other musicians had gone home, when Hall began tinkering in the empty studio with a Roland CompuRhythm drum machine and an organ.  As Hall's strutting bassline on the keyboard began to take shape, their recording engineer, Neil Kernon, quickly started rolling tape.

As Hall told Mix Magazine in 2006, "The chords came together in about 10 minutes, and then I heard a guitar riff, which I asked John, who was sitting in the booth, to play."