OASIS: (WHAT’S THE STORY) MORNING GLORY?
On October 2, 1995 the second album by Oasis was released into a feverishly excited British pop atmosphere. The Mancunian ne’er-do-wells had has gone from a standing start to ‘biggest band in the country’ status in less than two years, and a tabloid circus was starting to form around the group. They had, in pure numbers terms, lost the battle with supposed rivals Blur for a chart-topping single some weeks prior, but in hindsight many consider Oasis to have gone on to win the war.
(What’s The Story) Morning Glory? sold like the hottest of cakes and pre-empted concerts the following year at Knebworth and Loch Lomond in front of absurdly large audiences. It captured the group in their pomp, likewise an era of domestic guitar music, and even if you’re not a fan of the band you probably know most of the songs off it.
Fast forward exactly one quarter of one century – blimey – to October 2, 2020, where the second album by Oasis will be released in a shiny, deluxe, multifarious 25th Anniversary Edition. Drift back to the days of the band at their quotable best via a rundown of Noel, Liam and the rest’s vintage takes about every song. Even the B-sides. And THEN find out how to win the double vinyl picture disc version Buzz is offering as a competition prize!
Here, then, in their own words, is the story…
photos STEFAN DE BATSELIER / JILL FURMANOVSKY
CD 1: (What’s The Story) Morning Glory?
HELLO
“Everyone is going on about the Gary Glitter thing [‘Hello, hello, it’s good to be back’) but I just had that in for a laugh. I laugh to myself when I’m writing these songs: ‘Wait ’til the other lads hear that!’ I always promised myself I would change that bit, but it just fuckin’ wouldn’t go away. So in the end I said fuck it. It must be part of the song because I can’t get rid of it.” – Noel Gallagher, 1995
ROLL WITH IT
“I like the sentiments. It’s just a simple rock’n’roll tune.” – Noel Gallagher, 1995
“When I’m onstage, I just feel like gettin’ on with the job. Tunnel vision, straight down the line. I got a serious job, y’know what I mean?” – Liam Gallagher, 1995.
WONDERWALL
“The original title was Wishing Stone. We played Glasgow Cathouse with The Verve and I ended up with this capo. I met some girl and we went back to my hotel room and she had this stone in her pocket that she insisted I had … I thought what a great title and the song came out of that. It was called Wishing Stone for ages until we were listening to Wonderwall Music by George Harrison and it was like, ‘Brilliant, I’ve got a Beatles connection!'” – Noel Gallagher, 2013.
DON’T LOOK BACK IN ANGER
“St Patrick’s Day every year my Mam would take a picture of us and send it back to my Grandma in Ireland. It would always be beside the fireplace. It was just a council house with a little gas fire. She would say, ‘Stand up there beside the fireplace while I take a picture of you.’ There’s a lot of childhood memories in those first few albums.” – Noel Gallagher, 2013.
“That line ‘So Sally can wait‘ – that was me. I’m not gonna tell you what it’s about but we was in America and Noel was doing this song. And I walked up to him and said, ‘you know what you’re singing there? Sing “So Sally can wait”. And he goes, ‘All right’, and he sings it. He won’t admit it, ‘cos he’s like that.” – Liam Gallagher, 1995.
“Liam came up with the word Sally. I was doing it at soundcheck. I was singing ‘So…’ ‘Didn’t have that word. He said ‘Who’s Sally?’ I went ‘What do you mean?’ He said ‘So Sally can wait?’ And I went, ‘Fucking genius. You’re not having any money for that by the way.’” – Noel Gallagher, 1995.
“When our kid went ‘right, you’ve got a choice, Wonderwall or Don’t Look Back In Anger’, it done me head in. I said, ‘I wanna sing both, you dick.’ But I chose Wonderwall ‘cos it was right and it happened. But I don’t think I could have sung Don’t Look Back In Anger the way he sung it. I think it’s great.” – Liam Gallagher, 1995.
“It’s about not being upset about the things you might have said or done yesterday … It’s about looking forward rather than looking back. I hate people who talk about what might have been.” – Noel Gallagher, 1995.
HEY NOW!
“My words are always dictated by the melody. Because I’m first generation Irish there’s always a melancholy but kind of uplifting sadness.” – Noel Gallagher, 2013.
Untitled instrumental, known as The Swamp Song (Excerpt 1)
“It’s just a jam, really… It was originally called, inspiringly, The Jam. But once Paul Weller played on it we thought we’d better change it, ‘cos it might sound like we were taking the piss. You know: ‘Paul Weller plays The Jam’.” – Noel Gallagher, 1998.
SOME MIGHT SAY
“’Some might say they don’t believe in heaven, go and tell it to the man who lives in hell.’ I’m not religious and I’m not spiritual, I don’t think. I guess maybe it was directed at myself. Poor people tend to be exploited by religion a lot. The poorest people in the world have got God – that’s all they’ve got. I guess it’s the idea of heaven is what keeps the poor going. The rest of us don’t see God on a daily basis, do we?” – Noel Gallagher, 1998.
CAST NO SHADOW
“Whatever position they’re in, artists are always on the long and winding road looking for something more. ‘When they took his soul they stole his pride‘ – I suppose that’s about when people hear your lyrics, they’ve got an insight into yourself. I’ve had people coming and telling me what I actually meant when I wrote that song. And I go ‘No, you’re wrong’, but really I’m thinking, ‘Fucking hell, you’re right.'” – Noel Gallagher, 1995.
“It makes me cry, ‘cos it hits me right there in the heart” – Bonehead, 1995.
SHE’S ELECTRIC
“‘I’ll be you and you be me’ is from Stop, Look And Listen. We used to be at school and you’d have a class where’d they play TV. It was Sesame Street but an English version. That stayed with me for years until I wrote She’s Electric.” – Noel Gallagher, 2013.
MORNING GLORY
“It’s a cynical song about drugs… (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? is an album about what is like to be a group – which six days out of seven is a laugh, but half the songs on this album were written on the seventh day.” – Noel Gallagher, 1995.
(Untitled instrumental, known as The Swamp Song – Excerpt 2)
“At the beginning you can hear a crowd noise. We took the drums from the Glastonbury performance, ‘cos it was the right pace, and then we just overdubbed all the guitars. I think I played bass. And the guitar on it is by Paul Weller. He’d come down to play the solo on Champagne Supernova. So we thought, ‘Might as well get our money’s worth out of him’. And he plays the mouth organ as well.” – Noel Gallagher, 1998.
CHAMPAGNE SUPERNOVA
“That’s probably as psychedelic as I’ll ever get. It means different things when I’m in different moods. When I’m in a bad mood, being caught beneath a landslide is like being suffocated. The song is a bit of an epic. It’s about when you’re young and you see people in groups and you think about what they did for you and they did nothing. As a kid, you always believed the Sex Pistols were going to conquer the world and kill everybody in the process. Bands like The Clash just petered out. Punk rock was supposed to be the revolution but what did it do? Fuck all. The Manchester thing was going to be the greatest movement on earth but it was fuck all. When we started we decided we weren’t going to do anything for anybody, we just thought we’d leave a bunch of great songs.” – Noel Gallagher, 1995.
CD 2: B-sides and extra tracks
TALK TONIGHT
Originally released as B-side to Some Might Say
“We did Talk Tonight in a studio in Texas. We were doing our first major American tour, and we’d had a bad gig at the Whiskey-A-Go-Go in Los Angeles, and me and Liam had a bit of a disagreement about something – probably about what shoes he was wearing. I took the tour float and I fucked off to Las Vegas ‘cos I thought, ‘I’m not being in a band with this lot anymore.’ They found out where I was and persuaded me to come back. I started writing Talk Tonight in Vegas and finished it in Texas. I’ve always got a guitar with me when I’m running away.” – Noel Gallagher, 1998.
ACQUIESCE
Originally released as B-side to Some Might Say
“Everyone seems to think it’s about brothers – they think it’s Liam singing the verses to me and me singing back to him – but it’s more a song about friendship. I don’t know why Liam wouldn’t sing the chorus . . . he was probably in the pub or something, so I sang them.” – Noel Gallagher, 1998.
HEADSHRINKER
Originally released as B-side to Some Might Say
“It sounds like The Faces on speed. We used to have a lot of fast songs like that in ‘92, ‘93. We were more like a punk band then really.” – Noel Gallagher, 1998.
IT’S BETTER PEOPLE
Originally released as B-side to Roll With It
“When all this finishes, we will sit back with our consciences clear, that we never lied to anyone. That’s why I will slag my record company off in public, I’ll slag Liam off in public and he’ll slag me off in public. We won’t hold it all in because if we’re the people’s favourite band they should know what the band is all about.” – Noel Gallagher, 1995.
ROCKIN’ CHAIR
Originally released as B-side to Roll With It
“It’s another song about trying to leave the place that you are in. I was probably getting ready to split with my ex-girlfriend, ‘cos it’s all about packing your bags and waiting for the right moment to get out of there.” – Noel Gallagher, 1998.
STEP OUT
Originally released as B-side to Don’t Look Back In Anger
“It is Rosalie mixed with Uptight but it’s also by Oasis. Now, the inspiration for the two parts of the tune came from Thin Lizzy and Stevie Wonder but the tune wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for me. So be it.” – Noel Gallagher, 1995.
UNDERNEATH THE SKY
Originally released as B-side to Don’t Look Back In Anger
“When you go in those bookshops at airports they have these little books, like The Tiny Book Of Wisdom, and there was a book of travellers’ quotes, and most of the lines are adapted from one of them. Not stolen! Poems by travellers … And we were travelling around the world at the time.” – Noel Gallagher, 1998.
CUM ON FEEL THE NOIZE
Originally released as B-side to Don’t Look Back In Anger
“They were a proper geezer’s band but they sort of dressed like the Diddymen, didn’t they? I’m not a student, I’ve never been to college, never went to art school, I’m not very good with words but Slade speak to me, through the energy of the guitars and the music more than anything. ‘Cum on feel the noize / Girls grab the boys / We’ll go wild, wild, wild’ – it just sounded like an Oasis song.” – Noel Gallagher, 1999.
ROUND ARE WAY
Originally released as B-side to Wonderwall
“I’m always gonna write a certain sounding type of song. I write songs that go verse-chorus-verse-chorus-middle-eight-guitar-solo-chorus-chorus-finish in about four minutes.” – Noel Gallagher, 1995.
THE SWAMP SONG
Full length version of album instrumental. Originally released as B-side to Wonderwall
“For the life of me, I don’t know why we called it The Swamp Song” – Noel Gallagher, 1998.
THE MASTERPLAN
Originally released as B-side to Wonderwall
“I remember just sitting down with the guitar when there wasn’t really much happening. Sort of a quiet night, maybe really early in the morning. I swear the thing just came out. I like the sound of it. I like everybody’s playing on it. I like the singing as well. I don’t know why Liam didn’t sing that one. I love all the lyrics. I think it’s the most complete song I’ve ever done in the studio… It’s about people’s fear of growing old. ‘All we know is that we don’t know.’ If you wanna dance, dance. If you don’t, don’t. I suppose it’s saying that there is no masterplan.” – Noel Gallagher, 1998.
BONEHEAD’S BANK HOLIDAY
Originally released as vinyl-only extra album track
“It’s about nicking cars and going to Spain and meeting girls whose mothers are nuns.” – Noel Gallagher, 1995.
CHAMPAGNE SUPERNOVA (Brendan Lynch Mix)
Alternative mix of Champagne Supernova by Brendan Lynch, who also did a remix of the track released as a promo-only 12-inch in 1995.
YOU’VE GOT TO HIDE YOUR LOVE AWAY
Originally released as an extra track on the Some Might Say EP in Japan only
“With every song that I write, I compare it to The Beatles. The thing is, they only got there before me. If I’d been born at the same time as John Lennon, I’d have been up there.” – Noel Gallagher, 1996.
CD 3 – Unreleased demos and live recordings
ACQUIESCE (Live At Earls Court)
Recorded live at Earls Court, London on 4th November 1995.
SOME MIGHT SAY (Demo)
Recorded at soundcheck, Club Quattro Tokyo, Japan on 14th September 1994.
SOME MIGHT SAY (Live at Roskilde)
Recorded live at Roskilde Festival, Denmark on 30th June 1995.
SHE’S ELECTRIC (Demo)
Recorded at Mauldeth Road West Studio, Manchester.
TALK TONIGHT (Live At Bath Pavilion)
Recorded live at Bath Pavilion on 22nd June 1995.
ROCKIN’ CHAIR (Demo)
Recorded at Mauldeth Road West Studio, Manchester.
HELLO (Live At Roskilde)
Recorded live at Roskilde Festival, Denmark on 30th June 1995.
ROLL WITH IT (Live At Roskilde)
Recorded live at Roskilde Festival, Denmark on 30th June 1995.
MORNING GLORY (Live At Roskilde)
Recorded live at Roskilde Festival, Denmark on 30th June 1995.
HEY NOW! (Demo)
Recorded at soundcheck, Club Quattro Tokyo, Japan on 14th September 1994.
BONEHEAD’S BANK HOLIDAY (Demo)
Recorded at soundcheck, Club Quattro Tokyo, Japan on 14th September 1994.
ROUND ARE WAY (MTV Unplugged)
Recorded live for MTV Unplugged, Royal Festival Hall, London on 23rd August 1996.
CAST NO SHADOW (Live At Maine Road)
Recorded live at Maine Road, Manchester on 27th April 1996.
THE MASTERPLAN (Live At Knebworth Park)
Recorded live at Knebworth Park, Hertfordshire on 10th August 1996.
Watch the trailer for the album here.
WIN A DELUXE 25th ANNIVERSARY BOXSET
To celebrate the anniversary, we have one really lovely double LP picture disc to give away as a competition prize (they are only available direct from Oasis HQ so a nice prize)..
To win simply retweet and share this article in the buzz posts.
- Make sure you ‘like’ both @Buzz_Magazine and #MorningGlory25
- Like the post
- Tag the person you’d share your Oasis memory with
Both new and original Oasis content from the era will be made available throughout September & early October 2020 – visit www.oasisinet.com for details and follow #MorningGlory25.