"Wonderwall" is a song and subsequent single by British rock band Oasis, from their second album (What's the Story) Morning Glory? and was realeased on October 30 1995. The song, which was written by Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher, is considered by many to be a defining British rock song, and regularly features in "best-of" polls.
Released in October 1995, the "Wonderwall" single peaked at #2 in the UK Singles Charts and proved to be their American breakthrough, giving Oasis their only US top 10 hit thus far. "Wonderwall" is perhaps their most popular song, despite the fact that British TV stars Robson & Jerome's "I Believe"/"Up on the Roof" kept it out of the top slot. "Wonderwall" continues to have enduring popularity in Oasis' canon; as of 2005, it was 99th in the UK's list of best-selling singles, and has now sold over a million copies in single and download sales in the UK.[
BackgroundThe song takes its name from the 1968 album Wonderwall Music by George Harrison, at the time still a member of the Beatles. Harrison's album was in fact a soundtrack to the film Wonderwall, but the film has remained unknown by the general public.
It is often claimed that "Wonderwall" was written for Gallagher's then-girlfriend, Meg Mathews. Noel married Mathews in 1997, but divorced four years later. Gallagher now claims that the song was not about Mathews at all, but he felt he had to go along with the rumour, saying "The meaning of that song was taken away from me by the media who jumped on it. How do you tell your missus it's not about her once she's read it is? It's a song about an imaginary friend who's gonna come and save you from yourself." Noel initially wanted to sing this song on (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, but he gave his brother Liam Gallagher the choice, and Noel ended up singing "Don't Look Back in Anger".
The music video to the song was filmed in the relatively brief period when bassist Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan quit the band due to nervous exhaustion; Scott McLeod came in to replace him.
The sleeve artwork was inspired by the paintings of the Belgian surrealist René Magritte, and was shot on Primrose Hill in northwest London. The hand holding the frame is that of art director Brian Cannon; the girl is Anita Heryet, a Creation Records employee. The original idea was to have Liam in the frame before Noel vetoed that idea whilst the shoot was taking place.
The song is included on Oasis' "best-of" album Stop the Clocks.
Covers"Wonderwall" has been one of the most-frequently covered songs in recent history; the most famous of which was an easy listening arrangement by The Mike Flowers Pops, which reached #2 in the UK Singles Charts, just as the Oasis original had done two months earlier. Gallagher mentioned that when BBC Radio 1 premiered the song, they ironically claimed that they had found "the original version of Wonderwall." Gallagher, who had been in America at the time, was surprised to be asked by one of his record company's executives if he had actually written the song.
Ryan Adams's version, first performed in 2001, and later released in 2004, was well-received by Noel Gallagher; Noel continues to perform the song in the same style as Ryan's version.
Other artists who have covered the song include American indie singer Cat Power, Richard Cheese, Great Big Sea, Paul Anka's swing-jazz style arrangement, the Beastie Boys punk rock cover that has been performed at concerts, but never released as a single, and a cover on the compilation Punk Goes 90's by the pop-punk band Cartel. The Harvard Independent compiled a list of the five most ironic versions of "Wonderwall".
The song was also covered by fellow British rock group Radiohead as a joke in the late 1990s; Thom Yorke sings many incorrect lyrics and cuts out mid-chorus when a background voice says, "Is this abysmal or what? It's always good to make fun of Oasis." Along with the group Radiohead, the up-coming band, Cartel also did a remake of this song.
During a heated rivalry between Oasis and Robbie Williams, which came about due to Noel and Liam's constantly referring to Robbie as "the fat dancer from Take That", he performed "Wonderwall" at his Slane Castle concert live on pay-per-view TV.
The verse to "Wonderwall" is built on a common four-chord progression which several other songs have also employed. These include Travis's "Writing To Reach You" (which contains the lyric "what's a Wonderwall anyway?"), "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" by Green Day, Justin Timberlake's What Goes Around...Comes Around and Oasis' first single from Be Here Now, "D'You Know What I Mean". "Wonderwall" was later featured in the popular mash up "Boulevard of Broken Songs", which also contained parts of both "Writing to Reach You" and "Boulevard of Broken Dreams". In late 2006, Gallagher accused Green Day of "ripping off" "Wonderwall", saying "If you listen, you'll find it is exactly the same arrangement as Wonderwall. They should have the decency to wait until I am dead [before stealing my songs]. I, at least, pay the people I steal from that courtesy."
Matthew Newton sang a swing version of Wonderwall during his controversial appearance on The Big Night In with John Foreman on New Year's Eve 2006.
Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters has made a cover version as well.
British cover band Ten Masked Men have recorded a Death Metal rendition of the song.
American band The Fray added the chorus towards the end of its song Look After You in their live performances.
In the ABC television series Lost, British character Charlie Pace, portrayed by Dominic Monaghan, performs an acoustic sampling of "Wonderwall" in two episodes, notably the third season episode "Greatest Hits".
Australian Idol 2007 contestant Ben McKenzie performed a version mixing the Oasis original and Ryan Adams cover on Britpop night.
Awards and accoladesThe promo video for "Wonderwall", directed by Nigel Dick, won the Best British Video award at the 1996 BRIT Awards.
In May 2005, "Wonderwall" was voted the best British song of all time, in a poll of over 8,500 listeners conducted by Virgin Radio.
In August 2006, Wonderwall was named the second-greatest song of all time in a poll conducted by Q Magazine, finishing behind another Oasis song, "Live Forever".
In 2006, U2's guitarist The Edge named Wonderwall one of the songs he most wishes he'd written.
In 1995, "Wonderwall" came in at number one in the national Australian music poll, the Triple J Hottest 100.
In May 2007, NME magazine placed "Wonderwall" at number 27 in its list of the 50 Greatest Indie Anthems Ever.
Other InformationThe opening track of (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, "Hello", starts off with the opening riff of "Wonderwall" playing extremely quietly; this stops once the guitar noise comes in. This is similar to the tape print-through that can be heard on such songs as the Talking Heads' "Road to Nowhere."
The original title of "Wonderwall" was "Wishing Stone".
In an interview conducted in Australia around the time of the release of Be Here Now, when asked which three songs he would like to be remembered for, Noel immediately responded with "Live Forever", "Magic Pie", and "Wonderwall", and then proceeded to list several others, including "Champagne Supernova" and "Don't Look Back in Anger".
At the very end of the song, the intro to "Supersonic" can be faintly heard being played on acoustic guitar.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
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