SONG OF THE DAY
“Wonderwall” by Oasis ((What’s The Story) Morning Glory?, Creation Records, 1995). Written by Noel Gallagher.
INTERESTING FACTS (a la wikipedia)
– “Wonderwall” was a ’60s film & soundtrack written by George Harrison, and the title of his first solo album.
– Released as the third single from (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, “Wonderwall” peaked at #2 in the UK Singles Charts and proved to be their American breakthrough, reaching #8 on the Hot 100 singles chart and giving them their only top-ten U.S. hit. It also proved a hit in Australia, reaching #1 in February 1996.
– “Wonderwall” continues to have enduring popularity in Oasis’s canon; as of 2008, it was 76th in the UK’s list of best-selling singles, and sold over a million copies in single and download sales in the UK, where it went platinum.
– According to Noel the song was written about a girl he met at a concert when he was touring with Oasis. It is often claimed that “Wonderwall” was written for Gallagher’s then-girlfriend, Mathews. Gallagher married Mathews in 1997, but the couple divorced four years later. Gallagher now claims that the song was not about her 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 Mrs. 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.”
– In 2008 Liam Gallagher was quoted as saying about the song: “I can’t fucking stand that fucking song! Every time I have to sing it I want to gag. Problem is, it was a big, big tune for us.” Noel has said that Liam, “…thought we had gone too dance when I wrote ‘Wonderwall’ because the drums didn’t go boom-boom bap, boom-boom bap.”
– According to producer Owen Morris, the song was completed in 6–8 hours. Morris claimed that Gallagher had presented an alternative arrangement of the song “which had some extra complicated pre-bridge bits that didn’t have singing or melody – but just had some chord changes – which seemed completely unnecessary”, the night before it was recorded. This idea was quickly shelved.
– 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. He later noted that, in fact, he had only ever wanted to sing on Don’t Look Back in Anger, and had used Wonderwall as a bargaining tool.
– In August 2002, Noel changed the arrangement of his live performances of the song to a style admittedly heavily-influenced by Ryan Adams’ cover version of the song. This arrangement has continued to his most recent live performances of the song. When the full band performs the song live with vocals by Liam Gallagher, with electric guitars, it’s still in the original style as presented on the record. During the 2008-2009 tour, however, the band have returned to performing the song in a semi-acoustic form, albeit with an arrangement closely resembling the album version.
– 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. An alternative version, possibly a bootleg recording, exists and is viewable online. It features a single fixed camera shot, the same as is seen in the more common video, of the five band members miming to the song.
РThe sleeve artwork was inspired by the paintings of the Belgian surrealist Ren̩ Magritte, and was shot on Primrose Hill in north London. The hand holding the frame is that of art director Brian Cannon. The original idea was to have Liam in the frame before Noel vetoed that idea whilst the shoot was taking place. Instead a female figure was deemed necessary and Anita Heryet, a Creation Records employee, was asked to stand in as cover star for the shot.
– In the Grammy Awards of 1997 the band received a nomination for Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group and Noel Gallagher picked another nomination for Best Rock Song, winning none.
– In 2006, U2’s guitarist The Edge named “Wonderwall” one of the songs he most wishes he’d written.
– In December 20, 2007, VH1 placed “Wonderwall” at number 35 in its list of the 100 Greatest Songs of the ’90s.
– “Wonderwall” has been one of the most-frequently covered songs in recent history. The most famous cover version 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. The Mike Flowers Pops cover was used in the 1997 film The Jackal, and also in the 1999 film Superstar.
– Ryan Adams’ version, first performed in 2001, and later released in 2004 on Love is Hell, was well-received by Noel Gallagher. Adams’s version was also featured in episodes of Smallville, Cold Case, The O.C., and more recently on Brothers & Sisters and Lie to Me.
– Other artists who have covered the song include American indie singer Cat Power, Great Big Sea, Paul Anka’s swing-jazz style arrangement, the Brad Mehldau Trio, 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”.
– 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 i-III-VII-IV minor progression which several other songs have used. These include Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Green Day, U2’s Electrical Storm, Justin Timberlake’s What Goes Around…Comes Around and Oasis’s first single from Be Here Now, “D’You Know What I Mean?”. Wonderwall was later featured in the popular mashup Boulevard of Broken Songs, which also contained parts of both Travis’s 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.” The same chord progression can be found in Mahler’s 8th symphony.
– Jason Mraz sings the first verse of Wonderwall in the middle of his song “The Remedy” when he performs it live.
– At the age of eleven Lily Allen was overheard singing Wonderwall by Canadian soprano and composer Rachel Santesso. Santesso was impressed and started giving Allen singing lessons. She later grew up to become a famous pop artist.
MY TAKE
I put Oasis in parentheses in the title because technically my favorite version of this song—and the one I am forever referencing—is sung a capella in the car in 2004 by a little boy named Griffin that I was babysitting. He had the most beautiful, pure, Vienna-choir-boys-like tenor I have ever heard, and it was a moment that stopped time. I’ll never forget it.