‘Fuckin’ In the Bushes’: The Oasis song that stole its groove from Jimi Hendrix
Oasis were always known to be a bit fast and loose with the sounds of rock history. Although their connection to The Beatles’ music was apparent every time they took the stage, it never took that long for Noel Gallagher to translate some of his favourite tunes into his original compositions by tweaking them ever so slightly. So if they pulled from the greatest band in the world, why not try his hand at pulling from the greatest guitarist as well?
Granted, anyone who has ever taken up guitar in the past half-century is going to be influenced by Jimi Hendrix in some capacity. Despite relying on blues in the first half of his career, Hendrix opened up new worlds that no one could have imagined during the dawn of psychedelia, whether that was the opening stomp of ‘Purple Haze’, the tender beauty of ‘The Wind Cries Mary’, or hearing him accidentally laying the groundwork for heavy metal on tunes like ‘Spanish Castle Magic’.
But that kind of guitar pyrotechnics was never something that came easily for Noel. He certainly had great skills as a songwriter, but it was clear from the few solos that he did play that he was more suited to emoting through his instrument like Neil Young rather than trying to keep up with the massive guitar heroes of the day.
If he couldn’t play something as fast as Hendrix, he was going to rely on the grooves on his records. After all, there was always going to be more to Hendrix than a guitar and his voice, and listening back to what Mitch Mitchell does behind the kit on ‘Little Miss Lover’, it’s no wonder why Noel considered it the ideal way of opening up Standing on the Shoulder of Giants.
Although it’s not a direct sample, ‘Fuckin’ In the Bushes’ has the same drum shuffle from Alan White, only this time with Noel throwing in some of his trademark bluesy licks in between. It’s still far from the flashiest performance anyone has ever laid down, but in keeping with the Oasis tradition, this feels like the nastiness of that original Hendrix groove, only filtered through the same kind of good-natured fun that came out of early glam-rock acts like T Rex or Ziggy-era David Bowie.
Considering their last instrumental was a watered-down blues piece on ‘The Swamp Song’, this is a far better way of building tension. Since the whole song features different vocal samples coming in and out of the mix, there’s a certain psychedelic atmosphere created before everything settles down when ‘Go Let It Out’.
The only problem with the tune is that the rest of the album hardly delivers on the promise it makes. Despite sounding like the beginning of the greatest rock and roll you’ve ever seen, Standing on the Shoulder of Giants is the kind of laid-back comedown album where Noel asks the hard questions about his own personal health and the darker side of his mind. That’s not bad by any stretch, but it’s not what most people thought they were going to get, either.
But maybe that was never the point of ‘Fuckin In the Bushes’. Oasis had been gone for a few years after Be Here Now, and with the help of one of the funkiest Hendrix grooves, they seemed to announce their presence as the same kids from Manchester that were ready to kick some ass again.
