‘Let’s All Make Believe’: The story behind Oasis’ darkest song
When putting together the ‘Wonderwall’ single, Oasis main man Noel Gallagher played Alan McGee, the head of his label Creation Records, the song he’d written and recorded to be the b-side. After a solitary listen to ‘The Masterplan’, McGee looked up at the chief and said it was far too good to be a B-side. True to the elder Gallagher’s legendary hubris, Noel responded by reportedly saying, “I don’t write shit songs!” The thing is, he wasn’t wrong. At the time.
The hot streak Noel was on from the late 1980s to the early 1990s was pretty unbelievable. The man just couldn’t stop himself from tossing out unforgettable song after unforgettable song. If you’re that high on your own supply, and this was Oasis at their prime, there were few things they weren’t high on, why wouldn’t you think that would continue?
All the same, though, there’s something almost self-destructive about tucking the likes of ‘Acquiesce’, ‘Talk Tonight’ and ‘Listen Up’ away where no one but your most obsessive fans would find them. It makes for an amazing compilation of B-sides and rarities, but it could have also made for a third good album and not whatever Be Here Now was. However, I have a theory about the real reason these were all backing the likes of ‘Live Forever’ and ‘Shakermaker’.
Take a look through all those songs. ‘Acquiesce’, a searingly personal song about Noel and Liam’s co-dependency. ‘Talk Tonight’ is an unflinching story of Noel having his life saved by a fan in America. ‘Listen Up’, a dewy-eyed, almost innocent statement about believing in your own voice. Compare that to… y’know, ‘Digsy’s Dinner’. That made it on an album. Not ‘Fade Away’. A song about the pain of accepting your life will never be what you wanted it to be. Starting to see a pattern here?
To be clear, this isn’t to say that the albums and singles are meaningless lager-rock. ‘Live Forever’ and even ‘Rock & Roll Star’ are just as personal in their way but they’re triumphant. “The sound of a council estate singing its heart out” as Peter Doherty put it. When things get darker and more serious when Noel threatens to actually open up about his vulnerabilities, onto the B-side pile, you go. There’s one song in particular that sums this up perfectly, one of the most shockingly dark, brutally honest songs Oasis have ever put their name to.
Oasis’ 2000 single ‘Go Let It Out’ is music in the same way undressed lettuce is food. Technically true but you won’t enjoy or remember it. The B-side, ‘Let’s All Make Believe’ might just be the best thing Oasis have done in the 21st century. A number atmospheric to the point of gothic, with an almost Bond-theme-esque acoustic guitar and strings-led production. One that calls to mind Noel’s Burt Bacharach obsession in its scope and sheer emotion. However, for all the time I’ve spent focusing on Noel here, ‘Let’s All Make Believe’ belongs to his little brother.
For my money, it’s quite simply the best vocal of Liam’s entire career. Considering its proximity to those Wembley shows where he sounds like a dying horse and the fact his smoking habit ensured that he’ll never sound that much better, it’s almost insulting that we could have had it this good this whole time. For the first and so far only time in his career, Liam sounds genuinely vulnerable as he sings lines like “Let’s all make believe / that we’re still friends and we like each other / Let’s all make believe / in the end we’re gonna need each other.”
Words that, I cannot stress this enough, were written by his real-life brother by blood. Can you even imagine having to look someone in the eye even after reading words like that, much less singing them? It’s a reminder that, for all the Gallagher are tabloid fodder, they are family. Sure, the art would have been better if they’d been more willing to bare their soul on record. Spend a moment in their shoes, though.
If you were the creative force of the biggest band in the country, you could mine your family’s trauma for the sake of art. Air your dirty laundry out in the most public fashion possible. Humiliate yourself and those you love. Let everyone in, from the tabloids to the fans to the press, on your innermost thoughts about your family… when you could just churn out more terrace anthems and make just as much, if not more money.
