The one Beatles song Noel Gallagher couldn’t live without
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The Beatles song that took things to “another level” according to Noel Gallagher
Noel Gallagher’s love of The Beatles is no secret. He’s paid tribute to the band throughout his career; whether this is a wink and a nod to Abbey Road on the cover of Oasis’ Be Here Now or a not-so-discrete homage, there’s no denying his aficionado status.
One constant through the ages for Noel with and without Oasis is covers of The Beatles in his set lists. One of his best covers of the Fab Four is a stripped-back version of ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ with the assistance of Johnny Marr, and it’s a track that Noel believes is a work of art.
Surprisingly, the electronic duo The Chemical Brothers are responsible for making Gallagher fully understand the brilliance of the Revolver track. Of course, it was an album he’d loved since he was a kid, but it wasn’t until Noel heard them drop it in their set that he began to recognise ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ in a different light.
Speaking to Mixmag, he recalled: “In the middle of, you know, their electronic f****** thing, they used to do play ‘Tomorrow Never Knows,'” he recalled. I had never heard that before, not in that context, in a sweaty little basement, and it’s coming in after some f****** Spoony D track! A f****** sandwich! I mean, it’s like wow. They took that thing to another level.'”
This period of Gallagher’s life was interesting to his fans as he began to expand his horizons musically and explore electronic music. In recent years, his newer output with the High Flying Birds has showcased this side of his artistry, and it was The Chemical Brothers who first opened his eyes to the possibilities of dance.
After being indoctrinated after their ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ mix, Gallagher then collaborated with The Chemical Brothers on ‘Setting Sun’, which remains one of the proudest moments of his career, and showed he could excel outside of guitar music.
“They’re f***** amazing, and ‘Setting Sun’ is one of the best things that I’ve ever done, and I love them; I’m a fan,” he continued. Meanwhile, in 2011, Gallagher told The Quietus that their collaboration was born out of ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’. He said, “When I did ‘Setting Sun’ with The Chemical Brothers, it was based loosely on ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’.”
‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ is a John Lennon creation written around the time he began experimenting with LSD. His new recreational habit shifted his perspective about music, and as Noel said, it elevated the group’s sound to “another level”. Throughout their career, levelling up was a constant for The Beatles. With each album, they found another gear with this track which spelt their growth into psychedelic territory on Revolver.
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