The Oasis track that convinced Liam Gallagher to be a songwriter
Liam Gallagher has never exactly been one for modesty. Throughout the run of Oasis up until the modern day, ‘Our Kid’ has been known as one of the most unapologetic rock stars one could ask for, never making it clear whether he’s seething with venom or taking the piss depending on which day an interviewer catches him. Although Liam may have been just as happy to write songs by his brother Noel, one crucial track marked a turning point in his songwriting career.
For the first few years of Oasis, though, there was no debating who called the shots in the Oasis camp. Throughout the band’s tenure, Noel was the one steering the ship through every facet of the group’s career, being dubbed ‘The Chief’ due to his insistence on playing the songs a certain way every single time.
Once the original lineup fell out following the release of Be Here Now, Liam got his first songwriting credit on Standing on the Shoulder of Giants, featuring the touching song ‘Little James’. Though the track was universally panned by critics as one of the low points of the record, that didn’t stop Liam from honing his talents going into the next few albums.
Throughout the rest of the band’s catalogue, the frontman would continue to write one great track after another, with Noel commending him for penning the tune ‘Songbird’. As the band soldiered their way through the 2000s, though, Dig Out Your Soul was where everything started to come to a complete halt.
Featuring a collaborative effort from each band member, the writing was on the wall that Liam and Noel couldn’t get along anymore, hardly even speaking to each other when not on the stage. Although Noel had helmed classics like ‘The Shock of The Lightning’ from the record, Liam would talk about how strongly ‘I’m Outta Time’ impacted him.
While initially known as the hard-edged punk rocker of the group, Liam’s delicate vocal on this song is one of the most earnest of his entire career. Talking to an old flame or friend, Liam sings about whether he will ever be able to reconnect with this person, with thinly veiled allusions to his relationship with Noel coated throughout the song.
When talking about his greatest songwriting achievements, Liam still considers this tune a watershed moment, explaining, “When I finished that, I thought, ‘yeah, man, there’s something in this writing business. I should keep it up and not throw in the towel.’ I think that was the one. Cos a lot of my songs, verses repeat and shit like that. And I don’t have the big anthem chords. But I pulled that one off. I’m proud of that”.
While Oasis would be history only a few months after the album came out, Liam had inadvertently given fans a preview of what his solo career would look like, featuring downtempo songs alongside the caustic rockers. Beady Eye may have satiated fans’ appetites for what Liam Gallagher was capable of as a rock star, but ‘I’m Outta Time’ is the intimate side of the frontman that he never shows in public that often.
