Which Oasis songs were not written by Noel Gallagher?
There are few bands with more singalong-worthy hits to their name than Oasis. Spawning out of the suburbs of Manchester in the early 1990s, led by two talented and temperamental brothers, Oasis became a leading band in the Britpop movement. They captivated audiences with their blending of anthemic, football chant-style choruses and melodies indebted to the sound of the 1960s, and they’re still captivating them three decades later.
Take ‘Wonderwall’, for example. Love it or hate it, it’s difficult to deny just how catchy the band’s ever-iconic 1995 single is. And the second Liam Gallagher opens that chorus with the words, “Because maybe,” drawing out every word needlessly, it’s impossible not to join in. But ‘Wonderwall’ isn’t the band’s only enduring banger; there are many other tracks in Oasis’ discography that have the same anthemic quality.
From ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’ to ‘Live Forever’ to ‘Champagne Supernova’, the Britpop band’s catalogue is filled to the brim with tracks that urge you to sing along, and they had one songwriter to thank for them all: Noel Gallagher. It turned out that recruiting his sibling to join them in their music-making antics was the best choice he had ever made, but they didn’t have Gallagher to thank for every single song.
After penning every tune across their first three albums, Noel gave his bandmates a chance to hold the pen from their fourth record onwards. The first non-Noel track to appear on an Oasis record was ‘Little James’, which Liam Gallagher penned. The song appeared on their 2000 record Standing of the Shoulder of Giants, the only song on the album that wasn’t penned by Noel.
From there, Liam began to get even more involved in writing, as did the Gallagher brothers’ other bandmates. Their 2002 album, Heathen Chemistry, featured three contributions from Liam, including ‘Songbird’ and the collaboratively written ‘Better Man’, which he penned alongside Noel. Guitarist Gem Archer and bassist Andy Bell also contributed their writings to the record, with ‘Hung in a Bad Place’ and ‘A Quick Peep’, respectively.
Noel’s contributions became more balanced with songs penned by Gallagher, Archer and Bell. On Don’t Believe the Truth, he wrote less than half of the album tracks. His bandmates were becoming increasingly comfortable with a pen in one hand and an instrument in the other. Noel wasn’t the only songwriter in the band anymore, however it could be argued that he was still the only hit-maker.
Although Liam Gallagher, Archer and Bell were all penning more songs that would appear on the band’s later albums, they never wrote anything that came close to the success of Noel’s earliest, catchiest hits. Unfortunately, there was no ‘Wonderwall’ or ‘Live Forever’ amidst their writings. Still, it provided a breath of fresh air to hear songs penned by other members of the band, to hear them stretching their talents beyond studio and stage.
The Oasis songs not written by Noel Gallagher
- ‘Little James’ (Liam Gallagher)
- ‘Songbird’ (Liam Gallagher)
- ‘Better Man’ (Liam Gallagher)
- ‘The Meaning of Soul’ (Liam Gallagher)
- ‘Guess God Thinks I’m Abel’ (Liam Gallagher)
- ‘Pass Me Down The Wine’ (Liam Gallagher)
- ‘I’m Outta Time’ (Liam Gallagher)
- ‘Ain’t Got Nothin’’ (Liam Gallagher)
- ‘Soldier On’ (Liam Gallagher)
- ‘I Believe in All’ (Liam Gallagher)
- ‘Boy with the Blues’ (Liam Gallagher)
- ‘Hung in a Bad Place’ (Gem Archer)
- ‘A Bell Will Ring’ (Gem Archer)
- ‘Eyeball Tickler’ (Gem Archer)
- ‘To Be Where There’s Life’ (Gem Archer)
- ‘A Quick Peep’ (Andy Bell)
- ‘Turn Up the Sun’ (Andy Bell)
- ‘Keep the Dream Alive’ (Andy Bell)
- ‘The Nature of Reality’ (Andy Bell)
- ‘Love Like a Bomb’ (Gem Archer and Liam Gallagher)
