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7:26 · 1,320 words of transcript · watch on YouTube
- It is officially the first song of the 1990s to pass a billion Spotify streams, and it topped charts in over a dozen countries.
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- The context is a band at full height. Definitely Maybe went to number one in its first week and was the fastest-selling debut in UK history at the time.
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- Noel Gallagher brought a rough version into the studio and Liam hated it, because it was open-hearted and simply arranged where he preferred the heavier material.
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- Noel first said he wrote it for his then girlfriend, and after that marriage ended said it was actually about an imaginary friend who comes to save you from yourself.
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- Noel sang it first and it came out flat. Liam taking the lead, despite having disliked the song, is what revealed what it could be.
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- It was going to be called Wishing Well, and the final title nods to George Harrison's solo album Wonderwall Music.
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- The arrangement is deliberately thin: a soft drum pattern, a mellotron standing in for an orchestra, and an acoustic guitar.
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- The structure is the reason everyone can play it. Simple chords a beginner can manage, no bridge at all, just a second refrain, and a chorus learnable in one listen.
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- It also suits ordinary voices, which is why it works at a party, and the communal singing is part of what the song has become.
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- It only ever reached number two at home, held off by Robson and Jerome, while in America it hit eight on the Hot 100 and spent ten weeks atop the Alternative Songs chart.
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