It’s 2010 and I’ve become a father for the first time. One of the first times I’m on duty to soothe a crying baby at 2AM, I’m walking around the room holding my daughter and trying to think of a lullaby. The only song that comes to me is ‘Live Forever’ by Oasis. “Maybeeee…I don’t really wanna know…..how your garden grows…..”. It works. She stops crying, falls asleep. I sing (or hum) it every time I need her to go to sleep, and it works every time. By the time she’s two, she’s asking to hear it every night at bedtime, and I play it on my phone. When I hear it outside of the house, it reminds me of her and she told me that it always reminds her of me. I realize that when I’m gone, at some point she’ll hear that song, think of me and (hopefully) smile. “You and I we’re gonna live forever…..”. Although my copy of Definitely Maybe is still in a TBD storage unit on one of the US coasts (the owner doesn’t know which one, but has promised to look when he get back to the US for one of his bi-annual visits), I was smart enough to keep my 7" of Live Forever.
Oasis was a huge part of my music collection and became a top priority when I started this project. Eric Foust, the same person who sold me back my copy of “D’ Ya Know What I Mean” had these as well, but I didn’t have the funding a few months ago to get these. I can’t thank him enough — when I first mentioned this project to him, he said he’d never sell them unless it was back to me and he kept his word. (An interview with Eric is coming soon, BTW.) The records I got back are:
(What’s The Story) Morning Glory — First pressing, signed by the entire band at the time of release — (Alan White had taken over drums for Tony McCarroll)
Be Here Now — First pressing. I had it signed by Liam Gallagher. Eric had it signed at a later date by Noel.
Don’t Look Back In Anger — 12" Signed by the entire band. (Getting “Don’t Look Back In Anger” back right after it became the song Manchester rallied behind in the wake of the terror attack seemed oddly….I don’t quite know the adjective — Comforting?)
By the time Oasis’ second album (What’s The Story) Morning Glory came out in late 1995, I was hooked as a superfan. I’d already seen them twice at St. Andrew’s Hall and played the words off my cassette of ‘Definitely Maybe’ in my Jeep. The constant coverage in the British magazines I’d buy at record stores helped build the anticipation. I remember going to the record store on the day it was released and pulling the one imported vinyl copy off the shelf. It felt MASSIVE. It was a double album, so it was heavy. Even the cover was a different type of paper. I paid the steep price for the import (I think it was almost $30 which was a LOT considering I could’ve got the cassette for $11) and took it home. When I took it home, I read the tracklist, the liner notes, and absorbed every detail about the photos. I played it in it’s entirety (recording it to play in my car). When I got to the end — side four — I noticed that more than half of the side was dominated by one song. I thought to myself:
“This is either going to be the best song on the album, or the worst.”
Champagne Supernova was brilliant. I was an epic that only someone with a ton of talent and a huge ego could pull off, and Oasis did. I would put that side of the record on when I wanted to get lost in my own head. this one song would play as I thought of grandiose ideas or wallowed in my depression or simply wanted to zone out. The song was a “mood chameleon”. It didn’t put me in any kind of mood — it enhanced it. The solos made me want to play guitar; the “where were you while we were getting high” lyrics made me think of loss and when the video came out, seeing them spell out the words “HELP” in dominoes made me think it was written by a depressed Noel. The video also made me want a Union Jack guitar. All of those feelings and more came back when I saw that record again. I also picked up on a liner note I’d completely forgotten about — Paul Weller is thanked in the liner notes for his guitar and vocals on ‘Champagne Supernova’. I’ll have to have him sign the record as well when he returns to St. Andrew’s Hall.
Needless to say, twenty years later, Oasis is back in my life in a big way.
Project Update: June has been a banner month for the Vinyl ReSpin Project! Four pieces of my collection returned! Three vinyl records by Oasis and one from PJ Harvey. It was not all joyous however, as I received word that the signed copy of the Foo Fighters debut album that I sold was re-sold years ago at a record show in Ohio.
