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Sunday 13 October 2024, 6:00 PM, United Kingdom
Although they have always remained true to their roots in guitar-driven indie rock, Oasis and Noel Gallagher’s songwriting has evolved greatly over the years. Their early days creating gritty, abrasive, punk-influenced tracks like “Bring It On Down” couldn’t last forever, especially with the Mancunian band’s plans for world domination. So, for the second Oasis album (What’s the Story) Morning Glory, Noel Gallagher explored different ways of writing songs, and predicted the direction in which his career would subsequently develop.
After the intense and unparalleled success of Definitely, this will probably not be an easy task at all. The Gallagher Brothers were certainly under pressure to produce something that would continue this wave of popularity, and a simple reworking of the same themes and sounds of their debut wouldn’t be enough. As a result of this need for variety, as well as the changes in his daily life, Noel seemed to embrace the more personal and somewhat vulnerable songwriting on Morning Glory.
If you look at the highlights from the second album, like “Wonderwall” and “Don’t Look Back In Anger,” you’ll find that they’re a far cry from the warped teenage rebellion that Oasis first demonstrated. However, songs like “Hello” or even “The Swamp Song” continued their early prominence; The whole record was a balance of old and new. One song that managed to cross this line better than most was the fan favorite, “She’s Electric.”
Originally, the song was written during the production of “Definitely Maybe”, but was cut from the final mix of the album in favor of “Digsy’s Dinner”. According to Noel Gallagher, this decision was made: “I think [‘Digsy’s Dinner’] It sounded better live because it’s a less complicated song. As a result, “It’s Electric” was postponed to (What’s the Story) Morning Glory. Admittedly, the song fits better into the tracklist on their second album than it did on their debut, largely due to its strong narrative theme.
Speaking about the song’s construction, Gallagher once recalled, “It’s got great lyrics, and I don’t know how I came up with this shit.” The song originated during a particularly rewarding songwriting period for Gallagher. During that two-year period, the guitarist wrote a collection of hugely successful songs that would define his writing style.
However, Noel also claimed that the writing of “She’s Electric” predicted the success of the band’s later singles. He said: “It’s a bit like ‘The Importance of Being Idle’, in the 1960s, and has a specific story. It’s very British pop.”
By 2005, ten years after the release of Morning Glory (What’s the Story), Oasis were shadows of their former selves. Despite their continued commercial success, the quality of their production saw a steady but noticeable decline, exacerbated by the departure of key band members. The release of “The Importance of Being Idle” in the same year helped combat that growing reputation, earning Oasis their last number-one single in the UK.
There is no doubt that The Importance of Being Idle, which takes its title from Stephen Robbins’ book, was a highlight of the late Oasis period. Sonically, the track takes a lot of cues from 1960s British rock, with The Kinks being the dominant influence on its composition. According to Noel Gallagher, it is the 1960s atmosphere, combined with the narrative structure, that draws comparisons between the 2005 song and “It’s Electric”. The connection between the songs reflects the songwriter’s innate ability to draw inspiration from a variety of avenues, including his own compositions from previous years.
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