Don't Look Back In Anger

"Don't Look Back in Anger" is a song by British rock band Oasis, written by the band's guitarist, Noel Gallagher. Released as the fourth and final single from their hit second album (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, the song became the band's second single to reach #1 in the United Kingdom charts, and the first to feature Noel replacing Liam Gallagher on lead vocals.

Related Topics:
British - Oasis - Guitarist - Noel Gallagher - Album - (What's the Story) Morning Glory? - Liam Gallagher

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Noel said of the song " reminds me of a cross between 'All the Young Dudes' and summat the Beatles might've done". Of the character "Sally" referred to in the song he commented "I don't actually know anybody called Sally. It's just a word that fitted, y'know, might as well throw a girl's name in there. It's gotta guarantee somebody a shag off a bird called Sally hasn't it?". Noel claims that the character "Lyla", from Oasis' 2005 single is the sister of Sally.

Related Topics:
Lyla - 2005

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Noel admits that certain lines from the song are lifted from John Lennon: "I got this tape in The United States that had apparently been burgled from the Dakota Hotel and someone had found these cassettes. Lennon was starting to record his memoirs on tape. He's going on about 'trying to start a revolution from me bed, because they said the brains I had went to my head". I thought 'Thank you, I'll take that'!" The piano during the intro of the song is from "Imagine."

Related Topics:
John Lennon - The United States - Dakota Hotel - Imagine

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The song has become a favourite at Oasis' live performances. Noel encourages the crowd to sing along and often keeps quiet during the chorus, allowing the fans instead to sing along while he focuses on his guitar playing.

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The lyric to the song charts the lyricist's trouble keeping a relationship alive on a tour, coupled with images from an unhappy childhood. For example, the line "Stand up beside the fireplace / Take that look from off your face" is taken from Peggy Gallagher's instructions to Noel when he would have his photograph taken next to the fireplace when he was a child. An unhappy child, Noel would have to be told by Peggy to take the miserable look from his face, so as to produce a suitable picture.

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The video for the song is notable for featuring Patrick Macnee, the actor who played John Steed in the 1960s television series The Avengers, apparently a favourite of the band. The song has been used in a huge number of television programmes since its original release – perhaps most notably, it played over the end credits of the final episode of the BBC Two drama serial Our Friends in the North in March 1996, the very week it was at the top of the UK charts.

Related Topics:
Patrick Macnee - 1960s - Television - The Avengers - BBC Two - Our Friends in the North - 1996

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