"Don't Look Back in Anger" is a song by the British rock band Oasis, written by the band's guitarist, Noel Gallagher. Released as the fourth single from their hit second album (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, on February 19th 1996.
The song became the band's second single to reach #1 in the United Kingdom charts, where it also went platinum. "Don't Look Back in Anger" was also the first Oasis single to feature Noel on lead vocals instead of his brother, Liam Gallagher. The title is perhaps a play on the song "Look Back in Anger", from David Bowie's Lodger album or on the play, Look Back in Anger by John Osborne, from which Bowie's song took inspiration.
Music video
The video for the song, directed by Nigel Dick, features Patrick Macnee, the actor who played John Steed in the 1960s television series The Avengers, apparently a favourite of the band. While filming the video, drummer Alan White met future wife Liz Atkins. They were married 13 August 1997 at Studley Priory Hotel, Oxfordshire but later divorced. Macnee has no recollection of the filming of the video.
History
Noel said of the song, "[It] 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. In the interview on the DVD released with the special edition of Stop the Clocks, Noel also revealed that a girl approached him and asked him if Sally was the same girl as in The Stone Roses' track "Sally Cinnamon". Noel replied that he'd never thought of that, but thought it was good anyway.
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'!" "Revolution from me bed" most likely refers to Lennon's infamous bed-ins in 1969, both in the quote and in the song. The piano during the intro of the song highly resembles Lennon's "Imagine". Like many other popular songs,the chord progression for both the verse and the chorus are based on the classical piece Canon in D by Johann Pachelbel. The songs only differ slightly at the end of each phrase. Gallagher also admits that he was under the influence of substances when he wrote the song, and to this day he claims he does not know what it means.
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. The volume of crowd noise that usually descends on the chorus at concerts is easily audible on the rendition of "Don't Look Back in Anger" on Familiar to Millions. During the Dig Out Your Soul Tour the song has been played acoustically at a slower rate by Noel. Which surprised some fans, but it is still sung by all the fans.
In a 2006 radio interview, Liam Gallagher said that it was he who came up with the line "so Sally can wait" as Noel was struggling with that particular line at the time. Noel confirms this on the bonus DVD, entitled Lock the Box, released with the Stop the Clocks retrospective album. In the interview with Colin Murray, Noel admits, "I was doing it in the sound check and the so Sally bit, I wasn't singing that...and he [Liam] says, 'Are you singing so Sally can wait?' and I said, 'No.' and he said, 'Well you should do.'"
Noel was so excited of the potential of the song when he first wrote it, he used an acoustic set to perform a work-in progress version, without the second verse and a few other slight lyrical differences to the finished version, at an Oasis concert at the Sheffield Arena on April 22, 1995, saying before playing that he'd only written it the previous Tuesday (April 18, 1995) and that he didn't even have a title for it.
Track listing
CD CRESCD 221 (re-issued as RKISCD 018)
"Don't Look Back In Anger" - 4:48
"Step Out" - 3:40
"Underneath the Sky" - 3:20
"Cum on Feel the Noize" - 5:09
7" CRE 221
"Don't Look Back In Anger" - 4:48
"Step Out" - 3:40
12" CRE 221T
"Don't Look Back In Anger" - 4:48
"Step Out" - 3:40
"Underneath the Sky" - 3:20
Cassette CRECS 221
"Don't Look Back In Anger" - 4:48
"Step Out" - 3:40
CD re-issue (US) 34K78356
"Don't Look Back in Anger" - 4:48
"Cum On Feel The Noize" - 5:09
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