Stand by Me (Oasis song) explained

Stand by Me
Cover:Stand By Me (Oasis).jpg
Type:single
Artist:Oasis
Album:Be Here Now
Label:Creation
Prev Title:D'You Know What I Mean?
Prev Year:1997
Next Title:All Around the World
Next Year:1998

"Stand by Me" is a song by the English rock band Oasis, written by lead guitarist, Noel Gallagher. It was released on 22 September 1997 as the second single from the band's third studio album, Be Here Now (1997).

The song peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart in September 1997. Initially being certified gold in the UK in October 1997, the song would eventually reach platinum status in 2019. It was ranked number 46 on the year-end chart of the United Kingdom for 1997. The song also reached number two in Ireland and entered the top 10 in Finland, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Spain and Sweden.

History

Noel Gallagher claims to have written the song whilst suffering from food poisoning when he first moved to London. His mother Peggy would phone him to check on him and repeatedly told him to ensure he was eating properly. This spurred Gallagher to cook himself a proper British Sunday dinner, which resulted in a bout of food poisoning. In a 1997 interview promoting Be Here Now, Noel Gallagher had the following to say: "It starts, 'Made a meal and threw it up on Sunday'. When I first moved to London me mam kept on ringing up and asking was I eating properly. Yes, Mam. So I tried to cook a Sunday roast and puked up for two days with food poisoning. It was back to Pot Noodles after that."[1]

Release and reception

"Stand by Me" was first included as the fourth track on the band's third studio album, Be Here Now, which was released on 21 August 1997.[2] [3] It was released as a single a month later, on 22 September 1997.

The song is generally seen as one of the album's highlights. In a 2002 review, Stephen Thompson of The A.V. Club called "Stand by Me" one of the only good tracks present, also naming "My Big Mouth" and "Don't Go Away".[4] Reviewing the album's 2016 deluxe edition, Laura Snapes of Pitchfork gave an overall distaste for the album, but called "Stand by Me" "genuinely touching".[5] Andrzej Lukowski of Drowned in Sound also considered "Stand by Me" one of the album's highlights, but felt that it, along with "Don't Go Away" and "The Girl in the Dirty Shirt" lacked the "romance" of the band's earlier works.[6]

Live performances

Due to Noel's general dislike of Be Here Now, "Stand by Me" was rarely played live by the band at their concerts after the Be Here Now Tour, as it was Noel who usually decided the set lists for Oasis' tours. A live version of the song from this tour can be found on the double-CD version of Familiar to Millions.

A well-known acoustic version of "Stand by Me" was shown on television the night before the release of Be Here Now as part of a BBC One documentary, featuring Noel, Liam Gallagher and drummer Alan White sitting by the side of a swimming pool, with Liam on vocals, Noel on acoustic guitar and White playing tambourine. This version became available with the 2016 "Chasing the Sun" edition of Be Here Now.

In 2019, Liam performed the song for the first time since 2001 as part of an acoustic set for MTV Unplugged, backed by former bandmate Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs. This recording would later be released in 2020 on the live album MTV Unplugged (Live at Hull City Hall).[7] The performance was praised by Jordan Bassett of NME, who called it the album's standout track: "[It] provides the show's emotional centrepiece; from the way the audience sings along with his wounded dispatch, you sense Liam Gallagher's not the only person in the room nursing a few regrets."[8]

It has since remained a consistent staple of Liam's solo setlists. Beginning in 2022, Noel also began performing the song live again, mainly in an acoustic line-up.

Music video

The video for the song was shot on 20 September 1997. It was a reworking of a famous series of adverts for The Guardian newspaper. Entitled 'The Whole Picture', the adverts showed people appearing to be engaging in criminal and/or anti-social acts—only for it to be revealed that they are actually helping someone else. For example, a scruffily-dressed skinhead rushes at a businessman; it appears he is making an effort to mug him and break into his car, when he is actually getting it open for the businessman who locked the key inside it. Similarly, the music video shows a shop appearing to be being burgled – its window is smashed and people are taking away electrical goods – only for it to be revealed that in fact the victim of a motorcycle crash has gone through the window and is buried under the goods. At the same time, a man who was earlier shown to be apparently running away from approaching police officers was actually rushing to save a girl from being run over by the motorcycle – the officers just happened to come by at that time.[9] The video was filmed in the district of Feltham, west London.

Other uses

From 2021 to 2023, the song appeared in adverts for British bank Halifax.[10]

Track listings

UK 7-inch and cassette single [11] [12]

  1. "Stand by Me"
  2. "(I Got) The Fever"

UK CD single [13]

  1. "Stand by Me"
  2. "(I Got) The Fever"
  3. "My Sister Lover"
  4. "Going Nowhere"

UK 12-inch single [14]

A1. "Stand by Me"

B1. "(I Got) The Fever"

B2. "My Sister Lover"

Personnel

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1997)!scope="col"
Peak
position
Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)[15] 7
Iceland (Íslenski Listinn Topp 40)[16] 3
Italy (Musica e dischi)[17] 13
Spain (AFYVE)[18] 6

Year-end charts

Chart (1997)!scope="col"
Position
Iceland (Íslenski Listinn Topp 40)[19] 39
UK Singles (OCC)[20] 46

Release history

Region!scope="col"
DateFormat(s)Label(s)
United Kingdom22 September 1997Creation[21]
Japan26 September 1997CDEpic[22]

Notes and References

  1. Noel Gallagher; ; hosted by Molly Meldrum; 1997
  2. Book: Harris, John. John Harris (critic). Britpop!: Cool Britannia and the Spectacular Demise of English Rock. London. Da Capo Press. 2004. 0-306-81367-X. 341.
  3. Web site: Erlewine. Stephen Thomas. Stephen Thomas Erlewine. Be Here Now – Oasis. AllMusic. 8 April 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160421001713/http://www.allmusic.com/album/be-here-now-mw0000594848. 21 April 2016. live.
  4. Web site: Thompson. Stephen. Oasis Be Here Now. https://web.archive.org/web/20070926223409/http://www.avclub.com/content/node/10759. 26 September 2007. The A.V. Club. 29 March 2002. 3 July 2007.
  5. Web site: Snapes. Laura. Oasis: Be Here Now Album Review. Pichfork. 8 October 2016. 21 April 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20190712085131/https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/22318-be-here-now/. 12 July 2019. live.
  6. Web site: Lukowski. Andrzej. Album Review: Oasis – Be Here Now (Chasing the Sun edition). Drowned in Sound. 5 October 2016. 16 October 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161019004450/http://drownedinsound.com/releases/19646/reviews/4150465. 19 October 2016. live.
  7. Web site: Liam Gallagher Stuns Hull City Hall With Biblical MTV Unplugged Set. MTV. 2019-08-05.
  8. Web site: Liam Gallagher – 'MTV Unplugged' review: live record offers warmth, hope and a sense of unity. NME. Bassett. Jordan. 11 June 2020. 8 July 2020. 1 July 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200701171914/https://www.nme.com/reviews/album/liam-gallagher-mtv-unplugged-album-review-2685424. live.
  9. Web site: 5 July 2009 . Oasis- Stand by me (original and official) . https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211213/N9kdHXrJYF8 . 2021-12-13 . live. YouTube . 2009-07-05.
  10. Web site: Where is the new Halifax bank advert filmed in 2021? . 4 March 2021 .
  11. Stand by Me. Oasis. 1997. UK 7-inch single sleeve. Creation Records. CRE 278.
  12. Stand by Me. Oasis. 1997. UK cassette single sleeve. Creation Records. CRECS 278.
  13. Stand by Me. Oasis. 1997. UK CD single liner notes. Creation Records. CRESCD 278.
  14. Stand by Me. Oasis. 1997. UK 12-inch single sleeve. Creation Records. CRE 278T.
  15. Eurochart Hot 100 Singles. Music & Media. 14. 41. 12. 11 October 1997. 26 January 2020.
  16. News: Íslenski Listinn Topp 40 (18.9. '97 – 25.9. '97). Dagblaðið Vísir. is. 22. 19 September 1997. 3 October 2019.
  17. Hits of the World – Italy. Billboard. 109. 42. 52. 18 October 1997. 4 June 2020.
  18. Book: Salaverri, Fernando. Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002. 1st. September 2005. Fundación Autor-SGAE. Spain. 84-8048-639-2.
  19. News: Árslistinn 1997 – Íslenski Listinn – 100 Vinsælustu Lögin. Dagblaðið Vísir. is. 25. 2 January 1998. 16 February 2020.
  20. Top 100 Singles 1997. Music Week. 27. 17 January 1998.
  21. New Releases: Singles. Music Week. 47. 20 September 1997.
  22. Web site: Oasis Artist Information. Sony Music Entertainment Japan. https://web.archive.org/web/20060407052044/http://www.sonymusic.co.jp/Music/International/Arch/ES/Oasis/. 7 April 2006. 24 August 2023.