Don't Look Back in Anger

Here is the context of this song: That guy was with Sally but is now with a new girl.

About Sally: Sally left him, but she regrets. By being alone again, and looking back at their story together, she realises the mistakes she made, and the deep love they had. She wishes she could be back with him again. She has lots of regrets about all the bad things she did, how she treated him like shit or reacted like shit sometimes. She wishes she had not being blind and had realised the essence of their love earlier. Instead of seing only his small defects, she should have seen the big picture, the reason why they were together and how great that guy was. She is not ready yet to move on. She is still in this process of understanding the past, and acknowledging her faults, and being angry against herself for what she did, and for being so blind. She is in pain. She feels that her life has no meaning without him, that her life is grey. She is really focused on the past, which is really painful. She forgot the reason why she left him, why it didn't work. She also thinks it is all her fault and she wishes she could change the past, and start again with him from fresh.

The guy singing: He was in love with Sally, for a long time. But she treated him badly at the end, and then left him. He is still angry against her. If he had no feelings concerning her, he would be indifferent. But he loved her, for a long time. He is angry about the way she treated him at the end. He is angry and looks back in anger to their story. However, he had to move on. He met a new girl, and he is now having a new girlfriend. He doesn't have love for Sally anymore. She broke all. He only has angriness.

What is happening: Sally told him she regrets and that she would like to be with him again, that she is really sad, that she thinks about the past all the time.

And the song is what he replies to Sally when she comes back to him, asking him to be with her again, telling him how she regrets the past, that she can not be happy if she is not with him:

Slip inside the eye of your mind Don't you know you might find A better place to play You said that you'd never been But all the things that you've seen Will slowly fade away

So I start a revolution from my bed 'Cause you said the brains I had went to my head Step outside, summertime's in bloom Stand up beside the fireplace Take that look from off your face 'cause You ain't ever gonna burn my heart out ( -> Sally broke everything. He doesn't love her anymore and it will never work out again ever.)

And so Sally can wait, she knows it's too late as we're walking on by Her soul slides away, but don't look back in anger I heard you say

-> Sally can wait forever. She knows it is too late as we(this guy and his new girlfriend) are walking on by. Her soul slides away -> It puts Sally down to see him together with a new girl.

but don't look back in anger I heard you say -> Here I am not sure. For me, this is Sally telling him: "Please, stop being angry with me. Don't look back in anger to our story. Even if you moved on, at least remember the good moments we had together, because it is painful for me to think that all you remember is only the bad moments." But it could also be him talking to himself. He heard a voice inside telling him to not look back in anger. Or it could be the new girlfriend telling him "Come on, don't look back in anger to your story. We all have stories. You moved on, you don't need to be angry with her anymore."

At the end: "It's not today." is because it is too early for him to forget what happened. He is still angry. He moved on, but he can't forgive her for what she did to him, and he can't look back only at the great moments, for the moment he sees the bad moments they had together and the fact that she left him.

This all song is, as many said, a song telling us in general to move on, to stop thinking of the past and regretting what happened. As someone wrote, you can't change the past, you can only learn from it. So it is telling Sally to start moving on too and stop looking back, and telling the guy to stop being angry at her. The reality is that it takes a lot of time, that's why the last line is "but not today". When you have pain and regrets in your heart, you can't just move on without processing all your feelings, all your emotions,and looking back, analysing your past. It is actually by looking back that you learn a lot, that you get the lesson, that will help you in your next story. About better communications between the two, when you are together, about appreciating what you have, the big picture, about remembering that no one is perfect, that you should be happy with what you have. And sometimes stop by and think before to be impulsive and take decisions that will radically change your life. But AFTER you have been through this phase, then you need to stop being angry against yourself and have your mind slide away. And the other person needs to stop being angry against the person who treated him badly and both need to move on. Because if you don't move on, you get stuck in your past, you remain sad and your heart remains in winter, when life continues. We all need to move on, because things fade away. If you don't move on, if we don't forgive ourselves and the others what happened, and accept the past, there is no future.

Guys, you can't imagine how important to me this song of Oasis is. This is my story. I am Sally. I have lived this story. I have been with my boyfriend for almost 5 years. I forgot the big picture and I left him recently. He moved on, and is with a new girl now. Then I woke up and had regrets and told him how stupid I was to have left him, that I regretted the past, that we should try to be together again. He moved on, and I am never going to burn his heart out ever. And he is still angry against me. And I am slowly starting to remember why it didn't work, why I left him, but it takes a lot of time.

I just rediscovered this song. How powerful it is, how deeply true. Of course, from a band point of view, it can be also that the guy had to make a choice between Sally and his band. He chose his band and "And So Sally can wait, she knows it's too late as we're walking on by." -> WE is the band.

And yes, there are also those references "So I start a revolution from my bed" is a reference to John Lennon and Yoko Ono and "Stand up beside the fireplace" is a reference to Noel when he was a kid and his mum took photos of him close to the fireplace. But these don't explain the main meaning of the song, though. They just give some background to the sentences picked by Noel, rather than others.