Wonderwall

Wonderwall is one of Noel Gallagher’s most important and personal songs, and his evasiveness over the years in explaining it (the right of any artist, imho), exposes the song to a lot of interpretations. Despite what he said, Noel did indeed write this song to a real person: Paul McCartney, but it was the friendship at that point in his life that was imaginary, not the person. The film “Wonderwall”, which I will discuss shortly, gave him the pretext at a superficial meaning of speaking about Meg, his wife at the time. But the only way you could conclude it was written to her is if you didn’t understand what “Wonderwall” really meant to Noel, or overlooked the context of Oasis in ’93 being heralded as the next Beatles, with Noel being placed in the Paul McCartney typecast alongside Liam cast as Lennon. Liam named his first son "Lennon", so it's quite clear that this typecasting was and is present throughout Noel and Liam's lives at a basic and formative level, and that it precedes their fame and marital relationships.

The song was written prior to Noel and Paul becoming well acquainted and having a real relationship, as happened throughout the mid-late 1990’s. At this early stage Paul was Noel’s "Wonderwall" in fantasy and he sensed that Paul’s experience with fame and Lennon and the conflicts and ennui that played out served as a model for the identity crisis that he was facing after the hugely successful Definitely Maybe album and the stormy relationship with Liam in his own life. But most people are not aware of the movie Wonderwall which features a score called Wonderwall Music, composed by George Harrison.

The Movie, “Wonderwall” (1968) is about an aging, absent-minded biologist named Collins who has spent a lifetime peering through the small aperture of a microscope. Then, a young model named Penny Lane moves in next door. One night he sees a ray of light coming from the wall in his darkened flat and discovers a peephole into which he can observe Penny’s apartment. Peering through this aperture opens a completely fantastic and alien world of sex, drugs, psychedelia, and of course Penny naked. Collins gradually withdraws further and further into the wonderwall; or perhaps with a different perspective, allows his mind to expand into this new universe untethered by “ego” or “reality”. As he begins to drill more peepholes, and his observations become increasingly more fantastic and psychedelic. The act of observing another life unobserved by the subject (similar to the relationship of artists to their fans) has become transformational- it’s not really just about his love interest in Penny anymore- the wonderwall opens up an entirely new reality where none of the banality or limitation of actual life applies. Noel’s Wonderwall is therefore "music", and his Penny Lane is Paul McCartney. Like Collins, he has spent his whole life peering into the light coming through the narrow aperture of media- observing his artistic hero living a public life.

Through music Noel is having an imaginary dialogue with Paul, much as Collins did with Penny Lane. Who wrote Penny Lane? Paul McCartney. "Today, is gonna be the day" (as opposed to Yesterday, Paul's famous solo song). "Backbeat" (a direct Paul reference, and title of a 1994 film), "the word is on the street that the fire in your heart is out." One of McCartney's many artistic pseudonyms in this period was "The Fireman". Recall in the song Penny Lane "‘there is a fireman with an hourglass". "All the roads were winding" refers to The Long and Winding Road, reputedly Lennon's favorite Macca work. Note that the orchestration and arrangement of the song "Wonderwall" is dominated by the Cello (Just as in Eleanor Rigby- another Paul solo work), and that in orchestral settings the Cello is the analog of the Bass Guitar- just like Paul's instrumental role in the Beatles.

Paul McCartney is therefore named throughout the song explicitly as Noel's imaginary listener. The relationship of the Noel and Paul is that of role model and apprentice. Noel is struggling internally with the idea that songwriting and performance has nothing to do with artistic authenticity- it’s just acting and burlesque to the Collins’ of the world- the word on the street. Noel wishes Paul would respond to criticism of his later work by producing new great material but that's a bit ironic if satisfying the masses means being inauthentic to one's artistic self. Maybe Paul likes the stuff that the fans and Noel didn't? Maybe he's not compromising anymore? He doesn't really yet know Paul well enough to ask why the fire seems to have gone out. That's why there "are so many things that (Noel) would like to say to (Paul) but (Noel) doesn't yet know how."

Noel is living in both worlds at the time of the songwriting: just like Collins at his Wonderwall (While looking at "Penny Lane", yet another Paul song reference), Noel feels himself being drawn into the same vortex of alternate reality now that he has been crowned “the next Paul”, and he’s scared he’ll follow Paul’s winding road where "all the lights were blinding". He’s met the real Paul, and so he has to square his fantasy version to a new reality- one which ultimately will help him define his own artistic identity. But the dialogue from Noel's perspective is still internal- the Paul inside his head is not the real Paul. Paul is to Noel, as Penny Lane is to Collins. Hence Noel titled the song "Wonderwall", to allow access to the song's deeper layers for his more informed and attentive listeners.

The dialogue’s subtext is that of disenchantment. You can almost hear Noel saying “Paul, you’re the greatest singer songwriter of the 20th century and it’s been 15 years since London Town. "Buck up man, because people are saying you’ve gone soft, and I’m afraid if I follow your steps I’ll get the same. And Liam! He's worse than Lennon! But ultimately it’s a road I must follow, maybe by continuing to place my faith in your guidance I’ll ultimately save myself from what happened to you and John. If I go off the path now, I’m lost: since you've always been my Wonderwall."