Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. XLIV--Oasis: Wonderwall

When your first have kids, one of the many things you think of is all the things you have to teach them (don't run with scissors, look both ways before crossing the street) as well as the many things you want to teach them (baseball, how to make fart noises with your armpit).  But what you don't realize is how much they'll teach you--over the past thirty some odd years I've become quite well-versed in sharks, movies, dinosaurs, space, and a host of other topics that if I'd never had kids I'd still know next to nothing about.  And as you might expect, my kids have taught me a thing or two about music, too.

My beautiful daughter had a birthday yesterday, and as such we'll be marking that momentous occasion by celebrating my favorite song by her favorite band through her teen years (and a bit beyond):  "Wonderwall" by Oasis.  Oasis helped turn her into quite the Anglophile for a few years, and if memory serves, she and a friend of hers stood in line outside a Best Buy until after midnight to be among the first to scoop up a copy of  (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, the album from which "Wonderwall" originates.

The love for music is in the genes, I tell you....

Anyhoo, Oasis formed in 1991 and on the backs of the brothers Gallagher (Liam--lead vocals, and Noel--guitar and masterful songwriting) became quite the worldwide phenomenon for a number of years.  To say that, in their native England, they were as big as The Beatles (a huge influence on the band) would only be a small bit of hyperbole.  To this day, virtually any poll in England would have Oasis easily in the top five bands of all time and their albums Definitely Maybe and (What's the Story) Morning Glory? would appear in any top ten.  While not quite that popular here in the States, they did enjoy a great deal of success with three top ten albums.  Acrimony between the Gallagher brothers led to the band's demise in 2009, but their legacy in Britpop had long been secured by then.

One of the great underrated talents in music is a talent for understatement, and Oasis imbues "Wonderwall" with understatement from beginning to end.  From the acoustic guitar that starts it to the violin that slips its way in to the drums at the first break to the piano that slides in at its closing, the song is full of moments of quiet brilliance that take the song from being merely good to being uncommonly great.  And the understatement is the perfect companion for Liam Gallagher's vocals, which in a nutshell, are the song's greatest strength.  He delivers them with an almost matter of fact delivery that underlies his soul churning admission.  And the serenity of the instrumentation just makes the vocals that much more powerful.  As the song fades out you're left with a feeling of quiet hopefulness, and know that you've been under the spell of pure pop genius.

Did you know that a "wonderwall" is a barrier between the mundane and Transcendent Reality?  And that a true wonderwall has a slit or crack in it that allows one to see what lies beyond the wonderwall?  Me either, but telling someone "...after all, you're my wonderwall" sounds a whole hell of a lot cooler now, doesn't it?

Enjoy:

Peace,
emaycee