Which Oasis songs sound like the Beatles?

April 16, 2013 1:06 AM

Reading this brutally hilarious set of Noel Gallagher gibes ("Liam's like a man with a fork in a world of soup") I noticed loads of people in the comments jeering that Oasis nicked all the Beatles songs. But - I can't hear it. Help me out! Which Oasis songs sound like which Beatles songs?
posted by Sebmojo to Media & Arts (18 answers total)

Whatever is probably the song that really started it. It doesn't rip off any specific song but just apes the Beatles 1967 sound - kind of a mix of All You Need Is Love / Penny Lane / Magical Mystery Tour.
posted by cincinnatus c at 1:58 AM on April 16, 2013

Here's a bit on Wikipedia detailing The Beatles' influence on Oasis with a list of specific (lyrical) references.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 2:02 AM on April 16, 2013

My gut reaction was The Beatles, "Dear Prudence," sounds a lot like Oasis, generally.

I mean that Dear Prudence is the precursor, genre-wise, to what I think of as the "Oasis Sound."

I know this isn't what you exactly asked for, but it's where my heart and mind went upon considering your question.
posted by jbenben at 2:09 AM on April 16, 2013

goodnewsfortheinsane's link probably gives you everything you need there. Looks like they were sued for plagiarising the song I mentioned, though not by the Beatles:

"Oasis have been successfully sued for plagiarism by Neil Innes, ironically himself a member of Beatles-parody band The Rutles sued by McCartney over plagiarism of The Beatles' songs, as Noel Gallagher's 1994 song Whatever directly lifted parts of its melody from Innes's 1973 song How Sweet to Be an Idiot. This event was subsequently referenced in The Rutles song Shangri-La off their 1996 album The Rutles Archaeology, itself a parody of The Beatles Anthology."

How Sweet To Be An Idiot, which is indeed very similar to Whatever.
posted by cincinnatus c at 2:11 AM on April 16, 2013 [1 favorite]

It's also worth noting that in the big Oasis v Blur "battle" in the mid nineties, the jibes were that Oasis were knock off Beatles and Blur were knock off Chas and Dave.

I.e. the apparent positioning was that Oasis were nicking the Beatles melodies and Blur's comic lyrical was a pastiche of a pastiche of cockney banter.
posted by MuffinMan at 2:17 AM on April 16, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: here's a few examples I found on youtube:

Imagine Vs Oasis - Don't Look Back In Anger
With A Little Help From My Friends Vs Oasis - She's Electric
Carry That Weight Vs Oasis - Don't Look Back In Anger
Tomorrow Never Knows Vs Oasis - Falling Down

posted by mrmarley at 3:47 AM on April 16, 2013 [3 favorites]

Don't look back in anger *consistently* gets me. Every single time it starts, I think it's a Beatles song.
posted by gaspode at 6:06 AM on April 16, 2013 [1 favorite]

Also, "Don't Look Back In Anger" contains the line:

"So I'm gonna start a revolution from my bed..."

Which is a blatant rip-off of John and Yoko's "Bed-In/Hair-In/Whatever-In."
posted by kuanes at 6:15 AM on April 16, 2013

Yeah, "She's Electric" and "All Around The World" are two most Beatlesy songs for me, although I'm strongly in the camp of not caring whether bands "rip" off The Beatles/T-Rex/Gary Glitter/The New Seekers etc, all of whom early Oasis got accused (often in court) of copying.

Although I do struggle to listen to early Beatles as they're just a knock off version of the Everly Brothers.
posted by Hartster at 6:40 AM on April 16, 2013

Nthing "Don't Look Back in Anger." When it first came out, I actually thought it was a Beatles cover.
posted by lunasol at 7:04 AM on April 16, 2013

The opening piano riff from Don't Look Back in Anger is very similar to the chorus from Lennon's "Watching the Wheels". Not from the Beatles catalogue exactly, but obviously related.
posted by dry white toast at 7:12 AM on April 16, 2013

What's the Story is filled with Beatles rip-offs. And it's not just the Beatles. This song rips off T-Rex
posted by KokuRyu at 7:36 AM on April 16, 2013

Noel is really bad about 'borrowing' from other songs. Shakermaker directly rips off I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (in Perfect Harmony). It cost them half a million.

And now they all drink Pepsi.
posted by elsietheeel at 7:54 AM on April 16, 2013 [2 favorites]

I am the Walrus. He has the tone and the songs are very backmasking beats/tone to them as well.
posted by stormpooper at 10:06 AM on April 16, 2013

I read or heard an interview with Noel a few years ago in which he copped to basically lifting the guitar riff from Paul Weller's Hung Up (most obvious moment at about 1:54), which itself is arguably Weller's most direct George Harrison homage of his career. (Bonus: Weller played lead guitar on "Champagne Supernova" two years later.)
posted by scody at 10:36 AM on April 16, 2013

Wonderwall was the name of a film with a soundtrack written by George Harrison. When they were kids, the Gallagher bros. had a wall on their bedroom plastered with beatles memorabilia that they called "wonderwall."

As someone who was obsessed with both bands at 12 (more the Beatles), I think of Oasis in the same way that I do the Rutles--a band so steeped in Beatles mythology that you really only fully get it if you've ever been another obsessive fan.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 1:43 PM on April 16, 2013 [1 favorite]

Not an Oasis song, but Noel Gallagher's track with The Chemical Brothers 'Setting Sun' is very similar to 'Tomorrow Never Knows'
posted by TwoWordReview at 4:41 PM on April 16, 2013

Yeah, if you'd ever heard 'How Sweet to be an Idiot' your jaw absolutely dropped when you first heard 'Whatever'. It's incredibly blatant.

I had no idea there had been lawsuits over the Rutles, which is the most intimately involved, yet loving, pastiche ever.
posted by andraste at 5:23 PM on April 17, 2013