I Just Learned The Original Name For Wonderwall, And I Can’t Stop Laughing
It’s the most streamed song of all time, according to Official Charts and is still a firm favourite for cover bands and men with guitars at house parties alike.
However, Wonderwall isn’t exactly beloved by the band and actually almost didn’t have that name at-all.
According to NME, upon hearing the song, frontman Liam said: “What do you think you’re doing, dickhead? Oasis aren’t a funk band.”
Back in 2020, Liam also admitted that performing it made him want to gag.
Charming.
Noel’s not that enamoured by it, either: “Outside of England, it’s the one song we’re famous for all over the world, and it annoys the fuck out of me.
“It’s not a fucking rock’n’roll tune. There’s quite a vulnerable statement to it. When people come up to me and say it’s one of the greatest tunes ever written, I think, ‘fucking hell, have you heard ‘Live Forever’’?”
Despite their disdain for... their own song, the band have achieved dizzying success with it.
However, it almost wasn’t named Wonderwall
According to an interview in the 2009 book The Art of Noise: Conversations with Great Songwriters, Noel discussed the evolution of the song Wonderwall, and how they landed on the name,
The song was originally called Wishing Well, after an experience Noel had following a gig. He said: “We played the Cathouse in Glasgow,... that night we played with The Verve I ended up with this capo [a clamp placed over guitar strings].
“I met some girl and we went back to my hotel room and she had this [wishing] stone in her pocket that she insisted I had... I thought it was a great title and the song came out of that.”
However, when he listened to George Harrison’s solo album named Wonderwall Music, he had a change of heart.
“It was like, ‘Brilliant, I’ve got a Beatles connection!’”
Wishing Stone just doesn’t have the same ring to it, does it?
