Half the World Away

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For other uses, see Half a World Away (disambiguation).

"Half the World Away"
Song by Oasis
from the album The Masterplan
Released18 December 1994
RecordedOctober 1994
StudioThe Congress House, Austin, Texas
Genre
Length4:21
LabelCreation
Songwriter(s)Noel Gallagher
Producer(s)Owen Morris, Noel Gallagher

"Half the World Away" is a song by English rock band Oasis. It is well known as the theme tune to the popular BBC sitcom The Royle Family.

The song was written by Oasis' lead guitarist Noel Gallagher, who also provides lead vocals. The song is an acoustic tune with accompanying keyboards, and the lyrics – much like "Rock 'n' Roll Star" – express a desire to leave a stagnant life in a boring city. The song is primarily in C major.[1]

Recorded at The Congress House Studio, Austin, Texas, in October 1994, "Half the World Away" was first released as a B-side to "Whatever" on 18 December 1994, reaching number 3 in the UK charts.[2]

In 1998 the song was included in

compilation album Stop the Clocks, which also reached number 2. The song reached number 56 in the UK charts in 2015 following the release of Aurora's cover version, marking their first top 100 song since the release of "Falling Down
" in 2009.

During a Q & A session at Salford Lads' Club in October 2019, Gallagher revealed that the song was the favourite of the B-sides he had made.[3]

Background

Oasis' sound engineer Mark Coyle introduced the band to Burt Bacharach's song "This Guy's in Love with You". Coyle was in charge of musical intake while on tour, and this song was often played during his eclectic sets. Drummer Tony McCarroll pointed out that the song's drum shuffle could be adapted for one of Oasis' acoustic numbers. After a while "instead of adapting the drum shuffle, Noel seemed to have adapted the whole song and renamed it Half The World Away". Despite the input and being able to play the pattern well, McCarroll (along with the rest of the band) were invited to leave the studio for a break, but it turned out to be just an excuse so Gallagher could record the drum track himself.[4]

Conversely, producer Owen Morris recalled the Congress House session as "very weird, very strange", as tensions between Gallagher and McCarroll reached a breaking point. Gallagher insulted McCarroll for taking six attempts to put down the drum track for "(It's Good) to Be Free", and Morris reported that Gallagher told McCarroll "You aren’t going near the drum kit on this one. Fuck off, right now" before recording "Half the World Away".[5]

In interviews, Gallagher has admitted the tune to "Half the World Away" was adapted from "This Guy's in Love with You" by Bacharach and Hal David. He commented "It sounds exactly the same. I'm surprised he hasn't sued me yet!"[6] Gallagher sang "This Guy's in Love with You" live in 1996 at a Burt Bacharach concert at the London Festival Hall while Bacharach accompanied him on piano and conducted the orchestra.

Some of the borrowing in the song is from Gallagher's own work: the line "My body feels young but my mind is very old" was adapted from the second line of the earlier song "Comin' On Strong" ("You said body was young but your mind was very old"),[7] a song that would later itself be reworked by the Chemical Brothers as "Setting Sun", with Noel's vocals and lyrics retained.

Use in "the Royle Family"

The song gained mass public exposure when it was selected by Caroline Aherne and Craig Cash to be the theme tune to their sitcom The Royle Family. The series revolved around the sitting room of a working-class family and was set in Manchester, the hometown of Oasis. Although it had modest beginnings, the series soon became popular and its theme became well known. The opening credits of the series edited together the first stanza of the first verse and the second stanza of the first chorus. The end credits, which would cut in immediately after the final joke of the episode – so as to add weight to it – began with the second stanza of the final chorus and would see the song through to the coda. When Gallagher was originally approached about using an Oasis song for a series about a working-class family in Manchester, he suggested "Married with Children" and was confused when "Half the World Away" was chosen. On tour in America when The Royle Family was first screened, he claims the penny did not drop until he returned to the United Kingdom to find the series a huge success and viewed it, feeling the song was perfect for the series. He now claims not to think of "Half the World Away" as an Oasis song, but rather as the theme tune to The Royle Family.[8] After Caroline Aherne died in July 2016, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds paid tribute to her by performing "Half the World Away" on a few occasions. In similar vein the first episode of Gogglebox broadcast after Aherne's death had Half the World Away play over the closing credits in her memory.

Musical style

"Half the World Away" is characterized by a slow tempo and exhibits a intricate, contemplative, and poetic composition. When singing the song, Noel Gallagher incorporated elements from both American and British English standard dialects. Notably, words like "half" and "can't" were pronounced using the American pronunciation.[9]

Charts

Weekly chart performance for "Half the World Away"
Chart (2015) Peak
position
Ireland (IRMA)[10] 85
Scotland (OCC)[11] 22
UK Singles (OCC)[12]
 56
UK Singles Downloads (OCC)[13] 29

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[14] Platinum 600,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

AURORA version

"Half the World Away"
Single by AURORA
from the album All My Demons Greeting Me as a Friend
Released6 November 2015
Recorded2015
GenreIndie folk
Length3:18
LabelDecca Records
Songwriter(s)Noel Gallagher
AURORA singles chronology
"Murder Song (5,4,3,2,1)"
(2015) 		"Half the World Away"
(2015) 		"Conqueror"
(2016)

In 2015, Norwegian singer-songwriter AURORA released a cover version of the song. It was released on 6 November 2015 as a digital download. The song was selected as the soundtrack to the 2015 John Lewis Christmas advert. It was later accumulated for the deluxe version of her debut album All My Demons Greeting Me as a Friend, which was released on 11 March 2016.

Track listing

Digital download
No.TitleLength
1."Half the World Away"3:18

Charts

Chart (2015) Peak
position
Ireland (IRMA)[15] 22
Scotland (OCC)[16] 4
UK Singles (OCC)[17]
 11

Release history

Region Date Format Label
United Kingdom 6 November 2015 Digital download Decca Records

Personnel

  • Noel Gallagher – vocals, guitars, drums
  • Paul Arthurs – electric piano
  • Owen Morris – bass guitar[18]

Notes

  1. ^ "Half the World Away". Musicnotes.com. 22 September 2008.
  2. ^ "Song profile on Oasisinet".
  3. ^ Keeling, Neal (29 October 2019). "Noel Gallagher at Salford Lads Club – the best bits". men.
  4. ISBN 1843582465
  5. ^ "Half the World Away: Oasis at the Congress House". Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  6. ^ "Noel Gallagher Fesses Up To Bacharach Rip". gigwise.com.
  7. ^ "Oasis – Comin' On Strong" – via genius.com.
  8. ^ Interview with Noel Gallagher, We Love The Royle Family, BBC 1, 29 October 2006
  9. ISSN 2057-0163
    .
  10. ^ "Irish-charts.com – Discography Oasis". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  11. ^ "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  12. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
  13. ^ "Official Singles Downloads Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
  14. ^ "British single certifications – Oasis – Half the World Away". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  15. ^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Half the World Away". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  16. ^ "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
  17. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 13 November 2015.
  18. ^ "Half the world away I mixed back at Loco while the Verve were having a weekend off onetime….I overdubbed a bass on it….to give it credibility I told Noel that Si from The Verve played it…" http://owenmorris.net/oasis/ Archived 12 November 2016 at the Wayback Machine
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