How David Bowie Inspired “Stand By Me” by Oasis

Noel Gallagher has never been shy about borrowing from his musical heroes. It doesn’t take much detective work, for example, to spot the many Beatles references hiding in plain sight in Oasis hits like “Supersonic”, “Don’t Look Back In Anger”, “Morning Glory”, and many others.

Yet he became one of his generation’s leading songwriters as he shifted pop culture toward working-class Manchester and 60s British guitar bands. But it wasn’t only The Beatles informing Gallagher’s music. He wrote one of Britpop’s last great anthems as the 90s wound down, and for inspiration, he looked to David Bowie.

Food Poisoning

But before we get to Bowie, the opening verse requires an explanation, and here Gallagher recalls a 48-hour bout with food poisoning.

“When I first moved to London, my mam kept on ringing up and asking was I eating properly,” he told Q. “So I tried to cook a Sunday roast and puked up for two days with food poisoning. It was back to Pot Noodles after that.”

Made a meal and threw it up on Sunday,
I’ve got a lot of things to learn.
Said I would and I’ll be leaving one day,
Before my heart starts to burn.

“All The Young Dudes”

In the same interview, he said that in writing “Stand By Me”, he borrowed from himself as well as Bowie.

“It’s a bit like ‘Live Forever’, I suppose, with a touch of ‘All The Young Dudes’ in the background—though I made sure I changed the chords.”

Mott The Hoople first recorded “All The Young Dudes”, which was produced by Bowie and appears on the band’s 1972 album of the same name, after they had rejected a chance to record “Suffragette City”. Both Bowie-penned tunes remain glam rock touchstones.   

For Oasis, Be Here Now arrived in 1997 as both the band and Britpop had reached commercial peaks. Soon, Oasis would change its lineup and sound. And who better to look to for reinvention than David Bowie?

If you’re leaving will you take me with you?
I’m tired of talking on my phone.
There is one thing I can never give you,
My heart will never be your home.

(Photo by Lester Cohen/Getty Images)