Stand by Me (Oasis song)
"Stand by Me" is a song by the English rock band Oasis, written by lead guitarist, Noel Gallagher. It was released on 22 September 1997 as the second single from the band's third studio album, "Be Here Now" (1997). The song peaked at number two in the UK charts in September 1997. Initially being certified Gold in the UK in October 1997, the song would eventually reach Platinum-sales status in 2019. It was ranked number 46 on the year-end chart of the United Kingdom for 1997. The song also reached number two  in Ireland and reached the top 10 in Finland, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Spain and Sweden. History. Noel Gallagher claims to have written the song whilst suffering from food poisoning when he first moved to London. His mother Peggy would phone him to check on him and repeatedly told him to ensure he was eating properly. This spurred Gallagher to cook himself a proper British Sunday dinner, which resulted in a bout of food poisoning. In a 1997 interview promoting "Be Here Now", Noel Gallagher had the following to say: "It starts, 'Made a meal and threw it up on Sunday '. When I first moved to London me mam kept on ringing up and asking was I eating properly. Yes, Mam. 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." Release and reception. "Stand by Me" was released on 21 August 1997 as the fourth track on the band's third studio album "Be Here Now", sequenced between "Magic Pie" and "I Hope, I Think, I Know". It was released as a single a month later on 22 September 1997. The song is generally seen  as one of the album's highlights. In a 2002 review, Stephen Thompson of "The A.V. Club" called "Stand by Me" one of the only good tracks present, also naming "My Big Mouth" and "Don't Go Away". Reviewing the album's 2016 deluxe edition, Laura Snapes of "Pitchfork" gave an overall distaste for the album, but called "Stand by Me" "genuinely touching". Andrzej Lukowski of "Drowned in Sound" also considered "Stand by Me" one of the album's highlights, but felt that it, along with "Don't Go Away" and "The Girl in the Dirty Shirt" lacked the "romance  of the band's earlier works. Live performances. Due to Noel's general dislike of Be Here Now", "Stand by Me" was rarely played live by the band at their concerts after the Be Here Now Tour, as it was Noel who usually decided the set lists for Oasis' tours. A live version of the song from this tour can be found on the double-CD version of "Familiar to Millions". A well-known acoustic version of "Stand by Me" was shown on television the night before the release of "Be Here Now" as part of a BBC One documentary , featuring Noel, Liam Gallagher and drummer Alan White sitting by the side of a swimming pool, with Liam on vocals, Noel on acoustic guitar and White playing tambourine. This version became available with the 2016 "Chasing the Sun" edition of "Be Here Now". In 2019, Liam performed the song for the first time since 2001 as part of an acoustic set for "MTV Unplugged", backed by former bandmate Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs. This recording would later be released in 2020 on the live album "MTV Unplugged (Live at Hull City Hall)". The performance was praised by Jordan Bassett of "NME", who  called it the album's standout track: "[It] provides the show's emotional centrepiece; from the way the audience sings along with his wounded dispatch, you sense Liam Gallagher's not the only person in the room nursing a few regrets." It has since remained a consistent staple of Liam's solo setlists. Music video. The video for the song was shot on 20 September 1997. It was a reworking of a famous series of adverts for "The Guardian" newspaper. Entitled 'The Whole Picture', the adverts showed people appearing to be engaging in criminal and/or anti-social acts—only for  it to be revealed that they are actually helping someone else. For example, a scruffily-dressed skinhead rushes at a businessman; it appears he is making an effort to mug him and break into his car, when he is actually getting it open for the businessman who locked the key inside it. Similarly, the music video shows a shop appearing to be being burgled — its window is smashed and people are taking away electrical goods — only for it to be revealed that in fact the victim of a motorcycle crash has gone through the window and is buried under the  goods. At the same time, a man who was earlier shown to be apparently running away from approaching police officers was actually rushing to save a girl from being run over by the motorcycle — the officers just happened to come by at that time. The video was filmed in the district of Feltham, west London. Track listings. UK 7-inch and cassette single UK CD single UK 12-inch single