Columbia (song)

"Columbia" is a song by Britpop band Oasis. Noel Gallagher is credited with having written it. "Columbia" originally existed as an instrumental number played at early Oasis gigs, before a "trippy" set of lyrics were written for it. The song was first recorded in the spring of 1993 as part of Oasis' Live Demonstration demo tape, which they made with the help of Chris and Tony Griffiths of The Real People. An edited version of the demo was released on a limited edition white label promo 12" in December 1993. As a result, this became the first Oasis song played on BBC Radio 1, adding to the growing buzz surrounding the band. This version was also released as a b-side on the "Supersonic" single. The track was re-recorded in 1994 and featured on Oasis' debut album, Definitely Maybe. It has gone on to become one of Oasis' most popular and enduring songs. Though Noel is credited with the song, and has claimed on several occasions to have written the lyrics, both Liam Gallagher and Chris Griffiths have claimed to have penned lyrics. Gallagher claims to have written the chorus and Griffiths the verse. Griffiths was also given a songwriting credit on "Rockin' Chair", which was released as a b-side to "Roll With It" and included on the Masterplan compilation. The track was named after the Columbia Hotel in London, which the band stayed in and were subsequently banned from.^[1] Although the song is over six minutes, it is only made up of 3 chords (Amaj, Dmaj, Cmaj) played in repetition. During an interview on the Definitely Maybe DVD, former rhythm guitarist Bonehead described it as his favourite Oasis song to play. Even though Oasis are not known as a shoegazing band, "Columbia" is a good example of the shoegazing genre. It should be noted that Columbia is one of the very few Oasis songs in which Liam Gallagher sings both the melody and the harmony during the 'I can't tell you....' section. When performing live, Noel Gallagher sings the higher harmony.

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