I was just having a glass of wine after a reasonably hectic day at work and was listening to itunes on random. Dont Go Away popped up on random and caught me slightly unaware and I felt melancholically nostalgic for a few minutes. It reminded me of 2 things from the past one which is a big personal thing to me and the other which is a touching Oasis anecdote that probably none of you will have heard.

In Summer 1997 my mother got cancer and spent a lot of time in a hospital, for a while we were told she might not make it and it was hard for me to take as a 13 year old kid(She made it BTW and is happily still with us) I used to sit in my room stewing and worrying all day long listening to the radio and my local station had 4 songs from the new unreleased Oasis album on rotation and i had taped them on cassette and Dont Go Away struck a chord with me. Now, its not technically a great song (Samey minor/major chords, average verses etc.) but the simple lyrics and Liam dragging every possible inch of emotion out of the song is what places it for me. Round our way it was also the song that was used on local TV and radio and by the public to convey everybodys feeling about Princess Diana's death so its a bit of a sweet and sour emotional minefield in my head.

Now this is a nice story I was once told that probably none of you will have heard so it will be nice to share it. In 1999 I did my work experience at Manchester City Football Club and part of my 'tasks' were to sweep up the leaves in the car park. I got talking to this business guy in the car park one morning on his way out, and this guy was an ex-friend now enemy of the Gallaghers (Apparently he was in the process of suing them at the time) at the time I was a huge Oasis fan and I was interested in his stories although he had pretty much nothing but bad things to say about the brothers (particularly the fat one who's not in the band)

I mentioned an article I read about how the band hated each other during the recording of Be Here Now and that Noel and Liam didnt speak to each other the whole time. He said that it was bollocks as he spent a bit of time in the studio during the recording. He said that though Noel and Liam didnt get on well, he'll never forget the one day when Liam sang Dont Go Away and couldnt get it right. Apparently he came out of the room for a rest while Noel changed some lyrics and then went back in and did it in one take. Apparently everyone was cheering and whistling, a few people were crying and Noel was banging on the sound-booth glass shouting 'You're the best singer ever' and Liam shouted back 'This is the best song ever' When Liam came out he hugged Noel and they both had tears in their eyes.

No one probably cares about that little story I can remember but I just thought it would be nice to share it anyway.

Remarkable. I too was hesitant to believe until I was given on good authority by various people that he once was good mates with Liam. I choose to believe it because a) it was I who had the conversation with him b) no-one in the right mind would make up such a specific non-event of a story and c) I'm not fooled into pre-conceived media dramas and subsequently being oafish enough to think it means I 'know' their personalities.

I was right in the first place, I should have kept it to myself