What is the real meaning of Oasis - Champagne Supernova? That is the question asked by many over the past couple of years as they heard this song and tried to make sense of the lyrics.
I have heard this song in the past, but never really felt any connection with it until one day at a house party (September 2008), where my roommates, myself and my fiance attended, the song was playing. Shayne Lucishyn, Josh Wood, Jordan Kyte, Joanna George and myself stood there in the hallway and sang the words of this song. It is only then that I realised this was actually a really good musical piece of art.
“Champagne Supernova” is one of those Oasis songs with lyrics that sound like gibberish, but if you take some time to think about them they do seem to make sense. First of all, I have never read any interviews in which Noel Gallagher explains the meaning of this song. However, I do know the unusual situation that inspired its creation. One night Noel and his then-girlfriend Meg returned to Meg’s house after a date, and Noel noticed an unusual sugar jar Meg had in her kitchen. It’s pictured in the CD booklet of “(What’s The Story) Morning Glory?” on the page containing the “Champagne Supernova” lyrics. This jar had a lid with a small blue, plastic man hanging from it, just above the level of the sugar in the jar. While looking at this little figure hanging from the lid of the jar, the line “Someday you will find me caught beneath the landslide” entered Noel’s head. Immediately Noel locked himself in Meg’s kitchen and wrote the now infamous song.
So, what do the lyrics actually mean? After having listened to this song hundreds of times, I have come to the conclusion that they refer to life’s fragility when one chooses to live dangerously. In the case of Oasis, this may refer to their undeniable drug use. The first verse, “How many special people change? How many lives are living strange? Where were you while we were getting high?” seems to be referencing those people who are priviledged (i.e. special people), but choose to live “strange” or dangerously despite their wealth (priviledge). By asking “Where were you while we were getting high?”, Noel is asking someone who lives a more normal, subdued life what that type of life is actually like.
The next verse, “Slowly walking down the hall, faster than a cannon ball” seems to be a clear reference to someone who isn’t seeing things from a clear perspective (someone who takes unnecessary risks even when he should know better). Someone who is on drugs would view someone who is actually walking very slowly as walking very fast.
The chorus, “Someday you will find me caught beneath the landslide, in a champagne supernova in the sky” can only refer to death. Finding someone caught beneath a landslide would be the equivalent of finding them dead, and the reference to the landslide being in the sky indicates a reference to heaven. Thus, this person knows he’s living a dangerous life and that his lifestyle may one day kill him.
The next verse, “Wake up the dawn and ask her why a dreamer dreams she never dies. Wipe that tear away now from your eye” seems to be saying that someone who is so engulfed in his dangerous lifestyle believes he is invincible (i.e. he dreams he will never die). By stating “Wipe that tear away now from your eye”, this person seems to be saying to his loved one, “Don’t worry about me. I’m invincible. Stop crying.” Then the chorus kicks in and this person starts to realize that maybe he isn’t invincible after all.
The next verse is very powerful, stating “People believe that they’re gonna get away for the summer. But you and I, we live and die. The world keeps spinning ’round, we don’t know why.” This means that people believe that they can choose to do dangerous things and then just quit anytime they want (i.e. get away for the summer means doing dangerous things for a while, and when the summer’s over they can quit). However, this person realizes that he’s not invincible and that real people do “live and die”. “The world keeps spinning ’round, we don’t know why”, seems to be saying that, no matter what happens, the world will continue to turn whether we live or die.
Other links to people trying to define the song:
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