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Oasis will be compared to The Beatles until the end of time. Interestingly, Oasis once took a crack at one of the Fab Four’s psychedelic songs. The cover tells you everything you need to know about Oasis.

Oasis put a Beatles cover on some versions of ‘Definitely Maybe’

Oasis’ Definitely Maybe is primarily remembered for singles like “Supersonic,” “Live Forever,” and “Cigarettes & Alcohol.” Some editions of the record include a live cover of The Beatles’ “I Am the Walrus” from Magical Mystery Tour. “I Am the Walrus” is beloved because it combines oddball lyrics with a lush, well-produced soundscape.

Oasis usually didn’t get as surreal as “I Am the Walrus,” but they usually opted for layered lyrics that can be hard to understand on first listen. They also included a lot of the same production tricks as “I Am the Walrus,” such as baroque violins. In other words, “I Am the Walrus” is almost a proto-Oasis song. All it needs is some optimism and Liam Gallagher’s voice. Oh, wait. He sounds like John Lennon anyway.

Oasis changed the attitude of ‘I Am the Walrus’

Sometimes, bands who cover Beatles songs completely reinterpret them. Meanwhile, Oasis went the easy route — at least instrumentally. Their version of “I Am the Walrus” has some characteristic guitar fuzz, but it doesn’t bring too much novelty to the table.

When John sang “I Am the Walrus,” you could hear the snark in his voice. He loved singing nonsense that fans would pick apart, looking for the meaning of life. Gallagher sings the song with the utmost sincerity. He’s a fan through and through.

What inspired The Beatles’ ‘I Am the Walrus’

While “I Am the Walrus” is widely considered a psychedelic classic, John Lennon felt he made a mistake while writing it. During a 1980 interview in the book All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, the “Imagine” singer discussed the origin of “I Am the Walrus.” “It’s from ‘The Walrus and the Carpenter,'” he recalled. “Alice in Wonderland. To me, it was a beautiful poem. It never dawned on me that Lewis Carroll was commenting on the capitalist system. 

“I never went into that bit about what he really meant, like people are doing with The Beatles’ work,” he added. “Later, I went back and looked at it and realized that the walrus was the bad guy in the story and the carpenter was the good guy. I thought, Oh, s***, I picked the wrong guy. I should have said, ‘I am the carpenter.’ But that wouldn’t have been the same, would it? [Sings, laughing] ‘I am the carpenter…”

Despite this supposed error. John was pleased with “I Am the Walrus.” “On the Mystery Tour album I only had two songs as well — ‘I Am the Walrus’ and ‘Strawberry Fields,'” he said. “I didn’t have time to write anything else. [Paul McCartney had] already written 20 songs, or whatever the hell there is on that album. George just barely managed to get on. Luckily ‘Walrus’ and ‘Strawberry Fields’ were so fantastic everybody remembers that.”

“I Am the Walrus” is a great song — and it paved the way for a certain Britpop group.

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