Roll with It by Oasis Song Info
"Roll with It" is a song by British rock band Oasis written by their lead guitarist Noel Gallagher. It was released on 14 August 1995 as the second single from their second album (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, reaching #2 in the UK Singles Chart. "Roll with It" received a great deal of attention when Food Records, the label of Britpop rivals Blur, moved the original release date of single "Country House" to clash with it, sparking what came to be known as "The Battle of Britpop". The British media had already reported an intense rivalry between the two bands and this clash of releases was seen as a battle for the number one spot. The media sensation was spurred on by verbal attacks from the respective camps (in particular Noel and Liam Gallagher, Damon Albarn and Alex James), that extended beyond the music industry to the point where the two bands were regularly mentioned on the evening news. In particular, public imagination was sparked by the contrast between the gritty, working class Oasis and the artsy, middle class Blur. In the end, Blur's "Country House" single sold 274,000 copies to Oasis' 216,000 copies of "Roll with It". The singles charted at number 1 and number 2 respectively. In the week of its release, Damon Albarn was asked what he thought of the song. He dubbed the band as "Quoasis" and sang "Down, down, deeper and down" in reference of the song's likeness to Status Quo's 1975 hit Down Down . Oasis have often been criticised for 'borrowing' samples from 60s and 70s bands; this was one such song containing 'borrowed' music. The song is like several other songs, such as "Supersonic", in that it preaches the importance of being yourself. Recently the song has made it back into Oasis' live set-list, being played on their 2009 stadium tour. The melody for this song also appears in part in The Lemonheads' song Purple Parallelogram, which was co-written between Gallagher and Evan Dando. When Oasis played "Roll with It" on British chart show Top of the Pops, the Gallagher brothers switched roles with Liam pretending to play guitar and Noel pretending to sing (equipped with Liam's tambourine). It mocked the public's inability to tell them apart and also the institution of miming and lip synching on programmes such as Top of the Pops (it is widely believed that the brothers' dislike of miming led them to do it). The set ended with the band erupting in laughter at the Gallaghers' impressions of each other. A video of the performance can be seen at YouTube. The photograph used on this release was taken on the beach at Weston Super Mare. In the background is the Grand Pier which burnt down in July 2008. This has made the original vinyl artwork (particularly the 12" single) highly collectible. Oasis had been following in the footsteps of The Beatles, who were photographed on the beach wearing Victorian bathing costumes in 1963.
