A well worn trope on this blog is, or certainly used to be, that of Noel Gallagher's 'style' of songwriting. And by style I mean that not only is he a magpie, he's also a thieving robdogging bastard. In a good way, I hasten to add. And I'm not just saying that for fear of Mr. G going all legal on me; he really has written some blinding tunes (most of which, for my money, he penned after Oasis called it a day.)
I know I'm not alone round these parts in declaring my love for Pinball - Brian Protheroe's 1974 single which modestly rose to the dizzy heights of twenty something in the charts before dropping like a stone. Here's the man himself talking about the song that's followed him around all his adult life.
And unlike his mucker Paul Weller, who went on to record a rather palid cover version, Noel did his usual trick of lifting the hood on the song and then reverse engineering a brand new song using some, if not all, of the original's parts. Listen to Riverman and you'll see which bits he was able to salvage and those he left on the shop floor.
Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - Riverman 2015
I think one of the the reasons I think Noel is fundamentally a good guy (I know so many people who don't) is his brutal honesty. He'll tell you straight which Marc Bolan riff or Beatles melody he's half inched over the years. He doesn't care. Arrogant, yes; but also very refreshing.
Interestingly, one of the YouTube footnotes beneath Riverman mentions not Brian Protheroe but another artist who had the odd hit single himself in the 70s: David Cassidy has written (and had written for him) some astonishing songs. Fix of Your Love has been hidden in plain sight for the longest time on Cassidy's The Higher They Climb album. But take a listen to the guitar part and tell me where you've heard it before. And since!
David Cassidy - Fix of Your Love (1975)
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