Travis frontman Fran Healy feared that Noel Gallagher was going to punch him for stealing chords from Oasis’ hit ‘Wonderwall’.
In a recent interview celebrating the 25th anniversary of Travis’ album, ‘The Man Who’, Healy spoke about the single ‘Writing To Reach You’, which he admits features verse chords from the iconic Oasis hit.
The interview also saw Fran Healy and bandmate Dougie Payne speak about the Glastonbury appearance which they felt they made their name, how a break up informed ‘The Man Who’.
The pair also chatted about how Fran almost forgot his hit ‘Driftwood’, as well as the night he ended up socialising with Courteney Love, Michael Stipe and Morrissey.
“nicked his chords”
Speaking to ‘Tim’s Listening Party’ podcast, Fran Healy made the revelation regarding the stolen Wonderwall chords.
“When I wrote ‘Writing To Reach You’, that was ’95. We’d seen Oasis playing at T in the Park for the first time that year”, he said. “That was a big, big (makes exploding noise) when that band cut through”.
He continued, “We went in a bar after it and Noel Gallagher walked in, looking like he was in the Velvet Underground”.
“He had a Ready Brek glow around him and it was like, ‘He’s a rock star!’, Healy explained.
“So, cut to six months later and I’m sitting in the coldest room in Glasgow and I’m writing this song and I nicked his chords, because that’s the chords to ‘Wonderwall’ in ‘Writing to Reach You’, he added. “The verse chords are absolutely lifted massively as we do, and as he does!”.
“I thought, ‘I’m never going to meet Noel Gallagher in a million years, because I’m on the dole, nothing’s gonna happen”, the frontman added.
“But in the off chance, I should mention a little nod in case he hears it – a little doff of the cap to the originator.’ So I did that, ‘It’s, ‘what’s a ‘Wonderwall’ anyway’ because I’ve nicked your chords – thanks Noel!’”.
“Nice chords, mate”
Healy revealed that he eventually met a 56 year old Noel Gallagher: “We ended up like a year and a half later, touring with (Oasis)”.
“And Noel come up to me after we came offstage and he went, ‘Nice chords, mate”, he added. “And I’m like (makes relieved noise.)“.
“I thought he was gonna hook me”.
Earlier this month, ‘Wonderwall’ was also named the most streamed song in the UK from the 1970s to 1990s.
The Official Charts Company revealed that the song reached top spot out of 300 of the most-streamed tracks in the UK from the 1970s, 80s and 90s.
More on this from Nova here.
