2020: still scratching around in the same old hole?
What song has been stuck in your head lately?
For me, it’s Half The World Away by Oasis.
It has been stuck in my head since…? I don’t even remember when. This song hits me right in the feels, probably because the lyrics describe perfectly how I feel about myself in 2020 (and of course, also because it’s Oasis!). I don’t know precisely the actual message that Noel want to send, also I don’t pretend to solve the true meaning of this song. But I want to share my thoughts since I can’t get it outta my head :D
This song was written by Oasis’ lead guitarist Noel Gallagher, who also provides lead vocals.
Noel Gallagher on the song (2006): It’s quite a melancholic song about leaving. All those songs around the Definitely Maybe time were about leaving somewhere and arriving somewhere else.
For me, this song is about a person who feeling trapped in the same situation over and over, and things won’t change until you do something about it. To solved the problem, it require the desire to leave the comfort zone and change.
Noel illustrates that this person (or maybe it was him? Let’s just assume it!) has realized the warning signs. His mind kept reminding him to leave this situation. It aimed to make him realize that he’s not as tough as he is in the public. He is searching for something bigger, better, that not just existed yet. Because the current situation has left him feeling like there is nothing more to achieve.
Even though there are warning signs, yet he did nothing. Maybe it wasn’t because he didn’t want it, but more likely he was just confused. How to get out of this pattern? Dealing with it is hard. He kept thinking for the way out. This things described well the lyrics “My body feels young but my mind is very old”.
“So what do you say?
You can’t give me the dreams that were mine anyway
You’re half the world away
Half the world away”
Here I am not sure. For me, the dreams resemble the way we live our lives. Those dreams, are they yours or it just what other people have projected you into? Whose life are you living? The lyrics might told us to live the way you pursue your dreams, you are the one who responsible for what you want in life. Probably your mind is half the world away, half is in the present, and the other half is very far away.
“I’ve been lost I’ve been found but I don’t feel down
No, I dont feel down.”
In this part, he acknowledge himself for being lost and found. It probably get better. He said that he don’t feel down, means he just won’t give up yet even on this frustating situation. I guess Noel just have a light point behind this sad song. At least that’s what I thought!
This 2020 has been full of suprises to me, there’s a lot ups and downs and I feel like riding a roller coaster throughout this year. The lyrics simply feel too relatable to myself in 2020. Never have I dealt with anything more difficult than my mind, just like what the person felt on this song. I just realize every-single-warning-signs that shows up in 2020 and ofc I want to get rid of it by leaving this pattern of life and be better but it is so hard to deal with (this post related to my previous one).
2020 has got me scratching around in the same old hole for real. Even though we have the solutions of our own problem, and the dreams we want to pursue, it is just not that easy to be done.
The good thing is, i learn so much in 2020. “No, I don’t feel down.”, just as the Noel write on this song. Sometimes, I just tired of my own thoughts so I just put it on a journal. But I never give up to be better!
Last but not least, can we all just appreciate the genius songwriter that is Noel Gallagher?! x
