Released on 30 October 1995 "Wonderwall" was the fourth single from the band's second studio album (What's the Story) Morning Glory?. It was described by lead guitarist and chief songwriter Noel Gallagher, who wrote the song and co-produced it with Owen Morris, as being about "an imaginary friend who's gonna come and save you from yourself",
"Wonderwall" reached the top ten in 15 countries; it topped the charts in Australia and New Zealand, peaked at No. 2 on both the UK Singles Chart and the Irish Singles Chart, and reached the top 10 in Canada and the United States, reaching No. 5 and No. 8, respectively, thus becoming the band's sole top-40 entry on the latter country's main Billboard Hot 100 chart. Its music video, directed by Nigel Dick, won British Video of the Year at the 1996 Brit Awards. "Wonderwall" remains until now, as one of the band's most popular songs. Many artists have also covered the song, such as Ryan Adams, Cat Power, and Brad Mehldau. In October 2020.
The song was originally titled "Wishing Stone". Gallagher told NME in 1996 that "Wonderwall" was written for Meg Mathews, his then-girlfriend and later wife. However, after Gallagher and Mathews divorced in 2001, he said the song was not about her: "The meaning of that song was taken away from me by the media who jumped on it, and how do you tell your Mrs it's not about her once she's read it is? It's a song about an imaginary friend who's gonna come and save you from yourself." The song's final title was inspired by George Harrison's solo album Wonderwall Music.
The song was recorded at Rockfield Studios in Wales, during a two-week recording of the Morning Glory album in May 1995. Morris produced the song in a half-day along with Gallagher, using a technique known as "brickwalling" to intensify the sound of the song. Liam Gallagher served as lead singer on the song after Noel had given him a choice between "Wonderwall" and "Don't Look Back in Anger", another single from the album, with Noel singing lead vocals on the latter. All of the band's members except bassist Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan contributed to the recording, with Noel playing bass instead of McGuigan. This decision displeased Liam, who told Morris, "That's not Oasis."
Noel Gallagher debuted the song on UK television backstage at Glastonbury, and it was broadcast on Channel 4 on 24 June 1995. The song was not performed by the band during their headline performance the night before. The song went on to be regularly played on the (What's the Story) Morning Glory? Tour where it was typically played and sung solo by Noel acoustically.
The song has been described as a perfect example of melodic pop. A simple, sweet song, that it showed why Oasis is rapidly becoming one of music's great singles bands, with its explicit George Harrison reference, doesn't bother to conceal another nod at The Beatles. Many felt the song was one of Oasis' best records because it manages to be immensely robust while still being one of Noel's most lyrically personal songs.
The original music video to the song conceived by Johanna Bautista was filmed by British music video and film director Nigel Dick at Unit 217B in Woolwich, London, on 30 September 1995. The filming of the promotional video took place during the brief period when bassist Guigsy quit the band due to nervous exhaustion, and was replaced by Scott McLeod, who appears in the video along with the four other members of the band. The song won British Video of the Year at the 1996 Brit Awards.
The sleeve artwork was inspired by the paintings of the Belgian surrealist René Magritte, and was shot on Primrose Hill in London by Michael Spencer Jones. The hand holding the frame is that of art director Brian Cannon. The original idea was to have Liam in the frame before Noel vetoed that idea whilst the shoot was taking place. Instead, a female figure was deemed necessary, so Creation Records employee Anita Heryet was asked to stand in as cover star for the shot.
"Wonderwall" reached the No. 2 spot in both Ireland and the United Kingdom in October and November 1995. It finished at No. 10 on the year-end chart for 1995 and at No. 26 on the 1990s decade-end in the UK. In the United States, the song peaked at No. 1 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart for a then-unprecedented ten weeks and reached No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in March 1996, becoming their only top-10 hit on the latter chart. It also proved to be a major hit in Australia and New Zealand, claiming the No. 1 spot in both countries. In Canada, the song reached No. 5 on the RPM charts.
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