Cigarettes & Alcohol

"Cigarettes & Alcohol"
Single by Oasis
from the album Definitely Maybe
B-side	"I Am the Walrus" (live) "Listen Up" "Fade Away"
Released	10 October 1994
Format	CD, 7" vinyl, 12" vinyl, cassette
Recorded	Clear Studios, Manchester, 1994
Genre	Rock, Britpop
Length	4:48
Label	Creation
Writer(s)	Noel Gallagher
Producer	Oasis, Mark Coyle & Owen Morris
Oasis singles chronology
"Live Forever" (1994) "Cigarettes & Alcohol" (1994) "Whatever" (1994)
Definitely Maybe track listing 11 tracks "Rock 'n' Roll Star" "Shakermaker" "Live Forever" "Up in the Sky" "Columbia" "Supersonic" "Bring It on Down" "Cigarettes & Alcohol" "Digsy's Dinner" "Slide Away" "Married with Children" Stop the Clocks track listing "Slide Away" (7) "Cigarettes & Alcohol" (8) "The Masterplan" (9)

"Cigarettes & Alcohol" is a song by English rock band Oasis, written by Noel Gallagher. It was released as the fourth single from their debut album Definitely Maybe, and their second to enter the UK top ten in the United Kingdom, peaking at number 7 (three places higher than "Live Forever"), eventually spending 35 weeks on the charts, re-entering the Top 75 on several occasions until 1997.

Background

Whereas earlier singles "Supersonic" and "Shakermaker" had used psychedelic imagery, and "Live Forever" used softer chords and tender lyrics, "Cigarettes & Alcohol" was the first real taste of the wilder attitude that Oasis appeared to be promoting. The song proclaims the inherent appeal of cigarettes, alcohol, and drugs as a remedy to the banality and seemingly futile nature of the working class life. Lyrics such as "Is it worth the aggravation to find yourself a job when there's nothing worth working for?" taps into the common sentiment of western disenchantment that was particularly common in the mid-1990s.

Upon first hearing the song, the man who discovered the band, Alan McGee, claimed that the song was one of the greatest social statements anyone had made in the past 25 years.

The song was the second case in which Oasis was accused of plagiarism, the first being Shakermaker. The main riff of the song is purportedly "borrowed" from "Get It On" by T. Rex and Little Queenie by Chuck Berry, and bears a similarity to the opening of Humble Pie's cover of "C'mon Everybody".

B-sides

The song was released with three B-sides: a cover version of The Beatles' "I Am The Walrus"; "Listen Up", a six-minute slow rocker musically similar to Supersonic; and the popular, slightly punk-styled "Fade Away", whose wistful lyrics are about the destruction of "the dreams we have as children" (this phrase was used as the title of Noel Gallagher's first live solo album. All these songs appeared on the compilation The Masterplan.

Track listings

• CD CRESCD 190

1. "Cigarettes & Alcohol" – 4:48
2. "I Am the Walrus" (live) – 8:15
3. "Listen Up" – 6:39
4. "Fade Away" – 4:13

• 7" CRE 190

1. "Cigarettes & Alcohol" – 4:48
2. "I Am the Walrus" (live) – 8:15

• 12" CRE 190T

1. "Cigarettes & Alcohol" – 4:48
2. "I Am the Walrus" (live) – 8:15
3. "Fade Away" – 4:13

• Cassette CRECS 190

1. "Cigarettes & Alcohol" – 4:50
2. "I Am the Walrus" (live) – 8:15

Personnel

• Liam Gallagher: vocals
• Noel Gallagher: lead guitar
• Paul McGuigan: bass guitar
• Tony McCarroll: drums
• Paul Arthurs: rhythm guitar

External links

• Full lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics