‘The perfect football song’: Why England fans and players love Wonderwall

“Cmon England cmon Wonderwall.”

That was the message once again from Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher on Sunday morning, after England’s travelling supporters – including Sir David Beckham – sang his band’s most famous song with the players at full-time following their World Cup quarter-final win over Norway in Miami.

It has become a new tradition in recent weeks, being belted out after all five of the men’s team’s wins across the US and Mexico.

Speaking to the Sun after their opening win in Dallas, the man who wrote it, Liam’s brother and bandmate Noel Gallagher said: “Wonderwall belongs to the people, and it was a magical moment between the people and the players.”

And he claims not to be an England fan.

Captain Harry Kane told the Lions’ Den podcast that the first impromptu singalong was one of his “favourite ever moments in an England shirt”.

His old teammate and now BBC Sport pundit Joe Hart said after the DR Congo game that such “phenomenal” moments of unity allow players to “drop the mask, just for a few minutes, of being an elite professional”.

Norway fans and players may have combined similarly to do the “Viking row”, but (after all) it’s Wonderwall that “resonates with being English”, one fan told BBC Sport.

While traditional England anthems including Three Lions, Vindaloo, World in Motion, as well as Sweet Caroline – the accidental breakout hit from Euro 2020 – have still been heard in pubs around the country, Wonderwall appears to be the song of the summer so far.

The number two hit, taken from Oasis’s all-conquering 1995 album (What’s the Story) Morning Glory, re-entered the UK top 40 singles chart last week as a result of the initial viral moment. And on Friday it shot up from number 32 to 11.

In 2008, shortly before the Manchester band split up, Liam declared that he “can’t stand singing that song” – the acoustically-driven ballad that launched a thousand buskers.

But since then he has done exactly that, many times and to great effect for adoring fans around the world throughout the band’s big-selling reunion tour last year.

Author and broadcaster PJ Harrison, who last year released the biography Gallagher: The Rise and Fall of Oasis, finds the process of pop songs being adopted by football fans fascinating.

In the 1960s, the Evertonian tells BBC News, there was a tradition for fans simply singing pop hits of the day.

He thinks what is happening now with England and Wonderwall could not have been contrived.

“You have the long lifespan of Wonderwall, then you have the renewed interest with the tour,” he notes. “And obviously, if you’ve got to put one song on from that tour, that fits.

“Then it’s just a case of the DJ having the situational awareness to think, ‘This is the song for the moment’, put it on and everybody just embrace it.”

He adds: “Once it takes root and it becomes melded to an emotional moment, like winning a first World Cup game, it just takes on this emotional life and quickly gathers an immediate nostalgia.”

As for the song itself, Noel told Uncut magazine around the time of its release that it was a musical love letter to his then-wife Meg Mathews. But he subsequently changed his story, telling Q Magazine it was about “an imaginary friend who’s going to come and save you from yourself”.

The ambiguity in the lyrics allied to the familiar, easy melody, Harrison believes, allows fans to “express an outpouring of love without necessarily specifying what it’s towards”.

“What is a Wonderwall? I’m not really sure what it is but I can sing about it and it can be whatever I think it is,” says the former Plymouth Argyle director and co-founder of the LA-based City of Angels FC.

“If I think it’s Jude Bellingham or if I think it’s England winning, it can be that, or it could be my girlfriend or whatever.”

Unlike some of the other more upbeat, hopeful England songs, he feels the reflective nature of Wonderwall means it “would also still work in consolation if the team get knocked out”.

The term Wonderwall is originally taken from the psychedelic and surreal 1968 film of the same name.

It stars Jane Birkin as the object of obsession for a man who lives next door, slowly making holes in his wall so he can watch her through it (not creepy at all).

George Harrison provided the soundtrack – the first solo album by a Beatle – which is where avid record collector Noel came across it.

The original working title for his tune had been Wishing Stone, but a smart tweak to the lyrics resulted in his best-selling song – millions of records and billions of streams – and probably paid for his swimming pool.

Louder Than War writer and Membranes musician John Robb, who also released an Oasis book last year titled Live Forever: The Rise, Fall And Resurrection Of Oasis, tells us Wonderwall is the perfect song for football fans due to it’s heady mix of “euphoria” and “melancholy”.

“There’s something really melancholic about being a football fan because any second you’re about to lose but any second you’re about to win,” says the Blackpool supporter.

“The song captures both – it’s the perfect football song.”

He continues: “It has that thing where you can sing along to it but it’s got that undertone of sadness, it’s also got that lift in the chorus.”

Although not written as a football song, Noel has spoken of the influence of his time spent on the terraces at the old Maine Road watching Manchester City on his songwriting, Robb recalls.

“Football is about community and camaraderie and everybody being together in the moment, and those kinds of songs are perfect for it,” he adds.

“The ultimate choir is a football terrace, because it’s a lot of people who can’t really sing, singing together and in harmony.

“That’s quite a beautiful thing.”

England fans will be hoping their team is on song next month so they can continue their new tradition all the way to the final in New York.

All the roads that lead them there are winding, though, on to Atlanta for Wednesday’s semi-final.

Wonderwall lost its own final of sorts, back in November 1995. It was cruelly kept off the top of the chart by Robson and Jerome’s double A-side, I Believe and Up On The Roof – which remain unsung by hordes of England fans as far as we’re aware.

If England do win the World Cup for the first time in 60 years, look out for the song maaaaaybe ending 30 years of chart hurt too.

“Let’s keep the biblical vibrations going,” as Liam put it on X.

If not, supporters may be crying their hearts out instead.