"Supersonic" is the debut single released by British rock band Oasis, written by Noel Gallagher. It also appears on their debut album, Definitely Maybe. It was released on the 11 April 1994 and peaked at #31 on the official UK charts. It was the song performed by the band on their debut national TV performance on Channel 4's The Word, which aired on 18 March 1994. It remains to this day a favourite song of both the band and the fans (on the Definitely Maybe DVD, Noel cites it as his favourite Oasis song). The single went silver in the UK on June 30, 2006, 12 years and 3 months after is original release.

In spite of its popularity, Gallagher claims the song is basically a collection of nonsense lyrics written in a matter of minutes, just before the band entered the recording studios to record the track. The identity of the character "Elsa" caused some confusion — according to the song She done it with a doctor/On a helicopter/she sniffin' in a tissue/Sellin' the Big Issue. Noel claims, "Someone told me "Supersonic" was about teenage prostitution. Shit!". It has since been revealed that Elsa was a nine-stone rottweiler with a flatulence problem who was in the studio on the day the song was written, hence the line "she's into Alka Seltzer". It was written and recorded at The Pink Museum in Liverpool. The plan was for Oasis to record "Bring It On Down" for their debut single and another bunch of demos. However, "Supersonic" was written and it impressed everyone so much, it was chosen to be the band's first single.

In March 2005, Q magazine placed "Supersonic" at number 20 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks.

In May 2007, NME magazine placed "Supersonic" at number 25 in its list of the 50 Greatest Indie Anthems Ever.

The song is included on Oasis' compilation album Stop the Clocks.


Track listings

CD CRESCD 176
"Supersonic" - 4:44
"Take Me Away" - 4:30
"I Will Believe" (Live) - 3:46
"Columbia" (White Label Demo) - 5:25

7" CRE 176
"Supersonic" - 4:44
"Take Me Away" - 4:30

12" CRE 176T
"Supersonic" - 4:44
"Take Me Away" - 4:30
"I Will Believe" (Live) - 3:46

Cassette CRECS 176
"Supersonic" - 4:44
"Take Me Away" - 4:30
"I Will Believe" is believed to have been recorded for a 1993 radio session for the BBC.

The demo of "Columbia" is the same version as was released on a limited edition white label promo in December 1993, which itself was an edited version of the original demo recorded in Liverpool in the spring of 1993.



The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

The songs guitar riff is very similar to the George Harrison song My Sweet Lord. However when Noel wrote the solo he had no idea it sounded like My Sweet Lord. He only realised after the song was released when Mark Coyle notified him of the similarity between the two solos.
Another reference to Harrison, and The Beatles, is the last line of the first verse, "You can sail with me in my yellow submarine"
In the video to the song, King's Cross railway station can be seen in the background.

At the very end of the song Wonderwall the opening riff of Supersonic can be heard being played on an acoustic guitar.
It was certified Silver (200,000) 12 years after its release.
It was covered by Elliott Smith in 2003

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supersonic_%28song%29

this was an excellent debut single.

i actually prefer this version of Columbia rather than the album version i guess because it's a little more psychedelic. Take Me Away is a masterpiece, and introduced us all to Noel as a serious ballad writer/singer as well as rock, this was never played enough live. love the guitar solo at the end.

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Love it. One of my fav Oasis songs. Good Friday night bout to go out and get pissed song.