Noel Gallagher has revealed how ‘Half the World Away’ came to be the theme song for The Royle Family.
The hit show, which featured Ricky Tomlinson, Sue Johnson, Craig Little andthe late Caroline Aherne, ran from 1998-2000 and included specials which ran from 2006-2012.
The former Oasis rocker was a guest on Matt Morgan’s Funny How? podcast, where he recalled how the 1994 track ended up being part of the sitcom, and what the show means to him on the whole.
“I knew (writer and creator) Craig (Cash) from Manchester,” Gallagher revealed. “I didn’t know Caroline. Craig had a radio show in Manchester […] and they just asked could they use the track.”
Asked what he thought when he saw it, the Ballad of the Mighty I singer replied: “Well, I instantly fell in love with it, because that house and the awkward silences and eating your tea on a tray on your knee like your Dad…
“My dad was a version of Jim Royle, which is like, ‘Everything on the telly is shit,’ and me Mam was like ‘Jesus Christ, shut up’. So that was our house, and the long awkward silences, I was like ‘well, that’s our house,’ you know and I instantly fell in love with the pregnant pauses more than anything.”
Asked if the show’s creators asked for Half The World Away specifically, he said: “It’s funny because it was a B-side. I mean, that show made that song famous really, because that song was never performed until way into the 2000s.
“It became a thing. They asked for that song in particularly. I don’t know why. They would have told me why, but it doesn’t bear any connection to the show”.
“They asked and I said yeah. And then of course, as that song became Christmas special after Christmas special, and became part of the fabric of the culture, then that song took on a life of its own.”
Source: Radio X
Photo: Getty