This document provides a musical analysis of the Oasis song "Don't Look Back in Anger" in 3 paragraphs or less: The song uses a verse-chorus structure with guitar, bass, drums, piano and backing strings. It is in the key of C major and uses a diatonic harmony with some chromatic chords. The melody is pentatonic in the verse and uses a hexachord in the chorus, with a falling contour and syncopation. The texture is homophonic with simple chords in the accompaniment and decorated bass line. The rhythm is in common 4/4 time. The word setting is mostly syllabic with ornamentation on final words.

1. Don’t Look Back in Anger
Oasis– NoelGallagher

2. Resources
• Vocalist
• Lead guitar
• Rhythm guitar
• Bass guitar
• Piano
• Drum kit
• Tambourine
• Backing (synth) orchestral strings

3. Structure/Form
• Verse-chorus
structure
(two verses)
• Intro and
outro
• There is a
distinct ‘pre-
chorus’ in
the second
half of the
verse
Structure Bars (how
many)
Bar Numbers
Introduction 4 1-4
Verse 1 8 5-12
Pre Chorus 12 13-24
Chorus 8 22-31
Link(1st time
bar)
4 32-35
Verse 2 8 5-12
Pre Chorus 12 13-24
Chorus 8 25-32
2nd time bar 4 29-32 (overlaps)
Pre Chorus
Instrumental
12 33-44
Chorus 8 45-52
Chorus 9 53-61
Coda 4 62-65
End

4. Texture
• Melody Dominated Homophony (tune and accompaniment)
• Simple quaver rocking chords in the piano and accompaniment
and crotchet chords in verse one
• Decorated bass line with a repetitive one-bar pattern in verse
one create a sense of movement

5. Tonality
• Diatonic C major – Uses Eb which cause the piece to lean
towards C blues

6. Harmony
• Mostly diatonic in a consonant style
• Some chromatic chords created by passing notes in the bass
• Simple chord sequences in the verse and chorus and a
contrasting one in the pre chorus and instrumental section that
are repeated many times in the course of the music

7. Melody
• First part of the guitar and vocal melody is pentatonic
• The pitches of the vocal melody from the chorus (bars33) come fro, a
hexachord (diatonic scale minus the leading note)
• Phrases in the vocal melody frequently have a falling profile
• Guitar melody is often decorated by appoggiaturas (bar 4, 6, 41…)
• Vocal melody (similar to John Lennon) is often restricted to just a
few notes
• The chorus contains a memorable hook
• Some countermelodies and fills in the lead guitar
• Lengthy guitar solo, with an improvisatory nature
• An anacrusis to the chorus

8. Rhythm and Metre
• Much syncopation in the melody
• Anticipatory notes in the vocal melody, particularly on the last
notes of the phrase
• Common time of 4/4

9. Word Setting
• Mostly syllabic except for ornamentation of the final words in
phrases, which are often stretched out with a falling melisma

10. What Makes It Britpop?
• Britpop was influenced by the 60’s and 70’s.
• Noel Gallagher used John Lennon (The Beatles member) as inspiration and
used a similar intro to his song ‘Imagine’ (just swapped some of the
instruments around) and created the lyrics ‘So I start a revolution from my
bed…’ from the time John Lennon spent 2 weeks in bed in protest of the
Vietnam war.
• Another key feature is nostalgic lyrics
• Britpop often uses guitar, drums, piano and vocals – Traditional pop
instruments
• It will have certain guitar features such as hammer-ons, palm muting, and
pitch bending
• Britpop was used to react against other styles such as American
dance/grunge music and electronic dance music.

11. Key Words for Don’t Look Back in Anger
• Strophic – Intro, Verse, Pre chorus, Bridge and Outro
• Homophonic
• Tonal – C major
• Diatonic
• Dominant 7th
• Diminished 7th
• Dominant pedal
• Hook
• Pentatonic
• Hexachord
• Anacrusis
• Syncopation
• Syllabic / Melisma
• Transcription
• Double/multi tracking