Asked whether there’s a song of U2’s he’d like to cover, Noel nodded his moptopped head and said: “There are a few off Rattle & Hum that are quite good and I love ‘All I Want Is You’. Yeah, I’d have a go...”
We’ve checked the release schedules and still no sign. By 2007 their friendship had ramped up another couple of gears with Noel telling us: “Before going to see U2 in Manchester recently, me and me girlfriend were saying, ‘I wonder what it is with Bono and God?’ Anyway, we’re sat round a table after the gig and I go, ‘Explain it to me ‘cause I was brought up Catholic and it means fuck all to me.’ We had a good three-hour conversation about his religious philosophy, which is basically, ‘Go to God, tell him what all your flaws are and say, ‘Can you work with me?’ Which is completely different to the ‘Don’t drink, don’t screw, don’t take drugs and always go to church’ bollocks you get taught at school.
“I didn’t think a whole lot more about it until two days later when there’s a knock on the door and the recorded delivery guy hands me two books - Searching For The Invisible God and What’s So Amazing About Grace?, which are both by Philip Yancey - that have been sent by Bono. There’s also a little note, which reads, ‘I don’t know if you were serious the other night, but here’s something that might give you a bit more of an understanding.’”
Getting more and more reflective as the pints went down, he suggested that, “Bono’s like Liam – always aggressively pursuing his muse and bigging up U2. The Edge and me, on the other hand, are the Yoda figures at the back going, ‘Alright it will be.’ If Oasis have been out of the limelight for two years I never panic ‘cause I know what’s coming next. Liam on the other hand…”
Hot Press: Noel Gallagher on US “They care, man, they care…” (9 November 2020)