“I’d give you the world if you take my hand, but you left me alone in the sinking sand.” – ‘Ballad of the Mighty I’
‘Ballad of the Mighty I’ is the extraordinary closing track on Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds’ widely successful second album, Chasing Yesterday. This is a song that can never be overplayed. Its slick, unrelenting beats show Noel’s ability to morph into the music of the time but equally to never drift from his own sound. This lyric presents the disappointment arising from the realisation that you’d do anything for someone who really couldn’t care less. This familiar feeling adds a tint to this triumphant track, but it is hastily reversed; it is quickly forgotten how horrible being let down by someone is, as Noel shifts from dwelling on it to singing about how he’s “got to be the man that walks the earth alone” – the song is entitled ‘Ballad of the Mighty I’ for a reason. If that guitar solo isn’t the high point of this track, it has to be this lyric.