Columbia Lyrics

[Intro]
I’ve seen so much to disgust mother, take me into your arms… how am I to protect you?

[Verse 1]
There we were, now here we are
All this confusion, nothing's the same to me
There we were, now here we are
All this confusion, nothing's the same to me

[Chorus]
I can't tell you the way I feel
Because the way I feel is, oh, so new to me
I can't tell you the way I feel
Because the way I feel is, oh, so new to me

[Verse 2]
What I heard is not what I hear
I can see the signs, but they're not very clear
What I heard is not what I hear
I can see the signs, but they're not very clear

[Chorus]
So I can't tell you the way I feel
Because the way I feel is, oh, so new to me
I can't tell you the way I feel
Because the way I feel is, oh, so new to me
[Post-Chorus]
This is confusion, am I confusing you?
This is confusion, am I amusing you?
This is peculiar, we don't want to fool ya'
This is peculiar, we don't want to fool ya'

[Outro]
Yeah, yeah, yeah!
Yeah, yeah, yeah!
Yeah, yeah, yeah!
C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon
Yeah, yeah, yeah!
Yeah, yeah, yeah!
C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon
Yeah, yeah, yeah!
Yeah, yeah, yeah!

How to Format Lyrics:

  • Type out all lyrics, even repeating song parts like the chorus
  • Lyrics should be broken down into individual lines
  • Use section headers above different song parts like [Verse], [Chorus], etc.
  • Use italics (<i>lyric</i>) and bold (<b>lyric</b>) to distinguish between different vocalists in the same song part
  • If you don’t understand a lyric, use [?]

To learn more, check out our transcription guide or visit our transcribers forum

About

Genius Annotation

“Columbia” is an infectious, groovy head trip to listen to. It is named after a hotel called Columbia, which the band stayed in while they were recording in a studio, where they did a lot of acid.

The song was conceived while the band were on a serious acid trip. If taken in large enough doses, the drug produces delusions and visual hallucinations, and the lyrics reflect this.

This was the first song that Noel Gallagher wrote with Oasis. It is rhythm guitarist Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs' favourite track, acclaimed by the fans, but not very well recognized by critics, perhaps by being in an album full of great songs.

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

What did Oasis say about "Columbia"?
Genius Answer

Noel Gallagher on the songs conception (to Q Magazine):

One Sunday afternoon I was at home watching EastEndersd when our kid rings up and says, ‘You coming down for a jam?’ I’d never played with anyone else ever. I went, ‘Alright.’ I’m asking, ‘Do you know any Beatles songs?’ ‘No.’ ‘Not Ticket To Ride?’. We sit there for hours and hours, dead hot and sweaty, and its great. Same the next Sunday and – just because they didn’t know any Beatles, really – we decide to write a song ourselves and I come up with what turns out to be Columbia.

Noel on playing the song live:

It went down like a f—ing knackered lift (laughs). We played this epic, six minute, stone-grooved song, dow, wow, dow, duh duh, the total crossing of rock music and dance music beyond anything that’s been heard before and everyone’s like (blank face). Soul destroying. This bowl of silence.

Noel on looking back at the song (from the definitely Maybe 2014 re-issue):

When we started, we didn’t have a lot of songs so we would jam out current Acid House favourites and f–k about. ‘Columbia’ derived from one of those nights. It was an instrumental and we played it the first night I ever did a gig with Oasis. When we started at The Real People’s studio, somebody had the idea of adding lyrics and it’s still a bone of contention to this day who actually wrote the words. We were all on acid at the time but I know I wrote 90 percent of them. It’s named in honour of the hotel (in London). Because when I was a roadie with Mark Coyle working for the Inspiral Carpets, we loved that hotel, it was the scene of many nights of nonsense. And it sounded like a good title. I mean, why call anything anything?

What lines did Liam write?
Genius Answer

Liam wrote the chorus.

Comments