I'm Outta Time

The track features a short speech sample from John Lennon taken from one of his last interviews in 1980.^[1] The speech sample says: "As Churchill said, it's every Englishman's inalienable right to live where the hell he likes. I said, what, do you think it's gonna vanish? It's not going to be there when I get back?".^[5]

According to Oasis' official single page, "I'm Outta Time" was the second Oasis single to be written by Liam Gallagher (after Songbird), and it was recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London.^[1] In September 2008, Gallagher said of the song: "That took me nine years to write. I only finished it last week."^[6] In a 2008 interview with Rolling Stone, he also said that the song had existed in demo form for around three years before he completed the chorus.^[7]

The song's Lennon connection was noted in contemporary coverage before its single release. The Irish Examiner described it as a tribute to Lennon's memory,^[6] while later retrospective commentary in Rolling Stone Australia wrote that, even without the spoken excerpt, the song "feels more like an outtake from Lennon's bread-baking years than the work of one of Britain's brashest rock outfits".^[8]

The song has been noted as one of the highlights of the album by critics as well as the band themselves. Noel Gallagher praised Liam's songwriting around the time of the album's release, saying: "I like Liam's songs, I wasn't surprised [at 'I'm Outta Time''s quality]. He's expected to write great songs – he's in Oasis."^[9] The song has also been described in band-related commentary as "deceptively brilliant".^[10]

It was also praised by music critics, with NME calling it a return to form and writing that the song "floats along on psychedelic Beatles waves, with sliding guitars, distant 'lalala's and a point-blank chorus".^[2] The song's Lennon influence was also a recurrent point in later criticism. Rolling Stone called it a "stately, Lennonesque ballad",^[11] while Rolling Stone Australia described it as a "wistful gem".^[12]

It charted at number 12 in the UK Singles Chart – the first Oasis single to miss the top ten since 1994's "Shakermaker", ending the band's streak of 22 consecutive top tens.^[13][14] It spent only two weeks in the UK top 75 and three weeks in the top 100, the least ever by any Oasis single in the main singles chart.^[13] Although only peaking at number 48 in France, the song spent a total of 28 weeks in the French Singles Chart,^[15] the most ever by any Oasis single.

The music video for "I'm Outta Time" was released in November 2008.^[16] The official YouTube upload credits W.I.Z. as director,^[17] while MTV credited the production company as Intro.^[18] Filmed in black and white, it shows Liam Gallagher, the only band member to appear in the clip, on a "surreal journey through a moon-lit English landscape".^[19] It was filmed in Bourton-on-the-Water.^[20]

At the end of the video, Liam is filmed in a close-up profile shot lying down. This bears resemblance to the back cover artwork for John Lennon's album Imagine.^[21] It also resembles the cover of Lennon's 1973 album Mind Games.

The song was covered by singer Lily Allen on BBC's Live Lounge on 2 December 2009.^{[citation needed]}

Personnel adapted from the single and album credits.^[22][23]

• Liam Gallagher – vocals, acoustic guitar
• Noel Gallagher – electric and acoustic guitars, electronics, mellotron, keyboards
• Gem Archer – electric and acoustic guitars, piano, keyboards
• Andy Bell – bass
• Zak Starkey – drums
• John Lennon – speech sample