[3][4] Inspired by the Rolling Stones' "Shine a Light", "Live Forever" features a basic song structure and lyrics with an optimistic outlook that contrasted with the attitude of the grunge bands popular at the time.
The song was the first Oasis single to enter the top ten in the United Kingdom, and garnered critical acclaim.
After his foot was crushed by a pipe in an accident, he was given a less-strenuous job working in the storeroom, allowing him more time to write songs.
One night, he was listening to the Rolling Stones' album Exile on Main St.; while playing one of his own chord progressions, Gallagher noted that it sounded good against one of the vocal melodies from the album: "It was the bit from 'Shine a Light' that goes [sings], 'May the good Lord shine a light on you'", Gallagher recalled.
Reflecting on when he first heard the song, Creation boss Alan McGee recalled, "It was probably the single greatest moment I've ever experienced with them".
Gallagher was bemused by Morris' decision, and jokingly asked him through manager Marcus Russell to "not cut it in half again on the final mix".
[10] Morris said that the removed part made him think of "Slash in leather keks with a wind machine on the Grand Canyon".
"[11] The song begins with a voice whistling briefly and saying "Oh yeah", followed by a drum beat that plays unaccompanied for a few measures.
After the third verse and refrain section, Liam Gallagher repeats the line "Gonna live forever!"
[11] "This ain't a song, Mr Gallagher, It's a meditation, a moan, a mantra – with a grinding, tarmac-digging, mind-cutter of a melody.
[18] In the case of "Live Forever", the sleeve image was a photo of John Lennon's childhood home at 251 Menlove Avenue in the Liverpool suburb of Woolton, taken by rock photographer Michael Spencer Jones.
[18] The song had been part of the band's set for longer than a year at that point, and had amassed so many mentions in reviews of the group that, according to Harris, "its release [as a single] had long seemed inevitable.
[31] The original video, shot on 24 July 1994, was directed by Carlos Grasso and features unusual imagery such as Liam Gallagher sitting on a chair affixed to a wall, and a number of scenes are devoted to the band burying drummer Tony McCarroll alive.
Some of the UK version of the promotional video was filmed at the Strawberry Fields memorial, the area of New York City's Central Park dedicated to John Lennon—the single cover features 251 Menlove Avenue, the childhood home of Lennon.
[32] The American video, directed by Nick Egan features the band playing in an office with pictures of the musicians Sid Vicious, Kurt Cobain, Jim Morrison, John Lennon, Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, and Marc Bolan, and the footballer Bobby Moore on the wall.
[34] During the early years, Liam Gallagher would personally sing the falsetto part, "You and I, we're gonna live forever.
[37] In February 2018, Liam performed the song at the 2018 Brit Awards as tribute to the victims of the Manchester Arena attack as Ariana Grande was unable to attend due to illness.
[38] On 26 March 2022, Liam dedicated his performance of "Live Forever" to Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, who died a day prior, during a Teenage Cancer Trust fundraiser at the Royal Albert Hall in London.