While recording their debut album, Oasis only owned two guitars. Songwriter Noel Gallagher had asked his friend Johnny Marr to lend them some of his, and he sent them a Les Paul he had acquired from Pete Townsend. Immediately after Noel had picked up the guitar he wrote “Slide Away”. The song was written about a girl, Louise Jones, whom Noel had dated for six years until the summer of ‘94. He had previously described her as “his soulmate.” Ever since that day, Noel has believed certain guitars have songs in them.

Noel claims that he was told to release “Slide Away” as the fifth single from Definitely Maybe, but he refused, arguing, “You can’t have five singles off a debut album.” Despite never being released as a single, the song became a major fan favorite and one of the hits from Definitely Maybe. In 2006, it was included in the “Best Of”-compilation Stop The Clocks.

It is claimed to be Paul McCartney’s favorite song by Oasis.

While reviewing the Definitely Maybe album, NME writer Keith Cameron called “Slide Away”, “a completely heart-rending love song” that shows the band possessing “both the sweetness and tenderness to complement their well-proven hooligan qualities.” Gibson Guitar.com listed the song as one of a ten of Noel’s best guitar tracks. In the 11 May 2013 edition of NME, the song was listed at number 57 in the magazine’s “The 100 Greatest Britpop Songs” list.