The Lemonheads’ Evan Dando has looked back at his unreleased song ‘Purple Parallelogram’ that he wrote with Noel Gallagher, saying that it didn’t work out due to “bad timing”.
The singer spoke to NME recently as part of a new Does Rock ‘N’ Roll Kill Braincells?! interview, where he went down memory lane and put his knowledge of his own career history to the test.
During the discussion, Dando was asked if he could remember the title of the officially unreleased song that he co-wrote with Noel Gallagher.
“It’s called ‘Roll With It’,” he joked, before adding: “No – ‘Purple Parallelogram’.”
The song remains unreleased, although there is a version that made its way onto promo copies of The Lemonheads’ 1996 album ‘Car Button Cloth’ – but this was later removed after Noel asked him to take it down.
Talking to NME, Dando went onto share more insight into the song, and explain how it feels closely intertwined with the Oasis classic track ‘Roll With It’.
“The reason I wasn’t allowed to use it was because I gave him this pill and he had this dream, then starts singing ‘Purple Parallelogram’ [to the tune of what became Oasis’ 1995 single ‘Roll with It’],” the singer shared.
“I’m not claiming the credit for ‘Roll With It’ – but it does have the same melody. That’s pretty loose. It wouldn’t stand up in court! But that’s what it was – even if he didn’t know it at the time.”
He also went on to recall how Noel told manager Alan McGee about the song and asked him not to tell his publisher about it – not realising that McGee was also acting as his publisher at the time.
“At the time, it was bad timing, so I had to roll with it. ‘Purple Parallelogram’ wasn’t a great song, and I like ‘Roll With It’, so if I had anything to do with that, it would be cool,” Dando added.
While on the topic of Oasis, The Lemonheads singer went on to recall how he was “on tour with Oasis for two weeks before their first record [1994’s ‘Definitely Maybe’] came out” and was struggling to accept the idea of “going home” after months on the road.
Sharing one of his top anecdotes from that time, he also shared how one night he was “staying in Liam’s room, ‘cause he was out all night partying”, and accidentally broke the television.
“The cops arrested me, and Liam walked past and was so psyched because he saw me being led out in handcuffs wearing a mohair jumper,” he said. “And [he] yelled: ‘Fucking hey, John-Boy on acid! That’s Sid Vicious man!’”
Also in the Braincells?! interview, Dando looked back at his time impersonating Morrissey on Top Of The Pops in 1992, performing live with Courtney Love, having Keith Richards hold a sword towards him, and more. Check it out here.
The Lemonheads recently shared their latest album ‘Love Chant’, and will be going on tour around the UK later this year. Dates kick off in Sheffield at the end of September, and include stops in Newcastle, London, Glasgow, Manchester and more. Visit here for tickets.
The soloist and Lemonheads frontman also published his delayed book Rumours Of My Demise on May 1, having first announced the project in 2020.
Back in 2023, Noel Gallagher also spoke about the unreleased collab with Dando, and shared how the song came around, and how he felt “awkward” about telling him not to release it.