Cast No Shadow

When Noel Gallagher composed Cast No Shadow, he did so thinking of Richard Ashcroft, the leader of The Verve. In the album notes, Gallagher dedicated the piece "to the genius of Richard Ashcroft", and according to him, the line "Tied with [all] the weight of all the words he tried to say" referred to how Ashcroft seemed unhappy and was trying too hard at the time. Ashcroft himself considered the song to be "a great honor". Originally, Cast No Shadow was thought to be a B-side, but its quality exceeded expectations. It was the last composition for the album, created while Gallagher was traveling by train back to the recording studio in Wales. He himself described the lyrics as "the best words I ever wrote".

The initial idea of Gallagher was for the song to sound similar to Pink Floyd, specifically their album Wish You Were Here, even sharing the opening chords. The drum rhythm in Cast No Shadow is notably complex and less conventional compared to other songs by Oasis from that era. Kenneth Partridge of Billboard magazine described it as a "sparkling ballad with blues tints". Music critic Derek B. Scott noted a vocal harmony influenced by The Beatles, with falsetto and repetition of words. Nathan Stephens-Griffin, from the band Martha, commented that, unlike other more typical pieces of Britpop, this one had an atmosphere that was "melancholic, dark, and epic". The magazine Mojo rated it as an unusually soft reflection on Noel Gallagher's struggles to express deep emotions, both in his personal life and in his lyrics.

Cast No Shadow achieved Gold certification in the United Kingdom. Alongside She's Electric (which earned double Platinum), it is one of the two tracks on the album that were not released as singles but still received certification. The recording of the song took place between May and June 1995 at Rockfield studios in Gwent, Wales, under the production of Owen Morris and Noel Gallagher himself. The album it belongs to, (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, was released on October 2, 1995, by Creation Records. This record marked a significant evolution in the band's style compared to their previous work, Definitely Maybe (1994), with compositions more focused on ballads and a greater emphasis on grand choruses and string arrangements.