Oh My God (Kaiser Chiefs song)

Singer Ricky Wilson said, "The verses are about the fact that we've been playing together for such a long time and people think, 'What's he doing? He's still trying to make a career out of music? It'll never work. One in a million people do it.' But we still had the opinion that we were five of the people in a million, so we carried on." Dorian Lynskey of The Guardian wrote that the Kaiser Chiefs had been labeled as has-beens by 2003-2004, and they were desperate to build a fanbase to impress record labels: "The need to make an impression while bottom of the bill in a tiny venue explains all the ohhhhhhs and nanananas and oft-repeated choruses that set up shop in the listener's brain after the first listen." ==Music videos==

Two music videos were released for "Oh My God": one for its initial 2004 release and one for its 2005 reissue, both directed by Charlie Paul, in between having also worked with the Kaiser Chiefs for the original music video for their follow-up single "I Predict a Riot". The first video for "Oh My God", in promotion of its original 2004 release, with 3D Animations by the English animation company Unanico Studios, depicts 3D avatars of the Kaiser Chiefs traveling on a ferry in a sea where they encounter various objects floating within it, including a chair, a Publicity stunt with the band's original logo, a coffee cup with Brown eyeballs, and a Tyrannosaurus rex, before a swarm of butterflies fly towards them, causing hardness to see for the band members, causing the ferry to spin and teleport into the sky as the song reaches its chorus. After this ends, the ferry lands back on the water and the band members regain control, arriving in a snowy, Arctic area where they encounter a Pac-Man-like character, in reference to the lyric "Come back stronger than a powered-up Pac-Man", before the ferry teleports to the sky again, with the band then arriving in Outer space, followed by drummer Nick Hodgson's avatar miming the chorus, before fading out and ending. The second, more widely-circulated video for "Oh My God", in promotion of the 2005 reissue, depicts the Kaiser Chiefs miming to the song with toy instruments in an abandoned toy store, intercut with footage of the band performing the song in a room with their actual instruments, an Arctic iceberg, setting up a communication device and trying to stay warm, hanging out with a harem in a Bedouin tent, visiting a vintage library in Paris, and a martial arts retreat, before line animations overlay the footage in the final scenes of the video. ==Live performances==

Since its release, the song has remained a fixture at the band's shows, including their opening set at Live 8 in Philadelphia in July 2005 (alongside "I Predict a Riot" and "Everyday I Love You Less and Less"), and their sold-out homecoming gig at Elland Road in 2008, among others. ==Track listings==

Initial release All of these tracks are different, earlier versions of the album editions. • "Oh My God" • "Born to Be a Dancer" • "Caroline, Yes" Re-issue 7-inch (limited-edition white vinyl) • "Oh My God" • "Brightest Star" CD • "Oh My God" • "Think About You (And I Like It)" Mexican CD • "Oh My God" • "Hard Times Send Me" • "Born to Be a Dancer" (demo) • "Oh My God" (enhanced video) ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts ==Certifications==

}} In 2006, "Oh My God" was covered by singer-songwriter Lily Allen on her second mixtape. She later re-recorded the track with musician, disc jockey, and record producer Mark Ronson (having previously co-produced her debut album Alright, Still the year prior and subsequently returned to co-produce her fourth studio album No Shame in 2018) for his second studio album, Version (2007). This version was released as the second single from the album on 16 July 2007. The single was a success, reaching number eight on the UK Singles Chart. Ronson later went on to co-produce the Kaiser Chiefs' 2008 studio album Off with Their Heads, while Allen, alongside members of NYPC, would perform backing vocals on its lead single "Never Miss a Beat", a track on the aforementioned album that Ronson co-produced alongside Eliot James. Ronson also played Agogô bells on the Off with Their Heads track "Addicted to Drugs". Allen also appeared as a backing vocalist on the Off with Their Heads track "Always Happens Like That", also produced by Ronson and James. (which the band themselves would later cover on Australian radio station Triple J's Like a Version segment the following year, not to be confused with their subsequent 2019 single of the same name), the former of which Hodgson also performed backing vocals on. Hodgson, in addition, has also co-written the 2010 Duran Duran deep cut "Too Bad You're So Beautiful" (from the physical edition of their thirteenth studio album All You Need Is Now) alongside the pop rock band themselves and Dominic Brown, which Duran Duran co-produced with Ronson. The single is backed by a cover of the Kings of Leon deep cut "Pistol of Fire" from their 2004 studio album Aha Shake Heartbreak, featuring vocals by singer D. Smith, which also appears as one of three bonus tracks on the digital deluxe edition of Version. Ronson later remixed the Kings of Leon's original version of "Pistol of Fire" as the B-side to their 2009 single "Revelry". Music video The music video for Ronson and Allen's version was directed by Nima Nourizadeh (having previously worked with Allen on her second music video for "LDN" and the video for "Littlest Things", the latter track co-written and produced by Ronson), and features a toon version of Allen In a 2007 interview with Sound Generator, Nourizadeh said of the video: Live performances on the day of the song's release as a single When Ronson performed at the BBC Electric Proms in 2007, Allen had been the intended singer of the song but cancelled at the last minute. Rather than not perform the song, Ricky Wilson, who was performing with the Kaiser Chiefs the next day, stepped in. Ronson and Wilson performed the song again on the last Friday Night with Jonathan Ross of 2007, which also featured Candie Payne. This performance was more akin to the original. Track listings UK CD single • "Oh My God" (radio edit) • "Oh My God" (the clean Super Busdown remix) • "Oh My God" (instrumental) • "Pistol of Fire" (featuring D. Smith) 10-inch vinyl • "Oh My God" (radio edit) • "Oh My God" (the dirty Super Busdown remix) European CD single • "Oh My God" (radio edit) • "Oh My God" (instrumental) • "Oh My God" (Christopher Lake mix) • "Oh My God" (Emperor Machine extended vocal mix) • "Oh My God" (the clean Super Busdown remix) • "Oh My God" (the dirty Super Busdown remix) Digital download • "Oh My God" (radio edit) • "Oh My God" (instrumental) • "Oh My God" (the clean Super Busdown remix) • "Oh My God" (the dirty Super Busdown remix) • "Oh My God" (Christopher Lake mix) • "Oh My God" (Emperor Machine ext vocal mix) • "Pistol of Fire" (featuring D. Smith) Charts Weekly charts Year-end charts Certifications Release history ==2020 reworked edit==

The band, influenced by the then-coronavirus pandemic, unveiled a reworked "Stay Home" edition with new, lockdown-inspired lyrics. The idea came about as a joke, when a fan of The Chris Moyles Show on Radio X texted in to suggest alternative lyrics, prompting Moyles to message Wilson with the idea. Wilson then rewrote the song, notably changing the chorus from "''Oh, my God, I can't believe it, I've never been this far away from home" to "Oh, my God, I can't believe it, I've never spent this much time at home''" and re-recorded it from home, on call with the other band members. It also mentions the Clap for Our Carers appreciation gesture. The song was posted on Twitter and uploaded to YouTube on 14 April 2020. ==References==