The song was written by Oasis' lead guitarist Noel Gallagher, who also provides lead vocals. The song is a slow acoustic tune with plodding keyboards, and the lyric – much like "Rock 'n' Roll Star" – expresses a desire to leave a stagnant life in a boring city. The song is primarily in C Major.

Recorded at The Congress House Studio, Austin, Texas in October 1994, "Half the World Away" was first released as a B-side to "Whatever" on 18 December 1994, reaching #3 in the UK charts.

In 1998 the song was included in The Masterplan, a collection of Oasis' best B-sides. The collection was a success, peaking at #2 in the UK charts. The track is also included on Oasis' compilation album Stop the Clocks, which also reached #2. The song reached #56 in the UK charts in 2015 following the release of Aurora's cover version, marking their first top 100 song since the release of "Falling Down" in 2009.

Oasis' sound engineer Mark Coyle introduced the band to Burt Bacharach's song "This Guy's in Love with You". Coyle was in charge of musical intake while on tour, and this song was often played during his eclectic sets. Drummer Tony McCarroll pointed out that the song's drum shuffle could be adapted for one of Oasis' acoustic numbers. After a while "instead of adapting the drum shuffle, Noel seemed to have adapted the whole song and renamed it Half The World Away". Despite the input and being able to play the pattern well, McCarroll (along with the rest of the band) were invited to leave the studio for a break, but it turned out to be just an excuse so Gallagher could record the drum track himself.

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