I learned that in the NY Times crossword puzzle on Tuesday. Just throwing it out there.
Best Beatles song EVAR.
He burns the house down at the end of the song, right? That was my interpretation from the very first time I heard the song.
Either that, or he lights a joint. Opinions differ!
It is indeed the best Beatles song, EVAR, and its only flaw is that it isn’t longer.
That is what Paul has always said.
Was it released in the morning?
In Richard Brautigan’s novel The Abortion: A Historical Romance 1966, this is the song the Beautiful Girl plays for the Librarian, who has been isolated within the Library for years. Or at least it’s strongly hinted that this is the song.
It is The Most Important Song to my son because he loves the song and The Beatles, loves playing it on guitar - it represented a big leap for him when he learned it, and because he loves the book with the same name (referencing the song, of course) by Haruki Murakami.
For years Mom and I thought that that lyric was “So, I let her fly.” Then I found out the real lyric (“So, I lit a fire”) and Mom was hilariously horrified.
I always thought the first appearance of “isn’t it good Norwegian wood” in the song referred to the furniture, and assumed he was burning it at the end. It never occurred to me that he was burning the whole house.
I got the impression that there wasn’t any furniture, the wood was the floor.
Read somewhere speculation that the title was a corruption of ‘knowing she would,’ as in “…isn’t it good, knowing she would?” But that the Beatles thought it was too obvious so they changed it to the almost-sound-alike phrase ‘Norwegian Wood’.
No idea if this is true or not but it’s kind of interesting.
I came across that theory in a story by Spider Robinson; I don’t know whether that’s where it originated. It makes a certain amount of sense, and is the kind of wordplay Lennon engaged in.
Goodness.
He lit a fire in the fireplace, for cryin’ out loud! The wood was shipped in from Norway.
Ya buncha pyromaniacs. 
What I recall is that “Norwegian Wood” was a cool look that the swingin’ singles girls of London wanted for their apartments. Yes, pine paneling. John was just obliquely describing his infidelities and used that descripton to make it clear he was hitting on cool mini-skirted types.
Fifty years. Wow. That means it was 50 years ago this Christmas that I first read LOTR. The LOTR trilogy and the Rubber Soul album were my Christmas gifts that year, and because I read the first while listening to the second, Rubber Soul will forever be the soundtrack of Middle Earth to me.
Weird, though it is a Beatles song and I’m familiar with the name, I just had a listen and realise that I’ve never heard it before in my life.
Strange how such things can pass you by.
Well, we know for certain that there wasn’t a chair.
Have you heard “Don’t Pass Me By”?
Not just Norwegian Wood, but all of Rubber Soul! IMO, one of their most underrated albums, along with Revolver. Norwegian Wood, In My Life, Girl . . .