Underrated? Beatles’ middle period albums? Not really. Revolver, near as I can tell, has been gaining ground and is considered at least at par with Sgt Pepper and in some circles superior. I sure feel that way. It’s the best rock album, period.
Rubber Soul and Revolver are two of the most highly regarded albums. I think Only Sgt Pepper is more highly regarded. Maybe.
One thing about Rubber Soul and Revolver is that they exist in two distinct versions. Those of us who got into the Beatles in the 60s, 70s, or 80s in the U.S. got to know the American versions on Capitol Records.
Not to form a dissenting pile on you, but Revolver is hardly underrated. It’s huge and very well regarded.
The fact that I don’t know if you are kidding or not would suggest that my Beatles knowledge is woeful.
The Beatles and I largely though not entirely went our separate ways beginning with the White Album. I absolutely loved their early stuff and the recordings on Rubber Soul and Revolver as well. The latter two are clearly superior in terms of the Beatles’ songwriting and instrumental craft but I’d be hard pressed to pick a favorite album prior to the White Album. I loved 'em all and genuinely can’t say I’d pick one over the other, including even Introducing…The Beatles and Meet the Beatles.
Yeah. I found that out, being American.
I actually agree with the Capitol records suits on these.
Rubber Soul gained: I’ve just seen a face, and It’s only love; and lost Drive my car, what goes on, nowhere man and if i needed someone.
Revolver just lost 3 Lennon songs: And you bird can sing, I’m only sleeping and Dr Robert.
I like the US Rubber Soul. Those songs really belong. The ones cut you get elsewhere.
With Revolver, I just think those were the (Relatively) expendable songs even if they were by John.
Paul was pining for the fjords.
For those promoting the burning down the house theory, I have to ask: Are you serious?
Let’s recap the sequence of events.
The narrator went home with a girl who we learn later is apparently a prostitute. After talking til two, she basically asks, “So are we going to do this?” He says no thanks, sleeps in the tub and the next morning, poof she’s gone.
So following that, he burns her freakin’ house down???
I think that’s a bit much and for that matter, what’s his motivation?
“So I lit a fire, isn’t it good, Norwegian wood” can mean a lot of things but I never saw it as a payback for …what exactly??
–or is there a whooshing sound I should have been more alert to?
Where are you getting that from?
Agreed. I have no idea how anyone can get that reading from the lyrics. She brought him home, cock-teased him for hours, then told him she had to work in the morning and had to go to sleep so she couldn’t take him to bed (unless he just wanted to sleep). So he crawls into the bathtub and sleeps there.
Do most prostitutes bring their…uh, Johns home without first getting a commitment to do business? And do they generally beat around the bush till 2 a.m. followed by having to get up early in the morning to go to what appears to be a normal job? And do they generally tend to leave their customers who don’t pan out sleeping peacefully inside their homes with free run of the place when they wake up?
And “lighting a fire” has long been a euphemism for starting a fire in the fireplace.
I’m just not getting a lot of these interpretations at all.
I always thought they were just a couple who met, liked each other, and talked till the early hours getting to know each other. Then the girl mentioned she had to get to bed because she had to get up early to go to work, thereby either giving him an opening to take her to bed or letting him know it wasn’t going to happen, and after telling her he didn’t have to get up early either crawled off to sleep in the bath as a way of accommodating her rejection or to say to her that he wasn’t interested. Either way, I don’t think that was the end of their story. It was just their first night. He apparently lit a fire in the fireplace because he intended to hang around until she came home again.
Hmmm. I think you’re right about that one.
Just looked on songfacts link and according to Lennon, this was mostly about an affair.
I guess I was thinking of the line, “She told me she worked in the morning and started to laugh”. The “I-have-to-work-in-the-morning line” (to me) meant she’s getting tired (it’s past 2:00 a.m. by now) and can we now move on to the transaction phase? Her laughing indicates that she expects him to know what she really means.
The narrator says no thanks. If she weren’t a pro, he probably would have gone for it but he doesn’t went to get it on with a hooker. That ties in with the opening line, “I once had a girl or should I say, she once had me.” In other words, he was had.
All the same, it’s no justification for torching the place.
Lordy. I just went through that songfacts link and while at least one other poster agrees with the prostitution angle, it’s not much comfort since some of the other interpretations are a bit out there.
One person thought the narrator couldn’t get it up which is why the woman laughs and another suggested the last line indicates our hero is waxing his carrot. (The woman’s gone, he lights up a smoke and now he has some wood to work with.)
I’m Only Sleeping is “expendable”? Please, just stop.
He was “had” because he thought he was gonna get laid, and she just spent the night talking.
I REALLY think that “lighting a fire” means smoking a joint. I hate to think that John burned her house down in retribution.
And…“And Your Bird Can Sing” is “expendable”? Please, just stop. SECOND BEST BEATLES SONG EVAR.
If he didn’t set fire to the house or furniture ,why the repetition of the line “Isn’t it good Norwegian wood ?”?
I remember being about five years old, and wondering what the line “biding my time” meant. I though it was something like “biting my fingernails.”
There’s a dub reggae version (circa 1970?) that’s cool. There’s also a Frank Zappa version with gross lyrics that might ruin the song forever for you, so I recommend you not go there.
Because she had a very good job & could afford some excellent Scandinavian Modern furniture. (And probably some excellent pot. Or hashish.)
Sure, no Beatles album is obscure, and within groups that know a fair amount about the Beatles/classic rock/pop music in general, Rubber Soul and Revolver are revered. But I can’t remember ever seeing either one of their covers on a tshirt a la Abbey Road or Sgt Pepper; IME, at least, they haven’t quite reached that iconic, constantly-parodied level of recognition (despite arguably being better albums).