Today is the 50th anniversary of the release of "Norwegian Wood"

[drad_dog]

Supposedly it was about an affair with Maureen Cleave, the journalist who Lennon had told the Beatles were bigger than Jesus to.

Also I heard that the fire part was an aside from Paul, like “How do I end it? Why don’t you have him burn the place down” Like a goof, that could be endlessly talked about…

Those Lennon songs on Revolver of course I love. And I wouldn’t let them be lost to history. But they were looking backward compared with the other songs, lennons esp but mcCartney was a monster then, and Georges songs really made it a rock album somehow. I’m American and I didn’t hear those songs a lot until over 10 years after I already loved Revolver.

[drad_dog]

@Octarine

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).

Ah the T shirt test, yes that decides it.

[Suburban_Plankton]

@minlokwat

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?

Simple. He was psycho.

Remember, this is the same guy who used to be cruel to his woman. He beat her, and kept her apart from the things that she loved.

Man, he was mean.

Also, he doesn’t say “no thanks”; she’s the one that turns him down:

She told me she worked in the morning and started to laugh
I told her I didn’t and crawled off to sleep in the bath

[up_the_junction]

Sometimes reading here is like being on a mental ward.

@Ukulele_Ike

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.

Yep, yep 100%

He got pulled by a posh bird who just wanted to boast about it later, inc. at work in the morning.

In the morning he sparked up a fat one and reflected over having been ‘had’, but not in the way he intended (saying wryly: ‘or should I say she had me’).

@Bridget_Burke

Because she had a very good job & could afford some excellent Scandinavian Modern furniture. (And probably some excellent pot. Or hashish.)

And wine and living alone. Def a posh bird.

Really, it’s not difficult folks.

[pricciar]

Ohhhh! Is that why that was in the crossword?

Also.

ICE DAMS?! Please.

Oops. Sorry to disrupt the lyrical conversation.

[Ukulele_Ike]

@JKellyMap

…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.

I always thought of “Camarillo Brillo” as the Zappa version of “Norwegian Wood.” Except the bird wasn’t posh, and Frank actually got some poontang.

She stripped away her rancid poncho
And laid out naked on the floor
We did it till we were unconscio
And it was useless any more.

(Seriously, is that a Mexican poncho? Or is it a Sears poncho?)

[bb49]

Some interesting conversations and interpretations of Norwegian Wood, but nobody brought up the fact that this song was also called (subtitled?):

This Bird Has Flown

[up_the_junction]

@bb49

Some interesting conversations and interpretations of Norwegian Wood, but nobody brought up the fact that this song was also called (subtitled?):

This Bird Has Flown

Yes I did. Post #44 above. 'bird is slang. So that title is a wry pun.

[up_the_junction]

p.s. and, of course, by '65 he was probably aware of US slang as well.

[Yookeroo]

@Octarine

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).

Abbey Road and Sgt. Pepper had better album covers. Makes a better t-shirt. Seems to me that Revolver and Rubber Soul are pretty much widely considered groundbreaking albums, t-shirt to no t-shirt.

[JKellyMap]

@Ukulele_Ike

I always thought of “Camarillo Brillo” as the Zappa version of “Norwegian Wood.” Except the bird wasn’t posh, and Frank actually got some poontang.

She stripped away her rancid poncho
And laid out naked on the floor
We did it till we were unconscio
And it was useless any more.

(Seriously, is that a Mexican poncho? Or is it a Sears poncho?)

Ha! That is certainly a Zappaesque take on a similar theme.
The segment I was thinking of was from some live recording (bootleg, probably) from circa 1980. Spoilered for puerility: And then she said…let’s have some head!

(who you jivin’?)