Norwegian Wood
I once had a girl, or should I say, she once had me.
She showed me her room, isnt it good, norwegian wood?
She asked me to stay and she told me to sit anywhere,
So I looked around and I noticed there wasnt a chair.
I sat on a rug, biding my time, drinking her wine.
We talked until two and then she said, “its time for bed”.
She told me she worked in the morning and started to laugh.
I told her I didnt and crawled off to sleep in the bath.
And when I awoke I was alone, this bird had flown.
So I lit a fire, isnt it good, norwegian wood.
I always saw the story of this song as ending in an act of arson, not quiet contemplation by the fireplace in her empty apartment.
I pictured him setting a fire in the middle of that empty room, and walking out, letting the whole place go up in flames. Arson as revenge for being “had” by her. Arson as revenge for her laughter at him, for making him sleep in the bath.
Opinions needed.
Arson was the first thought I had, though the title of your post may have put that notion in my head.
If someone invited me over, talked with me until two and then told me I’d have to sleep in the tub, I might be a little ticked off myself.
Bill –
the first thought you had when you first heard the song? As a kid or whatever?
I’m just wondering if anyone else has carried around an idea about the story of that song. I thought it was about arson since I was 8 – so I was just wondering…
Changed the title.
I suppose Freud, to some degree, was right (ACK!) about the power of suggestion.
To be honest, I can’t remember hearing the song before. So I read what you had posted from an adult perspective.
Wow, Bill. I grew up on the Beatles. I assumed everyone had heard of Norwegian Wood.
The Beatles are the great gap in my musical experience. I should probably give them a listen.
Uh … YEAH. That’s an understatement!
i’m not sure about the interpretation. but maybe we can analyze that famous bob dylan song:
“A Foot For You”–I love that one!!
Siobhan –
HAHAHAHAHA
I would actually like to analyze your imitation of that Dylan classic .
“I’ll chop it off … I’ll saw it off…”
Uh – what?
I never thought of it that way before. Now that you mention it, it seems blindingly obvious.
Yes, yes. I’m somewhat of a cultural barbarian re: music. I’ll download some tracks and see what I like.
It’s not a barbarian thing – it’s just the Beatles are so ubiquitous that I don’t know how you could avoid them. They are everywhere.
Norwegian Wood still gets radio play.
Wasn’t “norwegian wood” supposed to be some kind of drug?
I’m not sure how I avoided them, it hasn’t been a conscious thing. I hardly ever listen to FM radio, since no station here plays the music I like.
I haven’t heard too much from Elvis either, to be honest.
Great song- I believe the song is really about some affair John had when he was married to Cynthia Powell. Had that affair not happened, perhaps he’d have stayed married to her, staved off Yoko, and the group could’ve continued for another decade. Ah, what might have been…
So if Norwegian wood is some kind of ganga then that would make sense as well. He sparks up a doob and contemplates the sad fact that he did not get laid.
Or he torches her apartment in revenge.
Steve –
“Staved off Yoko”. I cannot explain to you how much joy I got out of your word choice.
“So what are you up to this weekend?”
“I’ve gotta stave off Yoko, man.”
I liked Denis Leary’s take on the whole ordeal for Beatles fans. “We live in a world where John Lennon takes six bullets in the chest. Yoko Ono is standing right next to him, not one [expletive] bullet! Tell me why, God!”
“Stevie Ray Vaughn is dead, and we can’t get Jon Bon Jovi in a @#$%ing helicopter.”
Love Stevie. Love love love Stevie. A boyfriend of mine was at his last concert. But he spent half of his time in line at the concession stand, buying food to try to force down his anorexic girlfriend’s throat.
He described to me the agony of waiting in the stupid line, hearing all the classics being played – and he was missing it, dammit.
I was like, “Dude, you have got to take responsibility for what a wuss you were in that moment. Okay, your girlfriend was a twig. But you’re missing STEVIE RAY VAUGHN. She’s not gonna die at the concert!! Make her eat after the show!”
“Whenever you hear about someone ODing, it’s always someone really talented…but Motley Crue would never [expletive] overdose! You could stick them in a room full of cocaine and they’d come out an hour later saying ‘rock on!'”
Leary is the God of Comedy.
My favorite Behind the Music was the Motley Crue one. It was absolutely hysterical. It was like Spinal Tap.
I saw Motley Crue in concert. With Whitesnake. (Makes heavy metal devil sign).
Dan – awesome! (Howard Dean yell: AAARRGGH!)
Heeheee. I saw a number of ‘bad’ heavy metals shows at the Providence Civic Center: Def Leppard w/Tesla opening, Iron Maiden..
..I was a teenage Metal Head.
Oh God, the Behind the Music about Motley Crue was hysterical. I saw that about 5 years ago, and still remember it vividly. I don’t think there is a single substance on the face of this earth that they didn’t drink, inject, smoke or snort.
My first concert was at the Civic Center. Huey Lewis and the News – their “Heart of Rock and Roll” tour.
The Civic Center is now called the Dunkin Donuts Center, by the way – which is an outrage to all righteous Rhode Islanders who continue to call it the Civic Center.
So was I…I once owned the entire Motley Crue set on cassette. I didn’t realize they sucked until I was 23 and feeling nostalgic when I picked up one of their CDs.
On the Motley Crue story –
wasn’t there some absolutely horrific death-by-car-crash as well?
Isn’t there always on those hard partying bands?
I think you’re confusing Motley Crue with Def Leppard – their drummer lost his arm in a car crash.
The way I heard it, the term “Norwegian Wood” was a sort of Liverpudlian take on Danish Modern, referring to the furniture in the apartment.
There very well could’ve been, though, but I’ve seen so many “Behind the Music” episodes, it’s hard to remember what tragedy happened to whom. Although I can always recall the dude with Def Leppard getting his arm amputated.
In high school, Poison was playing at the local arena (actually the video for “Every Rose Has its Thorn” was filmed there during the concert). I was sheltered and couldn’t go, but the lead singer was signing autographs at a local music store. He signed a picture of the band, and my denim jacket. I felt so fucking cool. *sigh*
Dan –
One of the amusing things about those Behind the Musics is that there are so many similar elements. Drug addiction, people lighting themselves on fire accidentally, car crashes, women …
And I refuse to call it the Dunkin Donuts Center in the same manner I refuse to call Great Woods the Tweeter Center.
Dan –
I am sure, then, that you have seen the BRILLIANT documentary: The Decline of Western Civilization – The Metal Years…?
I f***ing LOVE that documentary.
The Metallica Behind the Music one was pretty funny. Practically all pictures of the band from over the years, had a bottle of booze in hands of at least one of the band members.
Dan –
That’s an outrage. It’s Great Woods, always and forever.
Ken – sort of like Ikea? In a mid 60s incarnation?
I’m embarassed to say I haven’t seen that one; I’ll add it to my list.
Regarding heavy metal misadventures: the average male between 18 and 25 or so should be clipped, tagged and then released for their own safety and that of the general public. Take that some young male, give them tons of money and access to sex and drugs..well there ya go. There’s a reason why young men are the ideal combat infantrymen – a belief in their own immortality and the ability to take insane risks.
And yes, it is outrageous. I wish they’d bloody well stop selling off my childhood left and right.
It’s on the Independent Film Channel all the time – there are two other installments – the Punk Years, and I think the Pop Years. But the Metal Years is sheer genius.
Well I lack cable and don’t turn on the tube unless there’s baseball on. But I do rent a lot of DVDs, so I’ll add those to my list.
Yeah, it’s rentable.
Cool. Hopefully The Man, oops I mean Blockbusters, has it in stock.
And that’s another thing I miss from my childhood – independently owned movie rental places. Though I’m guessing maybe that’s not a problem in NYC?
Dan –
The only places to rent really good movies are the little mom & pop shops. They kind of have cult followings here in NYC. But if you want to see the latest films made in Thailand, or Afghanistan – you obviously can’t get those in Blockbuster.
TLA Video is the best.
But yeah – Blockbuster’s takeover of all those shops is terrible – especially when I heard that they tamper with the films, and do little cut and snip maneuvers.
My family didn’t even have a damn VCR until I went away to college. We still RENTED them back then. So weird to think.
Wait a minute – what am I saying “went away to college”.
I literally could walk from my parents house to my college.
I didn’t go away!!
Motley Crue is my favorite Behind the Music as well. I will not humiliate myself here by mentioning how many times I have watched it.
My favorite part was when Tommy Lee was talking about how they used to mainline Jack Daniels’, saying “why did we do that? I mean, we could just drink it…” Yeah, no shit, Lee. That’s what normal people do!
And then the part where Tommy was telling the story about Ozzy snorting ants…
And Vince Neil killed a friend of his in a car accident in Redondo Beach. He called himself “the OJ of the eighties”.
Emily –
THAT’S it. He killed a friend in a car accident.
I have seen that Behind the Music countless times as well. It is so entertaining.
Tommy Lee … man, he was hot. But he looked old and TIRED at age 27.
I keep my Norwegian wood in a box under a severed foot.
I was going to take a moment to pimp Netflix, but they don’t have those documentaries either.
Occam’s Razor
Failed seduction, miserable night sleeping in a bathtub, you wake up, maybe a wine hangover, she is gone, you would be burning all right.
Hung over, pissed and rejected.
I think Bill must be pulling our collective leg.
I was a teenage metalhead, but it was REAL metal: Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Blue Oyster Cult. Stevie Ray Vaughn was in a class by himself. I REALLY miss him.
I puzzled over the “contemplative moment by the fireplace vs. torch the place and just leave” question in “Norwegian Wood” for many hours when I was a kid. Originally I thought Lennon was just relaxing by the fire toking it up, but later I decided he burned the place down.
That Motley Crue hasn’t been involved with death isn’t technically accurate- Nikki Sixx was at one point clinically dead for several minutes after OD’ing on heroin, but then came back to life. Also, Vince Neil once hosted a party where a baby drowned.
Sheila–
Exactly!
I think.
Blond wood, very spare and austere design. Mid ’60s about nails it.
“I’ve gotta stave off Yoko, man.”
Don’t we all…
;-)
Steve-
Didn’t Tommy Lee host a party last year where a kid drowned??
I can’t imagine why there are no doctoral dissertations on this. Is Norwegian wood more flammable than Scotch pine or did “Norwegian” simply have the right number of syllables?
I find that many (Most?) song lyrics are nonsense. The Beatles more than most.
Rob-
Yeah, but their lyrics sure are fun to talk about.
OK, I listened to the song. I still think he’s torching the place as he’s leaving.
I know I am bit late to this but…
Lennon’s humility was what often made him so remarkable.
Here, he was had by her, yet he was still able to take something away from the experience, in this case, learning about himself.
No, I don’t consider the fire as arson, rather, the fire is his being warmed or comforted by his self awareness.
Another take on this here
MeTooThen –
Cool!!
Re Norwegian Wood lyrics – every year at Xmas Norway donates a Xmas tree to England (in recognition for its help in world War 2) – which is paraded in Trafalger Square London every year- Lennon was an avid reader of newspaper/magazines articles and probably had this useless bit of information in his head when he added the final lines “so I lit a fire – isn’t it good – Norwegian Wood” (from Rubber Soul album released Xmas period 1965)- don’t think he torched the girl’s place – it has since been written that he left out other lyrics because he didn’t want to give too much away about the affair he was having behind his wife’s back at the time – the original title for the song was “This Bird has Flown” – the Norwegian Wood bit being an after-thought which nicely wrapped the song up in time for Xmas – (he did the same on Strawberry Fields Forever (recorded during Xmas period 1966) – at the end of that song he can be heard
saying (in a slowed down tape pitch) “Cranberry Sauce” – which we in merry ol England eat with turkey at Crimbo time….. yo ho ho…. Norwegian Wood is a great song and its brill that people are still talking about it 40 years on..God bless you all… for a more evocative interperatation of Beatle songs – does anybody know the inspiration behind the lyrics to “Babys In Black” off Beatles For Sale album???
Is it anything to do with the original Beatles bass player Stuart Sutcliff who died of a brain tumour?