Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
Encyclopedia
"Norwegian Wood" (also known as simply "Norwegian Wood") is a song by The Beatles
, first released on the 1965 album Rubber Soul
.
Credited to Lennon–McCartney, it was written primarily by John Lennon
, with some lyrical contributions and a middle eight by Paul McCartney
. It is the first example of a rock band playing the sitar
in one of their songs; it was played by George Harrison
.
, in the Swiss Alps
. Lennon later explained that the song was about an affair he had been having:
McCartney explained the title and lyrics as follows:
There has been various speculation as to the subject of Lennon's affair: his friend Pete Shotton suggested a journalist
of their acquaintance, possibly Maureen Cleave
(though Cleave has said that in all her encounters with Lennon there was "no pass"), while writer Philip Norman
claimed that the woman was model
, Sonny Drane
, the first wife of Beatles photographer, Robert Freeman
.
n culture and become a practitioner of transcendental meditation
—decided on using a sitar when The Beatles recorded the song on 12 and 21 October 1965. He later said:
The song as first released is performed in E major and is one of the few Beatles songs in triple time. An earlier take, released on Anthology 2
, is in the key of D major.
as "pure Lennon genius ... one of the most
original pop music songs recorded to date", and by music critic Richie Unterberger
as "undoubtedly the Beatles' greatest lyrical triumph during their folk-rock phase". In 2004, "Norwegian Wood" was ranked number 83 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
Cover versions of the song were performed by many artists, including Sergio Mendes
, Herbie Hancock
, Count Basie
and José Feliciano
. The British band Cornershop
recorded a version of the song in the Punjabi language
for the album When I Was Born for the 7th Time
.
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, first released on the 1965 album Rubber Soul
Rubber Soul
Rubber Soul is the sixth studio album by the English rock group The Beatles, released in December 1965. Produced by George Martin, Rubber Soul had been recorded in just over four weeks to make the Christmas market...
.
Credited to Lennon–McCartney, it was written primarily by John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
, with some lyrical contributions and a middle eight by Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
. It is the first example of a rock band playing the sitar
Sitar
The 'Tablaman' is a plucked stringed instrument predominantly used in Hindustani classical music, where it has been ubiquitous since the Middle Ages...
in one of their songs; it was played by George Harrison
George Harrison
George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
.
Lyrics
Lennon started writing the song in January 1965 whilst on holiday with his wife, CynthiaCynthia Lennon
Cynthia Lillian Lennon is the former wife of musician John Lennon, and mother of Julian Lennon. She grew up in the middle-class section of Hoylake, on the Wirral Peninsula in North West England. At the age of twelve, she was accepted into the Junior Art School, and was later enrolled in the...
, in the Swiss Alps
Swiss Alps
The Swiss Alps are the portion of the Alps mountain range that lies within Switzerland. Because of their central position within the entire Alpine range, they are also known as the Central Alps....
. Lennon later explained that the song was about an affair he had been having:
McCartney explained the title and lyrics as follows:
There has been various speculation as to the subject of Lennon's affair: his friend Pete Shotton suggested a journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
of their acquaintance, possibly Maureen Cleave
Maureen Cleave
Maureen Cleave is an English journalist who worked for the London Evening News and London Evening Standard in the 1960s, conducting interviews with famous musicians of the era, including Bob Dylan and John Lennon....
(though Cleave has said that in all her encounters with Lennon there was "no pass"), while writer Philip Norman
Philip Norman (author)
Philip Norman is an English novelist, biographer, journalist and playwright.Norman grew up in Ryde, Isle of Wight. He attended Ryde School, and his father, Clive Norman, ran the Seagull Ballroom on Ryde Pier. He described his childhood in his book Babycham Night...
claimed that the woman was model
Model (person)
A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art....
, Sonny Drane
Sonny Drane
Sonny Drane , is a German-born woman who was briefly popular as a model in Britain in the 1960s. She was propelled to prominence when her first husband, noted British photographer Robert Freeman, included images of her in the first-ever Pirelli Calendar for which he was the sole photographer...
, the first wife of Beatles photographer, Robert Freeman
Robert Freeman (photographer)
Robert Freeman is a photographer and designer, most famous for his album cover photos for The Beatles and his design work on the end credit sequences of their first two films and the related film posters and advertising materials....
.
Recording
Harrison—who would later be strongly influenced by IndiaIndia
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n culture and become a practitioner of transcendental meditation
Transcendental Meditation
Transcendental Meditation refers to the Transcendental Meditation technique, a specific form of mantra meditation, and to the Transcendental Meditation movement, a spiritual movement...
—decided on using a sitar when The Beatles recorded the song on 12 and 21 October 1965. He later said:
The song as first released is performed in E major and is one of the few Beatles songs in triple time. An earlier take, released on Anthology 2
Anthology 2
Anthology 2 is a compilation album by The Beatles, released by Apple Records in March 1996. It is the second of the three-volume Anthology collection, all of which tie-in with the televised special The Beatles Anthology. The opening track is "Real Love", the second of the two recordings that...
, is in the key of D major.
Personnel
- John LennonJohn LennonJohn Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
– double-trackedDoubletrackingDouble tracking is an audio recording technique in which a performer sings or plays along with their own prerecorded performance, usually to produce a stronger or "bigger" sound than can be obtained with a single voice or instrument. It is a form of overdubbing; the distinction comes from the...
lead vocalLead vocalistThe lead vocalist is the member of a band who sings the main vocal portions of a song. They may also play one or more instruments. Lead vocalists are sometimes referred to as the frontman or frontwoman, and as such, are usually considered to be the "leader" of the groups they perform in, often the...
, acoustic guitarAcoustic guitarAn acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound... - George HarrisonGeorge HarrisonGeorge Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
– double-tracked sitarSitarThe 'Tablaman' is a plucked stringed instrument predominantly used in Hindustani classical music, where it has been ubiquitous since the Middle Ages... - Paul McCartneyPaul McCartneySir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
– harmony vocalBacking vocalistA backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...
, bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick.... - Ringo StarrRingo StarrRichard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
– tambourineTambourineThe tambourine or marine is a musical instrument of the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zils". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though some variants may not have a head at all....
, maracas, finger cymbals
- Personnel per Ian MacDonaldIan MacDonaldIan MacCormick was a British music critic and author, best known for Revolution in the Head, his forensic history of The Beatles which borrowed techniques from art historians, and The New Shostakovich, a controversial study of the Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich...
Reception and legacy
The song is described by writer Mark LewisohnMark Lewisohn
Mark Lewisohn is an English author and historian, regarded as the world's leading authority on the English rock band The Beatles.-The Beatles and related subjects:...
as "pure Lennon genius ... one of the most
original pop music songs recorded to date", and by music critic Richie Unterberger
Richie Unterberger
Richie Unterberger is a US author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing.-Life and writing:Having worked as a DJ at WXPN in Philadelphia, he started reviewing records for Op magazine in 1983...
as "undoubtedly the Beatles' greatest lyrical triumph during their folk-rock phase". In 2004, "Norwegian Wood" was ranked number 83 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
Cover versions of the song were performed by many artists, including Sergio Mendes
Sergio Mendes
Sérgio Santos Mendes is a Brazilian musician. He has released over thirty-five albums, and plays bossa nova heavily crossed with jazz and funk....
, Herbie Hancock
Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
, Count Basie
Count Basie
William "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...
and José Feliciano
José Feliciano
José Feliciano is a Puerto Rican singer, virtuoso guitarist and composer known for many international hits including the 1970 holiday single "Feliz Navidad".-Childhood:...
. The British band Cornershop
Cornershop
Cornershop are a British indie rock band formed in 1991 by Wolverhampton-born Tjinder Singh , his brother Avtar Singh , David Chambers and Ben Ayres , the first three having previously been members of Preston-based band General Havoc, who released one single in 1991...
recorded a version of the song in the Punjabi language
Punjabi language
Punjabi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by inhabitants of the historical Punjab region . For Sikhs, the Punjabi language stands as the official language in which all ceremonies take place. In Pakistan, Punjabi is the most widely spoken language...
for the album When I Was Born for the 7th Time
When I Was Born for the 7th Time
When I Was Born for the 7th Time is a 1997 album by Cornershop.In 2000, Q magazine placed it at number 68 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever....
.