Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)

Norwegian Wood ( This Bird Has Flown ). (English: Norwegian Wood [ This opportunity is awarded ] ') is a song by British band The Beatles in 1965 It was written mostly by John Lennon, but is under the authors' names Lennon / McCartney. Distinctive on the song is played by George Harrison Indian instrument Sitar and at the group rather rare three-quarter time.

Background

John Lennon wrote Norwegian Wood during a joint skiing holiday in St. Moritz ( Switzerland ) with his first wife Cynthia and the Beatles producer George Martin. Content, the song describes the revenge of a man who gets a basket and it puts the house of his beloved fire. In later years, Lennon talked about different versions of the origin: In 1980, he took over the authorship of the song completely claim for themselves, while ten years earlier still reported that Paul McCartney wrote the midsection. McCartney himself claimed to have written the first two lines, which then completed Lennon Norwegian Wood, with McCartney still grabbed him under the arms. The unusual title Norwegian Wood McCartney explained with the fact that it was then fashionable to dress up rooms with Norwegian Wood. Peter Asher 've done that too, but with cheaper pine wood.

Recording

Norwegian Wood was recorded in October 1965 at Abbey Road Studios in London. It was produced by George Martin song, assisted by Norman Smith. On October 12, 1965, the first version of a Beatles Norwegian Wood took (still under the working title of This Bird Has Flown ) on. On October 21, the song was re-recorded in four takes.

Norwegian Wood is one of the first songs of pop music in which a sitar was used. George Harrison, who had recently purchased a sitar, suggested that they play on the song, even though he barely mastered the instrument at this time.

The sound engineer Geoff Emerick British claimed in 2006 in his book You're the Beatles, to have been the first engineer at Norwegian Wood, who had taken a sitar at Abbey Road Studios, even though he had not participated in the session and proven until a year later began to work with the Beatles.

Publication

On December 3, 1965 Norwegian Wood appeared on the album Rubber Soul. In single it was not decoupled. An early alternative version was released in 1996 as part of the Anthology series.

Cover versions

How many other songs is Norwegian Wood gecovert since its release, including Sergio Mendes, Herbie Hancock, Count Basie, Waylon Jennings, Hank Williams Jr., PM Dawn, Tangerine Dream, Arjen Anthony Lucassen or José Feliciano. In 1997, the British band Cornershop released the song in the Punjabi language.

Others

The Japanese author Haruki Murakami has his novel Noruwei no mori (English: Norwegian Wood, in German: Norwegian Wood ) named after this song. At the beginning of the novel, the protagonist reminded by listening to the song of his youth, which the narrative is initiated.