NORWEGIAN WOOD (THIS BIRD HAS FLOWN)
“Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)” is a song by the English rock band the Beatles. It was written by the songwriting partnership of John Lennon and Paul McCartney and was first released on the album Rubber Soul on 3 December 1965. Musically influenced by the introspective lyrics of Bob Dylan, “Norwegian Wood” is a milestone in the Beatles’ progression as complex songwriters. In addition, the recordings of studio musicians during the Help! filming sessions, and Ravi Shankar inspired lead guitarist George Harrison to incorporate the sitar into the song. Although “Norwegian Wood” was not the first song to feature an Eastern-inspired sound in a rock composition, nor is it even the first Beatles track to do so, it is credited as influential in the development in raga rock and psychedelic rock. Accordingly, “Norwegian Wood” is recognised as a bona fide raga-rock song, as well as fundamental in the early evolution of the genre later regarded as world music. (More from Wikipedia)
Following the Beatles’ lead, many rock musicians began incorporating sitar into their recordings, including the Byrds and Stone Poneys; the Beatles song “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)”, included on their 1965 album Rubber Soul, was the first rock song to include sitar music, which was played by George Harrison on the song. One of my favorite songs on the Sgt. Pepper album, “Within You, Without You”, was composed by George Harrison, who plays sitar and another Indian instrument, the tambura; several Indian musicians were also on hand.
(September 2014)
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The other songs on the Racehorse album are written or at least co-written by Holly Ramos (there are no credits given in my copy of the CD), but some are echoes of other well-known songs: “Coal Miner’s Lullaby” has almost the same name as the Loretta Lynn classic “Coal Miner’s Daughter”, and “This Bird Has Flown” lifts the parenthetical phrase from the Beatles song “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)”. In this case, the song is about a real bird (as used in the Beatles song, “bird” is British slang for an attractive girl or woman): “One day I found a bird on my way / so one time I thought I’d make him mine / No longer wild but tame / I gave that bird a name / A dark night that bird would sing instead of fly / A sad song / I left the cage open now he’s gone / It came as no surprise / When I opened up my eyes / That this bird has flown.”
(Year 9 Review)
