He Burned Down Her Flat - Isn't It Good

[lame54]

https://www.beatlesbible.com/songs/norwegian-wood-this-bird-has-flown/

So she makes him sleep in the bath and then finally in the last verse I had this idea to set the Norwegian wood on fire as revenge, so we did it very tongue in cheek. She led him on, then said, ‘You’d better sleep in the bath’. In our world the guy had to have some sort of revenge. It could have meant I lit a fire to keep myself warm, and wasn’t the decor of her house wonderful? But it didn’t, it meant I burned the fucking place down as an act of revenge, and then we left it there and went into the instrumental.

[The Unmitigated Gall]

1. "So...I lit a fire, isn't it good...Norwegian wood..."

“This bird had flown…” I’ve had that feeling about the song for a looong time. When I tell people why I think it’s one of their darker songs, I get strange looks.

[milestogo]

2. I never got that meaning from it.

I heard that the words were an opaque reference to an affair.

[lame54]

6. That too

[jcgoldie]

3. I think Paul's full of shit

Wouldn't be the first time either of them bullshitted about song meanings to get a rise. I hope so anyway because the burning down the house thing would make a beautiful song pretty crass.

[rurallib]

4. so long ago I heard the original words were "Knowing she would"

if you replace "Norwegian wood" with "Knowing she would" the song makes some sense.

ETA - the change in words was due to censorship.

[unblock]

5. "I'd rather see you dead little girl than to be with another man"

Check out the lyrics to the beatles' "run for your life" if you have any doubt about "Norwegian wood" being an arson song.

To me, him burning the place down was my first and only interpretation. Nothing else really makes sense. She makes him sleep in the bath and leaves, and what, he just relaxes in front of a nice fire in the fireplace -- without even a chair to sit on?

People forget than Lennon had a pretty dark side when it came to women.

[milestogo]

7. That's a John Lennon song if I'm not mistaken.

Mr "Peace and Love" except for women.

I never forgot he had a dark side regarding women, and for me that made it impossible to see him as some kind of icon.

[Mr.Bill]

8. I also took it that way

from the first time I heard it.

[nolabear]

9. I always thought that was what it meant.

It was deliciously awful. I loved it as a kid.

[Conjuay]

10. Iwas under the impression

that “Norwegian wood” was another pot variety.