I was almost going to call this article ‘Pining For The Fjords’ but I thought it a bit obtuse and that it may work up the Monty Python Flying Circus fans among you into a bit of a frenzy and you would be re-enacting some of the sketches to your poor suffering family yet again. So I’ll keep it simple.

One of the benefits of having older brothers is that you can poach their record collection. Rubber Soul by The Beatles seemed to be always around in our house and Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) to give it it’s full title was one of my favourites. I don’t know if it was the lilting Dylanesque 6/8 feel, the exotic raga sound of the sitar intro or the slightly suggestive lyrics that reeled me in.

The song, like most Beatles tunes was credited to Lennon & McCartney but I suspect it was one of John’s. Apparently it was the tale of an extra-marital affair and failed seduction that Lennon had. The Norwegian Wood refers to the cheap veneer panelling popular at the time in many a London bedsit and not some well endowed Nordic bloke called Olaf as I thought!,

I once had a girl
Or should I say she once had me
She showed me her room
Isn’t it good Norwegian wood?

I’m not sure if we are to take the last verse too literally that he ended up torching the place. Leave that to the London Fire Brigade I think.

And when I awoke I was alone
This bird had flown
So I lit a fire
Isn’t it good Norwegian wood?

George Harrison, at John’s request, added his newly acquired sitar to the intro giving it a mystical eastern feel. It was the first time such an Indian instrument was used in western pop music and gave birth to the term ‘raga rock’.

I hadn’t realised how many cover versions of this song there are. I’ve whittled it down to fifteen in just about every genre – pop, folk, country, jazz and even salsa, dub and classical. And not a dead parrot in sight !