Knock on Wood

[Laurence Horn]

At 12:30 PM -0500 3/15/02, Clark Whelton wrote:
>  > Indeed.  Then there was the Beatles' cover, "Touch >Wood", but it didn't
>scan, so they changed it to >"Norwegian Wood" and made some other minor
>>alterations, and the rest is history.
>
>>  larry
>
>Uh oh... I've always heard that "Norwegian Wood" was their sly way of saying
>"Knowing she would," a sexual reference.... "Isn't it good, Norwegian Wood."

Cute, but it doesn't really work in the context of these lyrics, in
which she's coming on to him, and he seems to be uninterested and
ends up by possibly burning her valuable Norwegian wood after she
leaves for work in the morning.  I'm fully prepared to believe in
this sort of subtext--suggestive, double entendre lyrics--in almost
any musical genre, but here it doesn't really seem to make sense,
unless I've misread it.

larry
=================
Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
Lennon/McCartney
Rubber Soul, recorded 1965

I once had a girl, or should I say, she once had me.
She showed me her room, isn't it good, Norwegian wood?
She asked me to stay and she told me to sit anywhere.
So I looked around and I noticed there wasn't a chair.
I sat on a rug, biding my time, drinking her wine.
We talked until two, and then she said, "It's time for bed".

She told me she worked in the morning and started to laugh.
I told her I didn't and crawled off to sleep in the bath.
And when I awoke, I was alone, this bird had flown.
So I lit a fire, isn't it good, Norwegian wood.