NORWEGIAN WOOD (THIS BIRD HAS FLOWN)
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)
* * * 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) |