Song Analysis “The Bird has Flown” by Beatles.
The track “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) is part of the Beatles Album “Rubber soul” produced and released in 1965. John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote the song and recorded it on October 21, 1965(). The Beatles leased the song in the United States on December 6th, 1965. the song is a complete story that talks about meeting a lady who invites john, the songwriter, her room, and welcomes him to sit down. However, he discovers there is no seat and settles on a rug. The due enjoy each other’s company while taking wine until the lady instructs the songwriter to get into bed later in the night since she would be working the next morning. He declines the offer and spends the night in the bathroom to wake up and find her gone. The songwriter employs ambiguity to appeal to the listener’s mental liberty, which allows individuals to accord meaning to the relics based on their experiences and background, besides Sarita’s use, which appeals to the audience and diminishes the negative effect of a monolithic structure.
The author uses Anthropomorphism’to to write about the extramarital affairs he had while in London. He admits that he used the style to prevent his wife from suspecting such relationships.
The song’s relics are also ambiguous, and one can not point to a specific outcome or conclusion on the affair’s events. The art consumers are at liberty to use their imaginations and become active participants in the song by lending it a deeper meaning.
The song creates a sense of discomfort and emotional distance. The songwriter is emotionally distant from his host despite being in her house. Closer relationships have thin boundaries, and one would have opted to sit on the bed in the absence of a seat. However, the author opts for a rug. The emotional disconnection is also vivid from his reaction when the host invites him to bed. Instead, he opts to spend the night in the bathroom only to find her gone in the morning. The song portrays two people willing to be together but set apart by their differences. The woman indirectly beckons the author for intimacy. Still, he declines, ” 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”, the girl was ready to get intimate with the author from her laughter, however, after waking up to find her gone in the morning, he finds pleasure on his own, “and when I awoke, I was alone, this bird had flown So I lit a fire, isn’t it good, Norwegian wood.” Moreover, he exhibits a sense of selfishness in the story, the girl offers him wine, and he only drinks it to pass the time, not to enjoy her company as an ordinary couple or guest would.
The song depicts a sense of emptiness from both parties. The due is not happy like other people would while taking wine, the other only confirms that they talked until two in the morning but did not evoke any emotions from their conversations.in an ordinary affair, people would share a heart to heart conversation or even get intimate after an invitation into a private space.
The author also uses metaphor and compares the woman to a bird, the lady was not he’s but belonged to the streets, just like birds belong to their natural habitat, and nobody owns them. Once a caged bird flies away, it is almost impossible to repossess, unlike its domesticated. Similarly, it was uncertain that John would ever meet the woman again or get the chance to get intimate with her.
Like John’s affair with the lady, some relationships are one-sided, where only one of the parties is resourceful and works to sustain it. The lady welcomes her guest into her house and grants him the liberty to sit wherever he pleases. On the contrary, John only complains there was no seat and seats on the rug. A majority of people venturing into illegitimate relationships often do so for selfish gains. John might have pursued the entanglement out of loneness, while the lady invested her emotions in it for a good cause. On the contrary, john was there to pass the time, “I took the wine to bid time.” Besides, losing her was not such a great loss since he gratified himself by lighting the fire. Their relationship feels empty and silent.
Alternatively, the relics paint a picture of resentment towards the affair. After spending the night in the tab, he wakes up to an empty house. The bird has flown and decides to set up a fire. There is a possibility that John wants to end the affair and sets the furniture on fire to burn to erase any memories that would draw him back to his lover. His reactions on the previous night depict a lack of interest in the woman. However, there is a possibility that he uses the word Bird to refer to his penis, which is a common slug in England, thus eluding that he has already committed the sexual act, and it was sad that he is alone in the tab. The song features a Sitar, an Indian musical instrument which creates a great effect.
Beatles’ work on the Song Norwegian Wood, ‘the bird, has Flown’ is a vital contribution to literature’s compendium. It results from immense mental deliberation and creativity to tap into the listener’s imagery and render them active consumers of the content. Individuals can analyze the song from different perspectives. Besides, it appeals to their emotions based on personal experiences and social perspectives on extramarital affairs.
Moreover, the song bears various fascinating elements such as humor, an Indian musical instrument, and suspense. Unlike now, the use of Satire was new to England music, and it captures listeners’ attention besides drawing the interest of other musicians at the time. It is funny that the host told their visitor to sit anywhere, although there was no seat in the house. Similarly, it allures to the consumer’s curiosity and interpretation. For instance, one wonders the actual purpose of the visit, the kind of fire he lit, and the Norwegian wood’s real meaning. Did it refer to her furniture, the house, or did he use the phrase to liken the situation to his previous experience? However, the music consumer may fail to understand its meaning, but Paul McCartney says the word stems its inspiration from Norwegian Wood in the Asher household (). It means fake wood that was used to make cheap furniture. Similarly, the bird has flown could mean sobering up after a night of intoxication and getting high. Here, lighting the fire would mean consuming something to be high again. The mental deliberation allows individuals from diverse backgrounds to relate to the song based on their understanding and personal experiences.
The song embraces a minimalist structure with single chord verses combined with a repeated downward spiraling melody as the entire track’s main feature. Ironically, such a structure often creates monotony in a song but becomes an enduring trait in the song “the bird has flown.” The structure is simple and consists of a verse/ bridge/ verse/ verse/ bridge/ verse. Also, the songwriter uses a simple introduction and conclusion to bring out the sharp melody line. The introductory solo guitar set the tone for the entire song. It perfectly introduces the repetitive melody line, which plays forcefully throughout the song.
The song begins with a sixteen measure verse that repeats a single cord eight-measure twice. The verse is a combination of different instruments and starts with a caustic guitar, followed by a sitar and a simple bass guitar. The verse plays in an E-major, and a bridge follows immediately with an E-minor. The third verse is an instrumental section of the song. A melody line on the sitter follows and repeats twice to make the sixteen measure. A sixteen measure bridge follows to form the monopolistic structure.
The acoustic guitar gives the song an earthly warm tone. However, none of the relics allures a sense of disappointment and anxiety. The singer is clear that the girl had her as opposed to him having her. Showing him, her room creates some optimism that their encounter would lead to intimacy, but it never happens. The lady leads him on until late in the night when she says it is time for bed and makes it impossible to engage in any form of intimacy by confirming that she works in the morning before sending her visitor to sleep in the bath. He wakes up to find his bird gone prompting him to burn the house down for revenge.
The increased use of sitar in pop culture is attributable to the Beatles’ song’s success; the bird has flown in the Rubber Soul album. The song has unique attributes such as minimalistic structure, which often cases monotony in songs but, in the case, drew attention from the masses. The mental deliberations allow the song to appeal to diverse demographics since every individual can draw a meaning based on their understanding.
Arguably, the song narrates an affair where nobody is willing to make the first move since it all feels inappropriate. However, the lady sends him clues by inviting him to her room and gives him the liberty to sit on the bed. However, he plays meek and sits on the rug. His opening statement depicts that both of them had a chance to initiate intimacy, but none did, ‘I once had a girl or should I say she once had me.’ Besides, he expected the girl to take her chances in the long run, “I sat there drinking her wine, biding my time.” However, he misses the last opportunity to get into bed when she says it is time to sleep. She probably expected him to jump into bed but instead opts to sleep in the bath. Besides, confirming that she worked in the `morning might have been a gesture that she would not want him to disturb her amidst her sleep. Both the lady and the man had a chance to get the other into bed, but both ignored the numerous attempt only for the lady to leave. The narrator must have had high expectations just like the lady; however, the lack of initiative from either party led to the disappointment.