While The Beach Boys had a competitive rivalry with The Beatles, the two bands greatly respected one another. Many of their work was in response to or influenced by music released by the other. The Beach Boys’ lead singer Brian Wilson said The Beatles’ Rubber Soul is one of his favorite albums, and he once shared his favorite track from the record.
Brian Wilson was amazed by The Beatles’ ‘Rubber Soul’
In 1965, The Beatles released Rubber Soul. While not their best-selling or best-performing album, the record did include classic songs, like “In My Life” and “Michelle”. While many Beatles fans wouldn’t consider this one of their best albums, Rubber Soul profoundly impacted The Beach Boys’ singer.
In an interview shared by Far Out, Wilson recalled hearing Rubber Soul for the first time in Hollywood.
“It must have been in November of 1965,” Wilson shared. “I was living in this house in the Hollywood Hills then, way up on Laurel Way, and I remember sitting in the living room one night talking with some friends when another friend came in with a copy of the Beatles’ new one, Rubber Soul, I don’t know if it had even come out yet. But he had it and so we put it on the record player and, wow. As soon as I started hearing it, I loved it. I mean, LOVED it!”
Wilson loved ‘Norwegian Wood’ for its ambiguous lyrics
“Norwegian Wood” is an essential track in Beatles’ history as it was the first to include George Harrison playing the sitar. The track was written by John Lennon, who Bob Dylan heavily influenced. Dylan’s influence made Lennon more introspective, writing lyrics that shared his experience subtly. Wilson said “Norwegian Wood” was his favorite song from Rubber Soul primarily because the lyrics were “creative” and subject to interpretation.
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“’Norwegian Wood’ is my favorite,” Wilson explained. “The lyrics are so good and so creative, right from the first line: ‘I once had a girl/ Or should I say, she once had me.’ It’s so mysterious. Is he into her, or she into him? It just blew my mind. And in the end, when he wakes up and she’s gone, so he lights a fire. ‘Isn’t it good? Norwegian wood.’ Is he setting her house on fire? I didn’t know. I still don’t know. I thought that was fantastic.”
Lennon wrote ‘Norwegian Wood’ about an affair he was having
While The Beach Boy’s Brian Wilson was curious to know what The Beatles’ song was about, John Lennon cleared it up years later. In his 1980 interview with Playboy, Lennon admitted “Norwegian Wood” was about an extramarital affair he had. The lyrics were intentionally confusing so his first wife, Cynthia Lennon, wouldn’t be suspicious. However, the two later divorced, so maybe she did find out at some point.
“It was about an affair I was having. I was very careful and paranoid because I didn’t want my wife, Cyn, to know that there really was something going on outside of the household,” Lennon stated. “I’d always had some kind of affairs going, so I was trying to be sophisticated in writing about an affair, but in such a smoke-screen way that you couldn’t tell. But I can’t remember any specific woman it had to do with.”
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