1965 Rock Classic, Off a No. 1 Record, Was Actually About the Singer's Secret Affair
The 1965 hit song, "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)," has remained one of the most memorable tracks from theBeatles' discography.
In a 1971 interview with Rolling Stone,John Lennon revealed what inspired him to write the tune off the band's Rubber Soul album, which went number 1 on the Billboard 200 in January 1966. Lennon told the publication that he tried to make the lyrics of "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" ambiguous to conceal the fact that he was cheating on his first wife and the mother of his eldest son, Julian, Cynthia Lennon, whom he divorced in 1968.
"I was trying to write about an affair without letting me [sic] wife know I was writing about an affair, so it was very gobbledegook. I was sort of writing from my experiences, girls' flats, things like that," said Lennon, who died in 1980 at the age of 40, during the Rolling Stone interview.
Paul McCartney Spoke About John Lennon's Motivation in Writing 'Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)'
Showbiz Cheat Sheet reported that Lennon's bandmate Paul McCartney spoke about his motivation in writing "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" during an interview for his biography Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now by Barry Miles.
"It's [John] trying to pull a bird, it was about an affair," said McCartney in the book, published in 1997.
According to Showbizz Cheatsheet, McCartney said he knew why the song was titled "Norwegian Wood," despite Lennon saying he wasn't sure why he gave the tune that name.
"John told Playboy that he hadn't the faintest idea where the title came from but I do. [Singer] Peter Asher had his room done out in wood, a lot of people were decorating their places in wood. Norwegian wood. It was pine really, cheap pine. But it's not as good a title, ‘Cheap Pine,' baby," quipped McCartney, now 83, while speaking to Miles for the biography.
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This story was originally published May 30, 2026 at 7:54 PM.