I am so helpless that some idiot translated Norwegian Wood into "Norwegian Wood"

Haruki Murakami:

At that time, I had just started writing the novel "Norwegian Wood". The music that appeared in the opening scene on the plane was still not "Norwegian Wood". " failed (the novel had not yet been titled at that time). If I were asked to elaborate on the reasons, I wouldn’t be able to tell you why. It’s just that I couldn’t think of any other music at the time (I still can’t think of it now). Whether I am aware of it or not, whether I like it or not, I still really feel their music seeping into my body in real time and synchronized over the years. Maybe, this is what is called generation.

By the way, after the publication of "Norwegian Wood", there was an opinion that Norwegian Wood was not a Norwegian forest. That was actually a mistranslation, and the original meaning should be furniture produced in Norway. This "Norwegian furniture theory" appears, for example, in Albert Goldman's biography of John Lennon, and seems to be widely circulated as a conclusion. But if you ask whether this view is 100% correct, I think it is probably a bit doubtful. I have not done in-depth research on the Beatles' music, and of course I don't dare to be self-righteous and stubborn, but as far as my reading scope is concerned, there has never been clear evidence for this "Norwegian furniture" theory (just showing that "Americans may I don’t know, but actually in the UK at that time, when we talked about Norwegian Wood, we were referring to the general fact of “Nordic Furniture”). Ask Americans and British people, and the answers are clearly divided into two. Some people say, "That's furniture made in Norway." Others say, "No, no, that's what the Norwegian forest means." It seems that this is not just a matter of language differences between English and Japanese.

If I, as a translator, are allowed to take the liberty of expounding on my personal opinion, the correct interpretation of Norwegian Wood is ultimately "Norwegian Wood", and other interpretations are probably all wrong. If you examine the lyrics, you will find that the ambiguous influence of the word Norwegian Wood dominates the lyrics and music of the entire song, and any attempt to clearly define it would be far-fetched. This is as elusive in Japanese as it is in English. Of course, as a word itself, it is possible that one of its meanings is furniture made in Norway, that is, Nordic furniture. But that's not all. If someone claims that this is all, such a narrow interpretation will fatally damage the incredible inscrutability that the ambiguity (indefinability) of the song brings to the listener (this inscrutability is the life of the song) location). Wouldn’t this be like “missing the forest for the trees”? To be precise, NorwegianWood may not be "Norwegian forest", but it is also not "Norwegian furniture". This is my opinion.

In an interview with "Playboy" magazine (January 1981 issue), John Lennon said this about Norwegian Wood: "I was very careful in this song, it just became Paranoid. Because I didn’t want my wife to know that I was having extramarital affairs with other people. I wanted to cover this affair in a vague way, like a layer of smoke. It doesn't look like a real thing. I forget who I did it with that time. I don't know how I came up with the word Norwegian Wood."

This statement (not all the author’s statements about his works are correct and authoritative. Judging from his own experience, this is reasonable, but I still have to say it) should be said to be quite It is clearly implied that Norwegian Wood does not equal "Norwegian furniture". If the truth is what John Lennon said, it means that it is "something vague and profound that covers everything, although it is not clear." When such thoughts were engraved in his chest, the image or concept of "Norwegian Wood" suddenly appeared in John's mind. This is an image or concept that cannot be translated (or explained). No matter how you think about it, it can only be Norwegian Wood itself.

But all in all, when we were teenagers, we often heard this song on the radio. No matter who said it, it was called "Norwegian Wood".

Although it may be a mistranslation to be precise, it comes to us on the vehicle of "Norwegian Forest" and occupies a place in our hearts as "Norwegian Forest". So naturally I won’t be indignant: “So what!” But isn’t this title a wonderful one? I feel that if it were titled "Norwegian Taketoku" (Toshiba Music Industries advocated that this transliteration be the official song title from the beginning) or "Nordic Furniture is Really Good", I'm afraid this song would not be It will leave such a deep impression on our hearts.

There is an interesting saying about the song title Norwegian Wood. An American woman who worked at George Harrison's agency told me this at a party in New York, and she claimed that she "heard it from his own mouth."

"Norwegian Wood is not actually a real song title. The original song was called 'Knowing She Would'. Think about the context of the lyrics, do you understand what it means? (That is, ' Isn't it good, knowing she would?) But the record company objected, claiming that they could not record such indifferent words, so John Lennon played a homophone game on the spot. Changing "knowing she would" to "Norwegian Wood" makes it difficult to tell the truth? The title of the song is actually a joke. Don't you think this statement is very hip-hop and playful? If this is true, John Lennon is incredibly handsome.