Brian Wilson’s Favorite Beatles Song

Many people pit the The Beach Boys and the Beatles against one another. Both bands made indelible marks on the world of rock, revolutionizing recording processes and musical directions. That being said, the bands always kept their rivalry friendly. Brian Wilson once went on record praising the Beatles for one song in particular. Find out which Beatles song is Wilson’s favorite, below.

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Brian Wilson’s Favorite Beatles Song

I once had a girl

Or should I say she once had me

She showed me her room

Isn’t it good Norwegian wood?

Rubber Soul marked a transition in the Beatles’ sound. They dared to get a little more experimental than they previously allotted. Their pop leaning, relatively straightforward sound was swapped for something headier. Naturally, their fellow musicians took notice.

Wilson is among the long list of musicians that have praised this album. He once remarked on listening to the work for the first time and feeling its transformative qualities.

She asked me to stay

And she told me to sit anywhere

So I looked around

And I noticed there wasn’t a chair

“It must have been in November of 1965,” Wilson once said. “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!”

While he appreciated the album as a whole, Wilson put a focus on one song: “Norwegian Wood.” The song sees John Lennon wryly talk about an affair. While the affair behind the song was inspired by real events, the twist ending sees the Beatle dream up a revenge plot on a disinterested woman.

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

“Norwegian Wood is my favorite, too,” Wilson added. “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. Is he setting her house on fire? I didn’t know. I still don’t know. I thought that was fantastic.”

Revisit this powerful Beatles track, below.

And when I awoke I was alone

This bird had flown

So I lit a fire

Isn’t it good Norwegian wood?

(Photo by Vince Bucci/Getty Images)