Heather Nova is the Bermudian Songwriter who grew up on a boat in the Caribbean and went on to sell over 2 million albums in her 15 year career to date. She has released seven albums and has opened for artists like Van Morrison and Neil Young as well as performed with artists like Sarah McLachlan. She has also had hit records with co-writes featuring artists like ATB (Renegade), and Eskobar (Someone New).Her brother is the Reggae singer Mishka.
By the end of the 1980s, after leaving RISD, Heather moved briefly to New York City (where she unsuccessfully tried to interest some major labels in a demo including Columbia , who rejected her, only to sign her five years later ), before moving to London, England. She has British citizenship due to her Bermudan origin. In 1990, she released her first recording, an EP called 'Heather Frith' — she had not yet changed her name by then. The name change came a year or so later after several gigs in the Netherlands, where, after finding out that the Dutch have trouble pronouncing "Frith," she chose a name that would be easily pronounceable in every European language, "Nova," her Canadian mother's maiden name.
The new name debuted in 1993 with her second EP 'Spirit in You' and her first full album, 'Glow Stars'. The success of the album led her to record and release her first live album, 'Blow', the same year, which she supported by a tour of Europe. A year later in 1994 she released what many consider to be her finest work to date, the emotional yet jagged album 'Oyster', for which she toured for almost two years. Another live album, 'Live from the Milky Way', was released in 1995, and after its release she toured for nearly three years straight, twice joining Sarah McLachlan and others on the North American Lilith Fair, which is a music festival with only female performers. Heather is also a frequent performer at European music festivals such as Roskilde.
In 1998, the long-awaited follow up to 'Oyster' was released. After the release of 'Siren', Heather took a break while various television show and film soundtracks licensed some of her songs and her record company (Sony Records/The WORK Group) released various singles from the album, which received only moderate play on America's MTV2, Europe's MTV and Canada's MuchMusic and on mainstream radio, although she was popular on college radio. Also during this time, she recorded a version of the often covered Billie Holiday song, 'Gloomy Sunday', for the German WWII drama Ein Lied von Liebe und Tod. In 2000, she released yet another live album, called 'Wonderlust'.
Over the years, Heather has written and recorded over a hundred songs, so that her albums are selected from work that has often already been performed live, rather than being conceived during rushed songwriting sessions. Half the songs on 'Siren' had been written during the 'Oyster' sessions and were frequently played live prior to being committed to a studio session, and most of the songs for 2001's 'South' were written between 1999 and 2000 while she was on hiatus from touring. With the release of 'South', she returned to the international spotlight with an appearance on the soundtrack of the John Cusack movie "Serendipity", a couple of music videos, and a collaboration with Swedish band Eskobar, for a song called "Someone New", also released as a video, which proved so popular that it was played primarily on America's MTV, not just MTV2 (which is normally reserved for less-popular songs). 'Storm', Heather's fifth studio album, was released in late 2003 on Big Cat Records, as was 'Redbird', released in 2005.
In 2002, she self-published 'the sorrowjoy', a 72-page book of her poetry and drawings. An album of the same name was released in March 2006, which featured Nova reading the poems from her book set to ambient music. The album has only been available for purchase at concerts beginning with the Intimate Evening tour, from the fan-run websites, HeatherNova.Net and HeatherNova.De, and from the official website, www.heathernova.com.
The album Storm was released in 2003. It was a more refined album, using Mercury Rev as Heather's backing band. The album was Top 5 in Germany and Top 10 across Europe. It was an album of dark ballads, marking a step away from the polished sound of South. It was also Heather's first release on her own record label, Saltwater Records. Despite being pregnant, she toured hard with a new line up and band, before returning home to Bermuda. (A live DVD was made of these concerts (live at the Union Chapel)
Norwegian Wood
Heather Nova Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
He showed me his room, isn't it good, Norwegian wood?
He asked me to stay and he told me to sit anywhere
So I looked around and I noticed there wasn't a chair
I sat on a rug, biding my time, drinking his wine
We talked until two and then he said, "It's time for bed"
He told me he worked in the morning and started to laugh
I told him I didn't and crawled off to sleep in the bath
And when I awoke, I was alone, this bird had flown
So I lit a fire, isn't it good, Norwegian wood?
The lyrics of Heather Nova's song Norwegian Wood tell the tale of a girl who meets a boy and spends the night at his place. The first line, "I once had a boy, or should I say, he once had me…" suggests that their relationship was not equal, and that he held some power over her. The second line, "he showed me his room, isn't it good, Norwegian wood?" implies that he was trying to impress her with his living quarters, which were made of the expensive and exotic Norwegian wood.
The boy invites her to stay, but when she looks around, she notices there isn't a chair for her to sit on. She ends up sitting on a rug, drinking his wine and talking with him until 2 am. He then tells her it's time for bed, but she decides to sleep in the bathtub instead of sleeping with him. When she wakes up, she finds that he has left and she is alone. She lights a fire, which may symbolize a cleansing and purifying of the experience. The last line, "isn't it good, Norwegian wood?" reiterates the motif of the expensive and impressive wood throughout the song.
Line by Line Meaning
I once had a boy, or should I say, he once had me...
The singer and a guy had a relationship, although it's unclear who was really in control.
He showed me his room, isn't it good, Norwegian wood?
He showed her around his room and furniture, complimenting the Norwegian wood.
He asked me to stay and he told me to sit anywhere
The guy asked her to stay and sit wherever she wanted.
So I looked around and I noticed there wasn't a chair
When she looked around, she realized there was no chair to sit on.
I sat on a rug, biding my time, drinking his wine
She sat on a rug, killing time and drinking his wine.
We talked until two and then he said, "It's time for bed"
They conversed until 2 AM and then he suggested going to bed.
He told me he worked in the morning and started to laugh
The guy shared he had to work in the morning and laughed.
I told him I didn't and crawled off to sleep in the bath
She replied that she didn't have to work so she went to bed in the bathtub.
And when I awoke, I was alone, this bird had flown
She woke up alone, the guy had left her.
So I lit a fire, isn't it good, Norwegian wood?
She lit a fire to warm up and appreciate the Norwegian wood again.
Contributed by Grace R. Suggest a correction in the comments below.