Thinking About Harry Nilsson

I think it's weird that to a large segment of the population, Harry Nilsson is that guy throwing a punch when Lennon was getting kicked out of the Troubador. He was a bad influence on John Lennon, and that's basically the end of it. That's more or less what I thought for YEARS. I didn't know anything else about him, until I later learned he sang "Everybody's Talkin' and "Without You". Even then I was more concerned with Stephen Stills' version of "Everybody's Talkin'" and Badfinger's original version of "Without You".

It makes me think that getting involved with the Beatles cuts both ways. Anyone who was involved with them is automatically much more well known than they would otherwise be. However, in becoming part of the story, they are merely characters with a role. Every Lennon book will have a Harry Nilsson section, and Elephants Memory section (sloppy garage band), a Jane Asher section (chaste redhead who dated Paul), etc... They've all had considerable non-Beatles careers, but are mostly known for the role in Beatles lore. It goes on an on. I know names like Maureen Cleave, Carlos Mendes, Alma Cogan, and plenty more only for their Beatles connection. I know little else about them. I knew David Crosby visited Abbey Road long before I became a huge CSN fan.

At any rate...

So for most people, if they know him at all, Nilsson is a drunken lout who had a couple hits at some point. In Nilsson's case, it's possible that while his Beatles "reputation" isn't great, due to the vast numbers of Beatles fans, there will be a bunch of them who are curious and will dig deeper and find out that the Lennon-era of Nilsson's life and career were a blip. More people will ultimately find Nilsson than say, Terry Jacks, solely because of his Beatles connection.

 

I think this is a little unfair. Harry had a solid reputation as an artist even without the Beatles connection on the strength of his own albums on RCA, and the songs he had written. He only had a handful of top 40-type hits over his career, but he had a presence on the album charts, in movie soundtracks, with a reputation in the music biz and even earlier as a songwriter for others who had success with his songs. The Beatles gave him a publicity boost in a few instances, sure. The thing I noticed about Harry, and no doubt the Beatles did, too, was that he was a kindred spirit. He had a similar artistic and aesthetic sensibility and the same sort of sense of humor as they did. Obviously because Harry liked the Beatles so much, there was some early influence on his work as well, but I'd say it was subtle or inspirational rather than overt, and affected his songwriting perhaps more than performance or arrangements. Harry was unique, and had a very recognizable style, singing voice, and compositional musical signature.

After enough time passes, most artists tend to be forgotten or little remembered by the general public, except for their very biggest moments of fame or notoriety. Then later they periodically get "rediscovered" by younger musicians or avid music fans, and us old folks get a chance to reminisce about how great they were.

 

The Monkees association also helped quite a bit at the time.

 

I'm not saying that's what I think. I'm thinking more about people who are Beatles/Lennon fans and haven't gone much deeper into it, which I would assume is most fans. But maybe they know better as well.

Thanks for pointing out that he was known to people at the time. The first time I ever heard of him was in the eighties in connection to "The Lost Weekend". Unless someone's popularity is well documented, then I have a hard time getting a feel for someone's standing in the past.

 

Stop it! You're Breakin' My Heart

I love Harry!!

 

Is Harry doing backing vocals on Ringo's "You're Sixteen"?

Also, what is Harry's last pre-***** Cats vocal, either on his own song, or someone else's song.

 

Yes.

Probably "Daylight."

 

But you must admit that most Nilsson fans find out about Harry because of his connection to the Beatles (or Monkees to some extent). With Lennon and McCartney spouting Nilsson was their favorite 'band' in 1968 is always good collateral to enticing someone to check out Nilsson. And yes, the history of Harry is that he was the guy Lennon got drunk with and raised hell around L.A. People that like to dig into music will find out he was a lot more. But merit on his great output no longer really exists nowadays, unless you had a cool Dad that played The Point for you as a kid.

But that's how it is with most of the 1960's. You've heard the Beatles first, then you learn about all the other groups from back then. That's at least how it is with younger generations of fans.

 

I know it's never been confirmed, but I really think Micky Dolenz is on backup for "Daylight." Anyone else think so? Unfortunately I've never heard Dolenz's own version to see if he was hitting the same register during this period.

This is one of my favorite post-Point tracks from Harry.

 

No, I wouldn't admit that. I was born in 1961, so I was still quite young when Nilsson's first hit single was issued. It was one of the first 45s I ever owned! Even though I obviously knew who the Beatles were, I had no knowledge that Nilsson had any Beatles connection. I just knew I liked Me And My Arrow. Then I liked the TV movie, The Point, that featured that song. And I was vaguely aware that this was the same guy who did the theme for Courtship of Eddie's Father.

Then Nilsson really exploded with Without You, Coconut, and Jump Into The Fire. Of course, the first track was the truly monster hit, but all three of those tracks got a good amount of airplay where I lived. Nilsson Schmilsson was one of the first albums I ever owned.

I didn't know anything about Nilsson's material before The Point, so I had no knowledge that any of the Beatles and touted Nilsson as one of their favorites early in his career. After Nilsson had a few hit records, I still don't remember any deejay talking about him having a connection with The Beatles. I don't think I knew anything about this until I was much older, long after Nilsson stopped having hits.

Now, maybe this is true for me because I was so young at the time. That being said, I was obsessed with music from a very young age and I listened to the radio as much as I could. It was top 40 radio, however, so the Beatles tracks that got played were their hit singles, and Nilsson didn't get any airplay until he had a hit single.

I imagine that there are a lot of people who knew Nilsson from his own successful work, however, not because of any connection to any of the Beatles. Remember that a lot of people aren't music obsessed like we all are here. They hear music they like on the radio and maybe they buy some of the records (but nowhere near the volume of music the typical forum member buys), but they don't pay a lot of attention to things like music industry connections.

 

I was born in 1980. I learned of Nilsson through his Beatles/Badfinger/Monkees connection. I had heard "Everybody's Talking" before that, but that was it. So it's fine that you can't admit it for yourself, but for others Nilsson is not mainstream enough nor is his music oversaturated on oldies radio for anyone to give a hoot about him without dabbing into the history of pop music.

 

I don't know if that's how younger people discover Nilsson nowadays, perhaps. But back in the day, he had radio airplay, album reviews in magazines, other artists covering his songs, and The Point animated movie. Except for very early on, like after his first album, people checked him out based on those kinds of exposure, not because of a one-time comment from John and Paul in a press interview.

 

P.S. Nice to hear I was a cool Dad. I played The Point for my daughter - she absolutely loved it.

 

It also didn't help that he didn't have a strong producer as a collaborator on these later albums. He was allowed to record anything he wanted which can be a bad form of freedom particularly for someone as unfocused as Harry was at that time.

 

I suppose it depends on the generation. I saw "The Point!" on TV and THAT'S what turned me into a Harryhead.

I don't necessarily agree at least at the time he was recording. "Everybody's Talking" won a Grammy and an Oscar, "The Point!" was popular on TV which pushed that album. "Without You" was a BIG hit (and became a hit again due to Mariah Carey which pointed back to Nilsson's remake of the Badfinger tune to which it is most closely related). He had a number of mainstream hits and got a fair amount of airplay back in the day. Was he huge? No but he was pretty mainstream at the time and got plenty of airplay.

 

Wow. How did I space on "Everybody's Talking" when I wrote my previous response. Of course I heard that one on the radio a lot back when it was released, too, though I never bought the 45. Same with "I Guess The Lord Must Be In New York City."

Maybe some people became acquainted with Nilsson through some other musical connection, but there are obviously many of us who came to appreciate him based on his obvious talents: great songwriter and great singer.

 

Son of Schmilsson I do not care for, but Nilsson Schmilsson I love and I am trying to get into A Touch of.... Strange career direction choices, but a great talent.

 

Well I think it is how people NOW find him out. And of course not just because of the off hand comment by Lennon and McCartney. Most people I know haven't heard of him except for the radio staple "Everybody's Talking." It's the issue of commercial radio really. Playlists get smaller as time goes by. I don't even hear many oldies radio stations name off artists anymore. So many people don't even know there was a guy named Harry Nilsson who did that song that they know. As pointed out earlier in the thread, the people on this forum know more about music than the average joe. And there are certainly circumstances where someone could get into Harry in other forms, but there isn't much out there getting beamed into younger kids than the connection to the Beatles. It all really starts with them I believe. Chances are no one hears about who the Kinks or Animals are either without knowing they came about during the "British Invasion" that the Beatles started. That's just how the history of it all is now. I'm speaking for younger folks of course. You can't really get away from them.

That's why I would like to see some sort of Harry rejuvination in mainstream pop. I'd even be happy if some hip hop guy took some Nilsson tunes and made a hit with it. It may bring younger people to Harry's music and his catalog can become more readily available. I've never seen a Nilsson cd at Wal-Mart is what I mean.

 

I had heard Nilsson's versions of "Everybody's Talkin'" and "Without You" before I knew who he was. Those songs were still on the radio in the early eighties. Later, when I read about John Lennon and this "Harry Nilsson" he hung out with, I only vaguely knew he was a musician. However, as a result of the Lennon connection, Nilsson popped up in my mind from time to time. My initial curiosity resulted in picking up ***** Cats. Years later I went further backward.

 

That was the great thing about him. He did what he wanted to do. They tried to persuade him not to do Touch, but he insisted. He felt his voice was at his best during that period and he wanted to get some of his personal favorite songs down on tape. That voice lives forever now.

 

Let's talk about Harry's music.
After watching the documentary, we find out that the keyboard beep sound (rhythm) on "One" came from a busy telephone signal.

That "Good Old Desk" (my favourite by him) stands for GOD.

I think he was a kindred spirit to Brian Wilson, in that their subject matter of songs and arranging styles were similar. Both loved harmony and liked strings and different sounds on their records.

They were not your average Rock guys!

John Lennon and Harry had similar backgrounds, in that their fathers left them at an early age ("1941")

I think his voice got ruined more by Brandy Alexanders than by out shouting JOhn, although making your vocal cxords bleed, was unadvisable, to say the least.

It seems a terrible shame that his two biggest hits were written by other people. He should be known as much for his songs, as his god-given vocal talent.

 

He had a half-dozen other big radio hits too, though:

Cuddly Toy (cover by The Monkees)
One (cover by Three Dog Night)
Me and My Arrow
Without You
Coconut
Spaceman

 

Oops. Forgot five more top 40 songs:

I Guess The Lord Must Be In New York City
Jump Into The Fire
Remember (Christmas)
Daybreak
As Time Goes By

 

I quite agree. As the years roll by, I get more & more into his music.