On the 30th anniversary of his death, here is the first of two postings on Harry Nilsson–one of the great singers, songwriters, performers, and debauchees of our time. Part 2.
Nilsson – ‘Sleep Late, My Lady Friend’
If you don’t know Harry Nilsson’s music, both as a composer and as a performer, you’re in good company; but you’re missing something rare and fine. John called him his favorite American artist. Paul called him his favorite American group. Jimmy Webb called him the best singer of the generation. Randy Newman compared his melodic talent to that of McCartney, Schuman and Elton John.
Ironically, neither of singer-songwriter Nilsson’s two biggest hits were originals – his beautiful reading of Fred Neil’s beautiful ‘Everybody’s Talking’ and his overblown performance of the Badfinger faux operatic kitsch anthem ‘Without You’.
But they’re not The Point (that was a pun – it’s the name and central metaphor of a full-length children’s cartoon for which he wrote the lovely, whimsical score). The point is that from 1967 Harry Nilsson (he went by his surname only in the beginning) created some of the finest music of the finest era – “Pandemonium Shadow Show”, “Ariel Ballet”, “Harry” and “Nilsson Sings Newman”, and then two more valued by many people other than myself, “Nilsson Schmillson” and “Son of Schmilsson”.
Nilsson then embarked on the fast track to self-destruction till his death at 53. But that’s a different story, one beautifully told in the wonderful 2010 documentary “Who is Harry Nilsson (and Why is Everybody Talkin’ About Him?)” by John Schienfeld. Today we’re going to focus on the first step of Nilsson’s career – his almost unknown first album “Pandemonium Shadow Show” and its mythological reception.
Harry Nilsson (1941–1994) grew up with no father – he skipped out when the boy was four, as Nilsson would do to his own son. His mother was an alcoholic. He lived with an uncle till 15, when he set out on his own. These events are related (pun intended) in the song ‘1941’. Here it is in the album version, and here’s the wrenching live version from the 1971 BBC ‘concert’.
Listen to that latter version and think about it for a moment. The song is very much of its time (1967), and timeless. It has a gravitas rarely heard then (we’re talking 1967, a year before the first albums by Joni Mitchell, James Taylor and Randy Newman), yet it reeks of 1920’s music hall beer (the album version more so). Listen to his voice – three and a half octaves, pure and controlled and expressive. As Al Kooper said, he has a voice like a trapeze artist – he goes flying through the air with the greatest of ease, defying gravity, calm and fearless. You hold your breath; there’s no net. Will he grab the bar? But it’s not virtuosity for its own sake. It’s the detached third-person voice of the singer/composer expressing his unflinching understanding that his abandonment as a son was repeated in his own failure as a father.
But that’s just one of Nilsson’s many personae. In the beginning of 1967 Nilsson was working nights managing a bank data base (he lied on his application, saying he’d finished high school), writing and pitching songs during the day. An old friend, Chip Douglas, was producing The Monkees. I had heard all the publicity about them, but I didn’t know what they looked like… So I sang seven, eight or nine songs, and Michael Nesmith said, ‘Man, where the fuck did you come from? You just sat down there and blew our minds like that. We’ve been looking for songs, and you just sat down and played an album for us. Shit! Goddammit!’ He threw something on the floor. And he went and got Micky Dolenz and he said to him, ‘Would you listen to this man? Listen to that!’ Micky gave a surprised laugh, and Davy Jones started laughing over one song, and it was like the three of them were just out of their tree. Only Peter Tork couldn’t give a shit.
The Monkees recorded ‘Cuddly Toy’, and Nilsson quit the bank. The super-cuddly Davy Jones sang the tune with utter innocence, including the lyric ‘You’re not the only cherry delight that was left in the night and gave up without a fight.’ When asked if the song wasn’t really describing a gang bang, Nilsson laughed guiltily. “Well, it crossed my mind.” Here’s ‘Cuddly Toy’ from “Pandemonium Shadow Show”.
For our Song of The Week, I had a heck of a time choosing between my two favorite songs on the album, both beautiful love songs impeccably sung to stunningly minimalist arrangements. The one that missed the cruel cut is ‘Sleep Late My Lady Friend’, most of which employs a string bass, cello, hand percussion, and one gravity-defying, undoctored voice. It’s worth listening to over and over. Legend has it that when John Lennon first heard the album he played it consecutively for 36 hours. But we’ll get to that story in just a moment.
Our SoTW is one I’m pleased as punch to be sharing with you, ‘Without Her’, not to be confused with the bombastic ‘Without You’, but the gentle, perfectly understated Nilsson original. The much better known version is from Blood, Sweat and Tears’ great first album “Child is Father to the Man”, with Al Kooper leading the bossa nova interpretation. It’s pleasant enough. But listen to Nilsson sing it accompanied only by electric bass and cello, later joined by a flute and then an acoustic guitar. Tell me this isn’t a gem, a neglected masterpiece. I dare you.
But the legendary cut from the album is called ‘You Can’t Do That’. Yes, the Beatles song. The concept has become popular, but when this was recorded – one week after the release of “Sgt Pepper” – Nilsson was pretty much inventing both multi-multi-tracking of vocals (one critic complained that the backing singers went uncredited) and the mashup. In late 1967 The Beatles’ publicist Derek Taylor was in Los Angeles and heard ‘1941’ on the radio. He bought an entire box of copies of “Pandemonium Shadow Show” and sent it to England.
Nilsson, from “Who is Harry Nilsson (and Why is Everybody Talkin’ About Him?)”: One day at five in the morning I got this phone call and there was this voice long-distance, “Hello? Hello? Who is it?” “It’s John.” “John who?” “John Lennon.” “Is this really John?” “Yeah, I just wanted to say you’re fantastic man, we listened to you all weekend, you’re great, great, great. Fantastic” The following Monday I got a phone call from Paul. “How are you? Just calling to say you’re fantastic. You’re really great. We really love what you did and all that stuff. Derek played it for us. Hope to see you soon.” Clunk. The next Monday morning I got up, combed my hair, five o’clock in the morning, waiting for a call from Ringo. There was no call. But he ended up being the best man at our wedding, so that’s ok.
There’s more to the story. It wasn’t long before Nilsson became best friends with both Ringo and John. At the wedding, Nilsson was so stoned on cocaine that Ringo had to help him put the ring on the bride’s finger. In the film, the Smothers Brothers laughingly describe their comeback performance and how their buddies John and Harry were thrown out of the club for disorderly behavior. Theirs was, in the words of one intimate, ‘a friendship made in hell’. But that’s a story for next week.
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I watched the video of Cuddly Toy. It didn’t really appeal to me but I thought that the dancer was very sexy. The comments made it clear that others did too. Her stage name is Anita Mann.
Nice.
No, I had never heard of him. Glad sotw is around to tune me in and turn me on.
Yes,
Nilsson’s early work really did remind me of the more complex Lennon and McCartney compositions.
Definitely an under-appreciated artist.
Can remember as if it was yesterday coming home from school in the 70s and watching The Ghost of Mrs Muir ….Had never seen a photo only heard the music such a beautiful song had to wait till the end to see the credits HARRY NILSSON
so few performances captured on film the BBC did a recording of A LITTLE TOUCH OF SCHMILSSON IN THE NIGHT .such treasures in life
Without You will forever be my quintessential song about losing and missing your love…..the quiet little agonies that fill up the days without him. When he says he can’t go on without you…….just beautiful music.
Thank you for the post.
I remember rummaging through the stacks at my favorite record store in 1968 and coming across Nilsson’s Aerial Ballet lp. I’d never heard of him, but the prominently-placed sticker announcing Harry Nilsson as Lennon’s favorite artist (or “group”) certainly caught my attention. I plunked down my 4 bucks and became a missionary for his records for years after, coincidently briefly renting an apartment in Santa Monica he had recently left for something more befitting his early 70s’ stature, short-lived as it was after Lennon blew into town. There is no bigger fan of Randy Newman than I, but I challenge anyone to name a better “So and So Sings___” collection than Nilsson Sings Newman. Nilsson was a tragedy as a human, perhaps, but man, what an artist.
very nice! thanks Dad
very nice! thanks Abba
Definitely not enough anger in “You Cant Do That”.
The first time I heard Harry Nilsson sing it was on a lovely little song called Me & My Arrow. Part of the score for The Point. I remember the animation. Simple and and spare and perfect. He could do anything with that voice. One of my faves is Sleep Late My Lady Friend. Talk about Romance….I never knew what to expect with him, his music always reminds me of the great tunesmiths of another day, Porter, Gershwin. . Thank for the reminder. He is missed.
In music, a sweetie pie; in life, a train wreck.
Thanks for this one. So many goosebumps listening to Nilsson over the years. “Without Her” is a wonderful track. Another one that always gets to me is “Remember (Christmas),” which is both achingly painful and inspiring.
An album that’s worth mentioning as a breakthrough, widely imitated but never topped, is “A Little Touch of Schmillson in the Night,” the first collection of “American Songbook” standards by a modern pop star. Somehow Nilsson was able to plant his tongue firmly in cheek while doing serious justice to these timeless classics. I first heard it in 1974 at a rooftop cafe in Key West, FL. I was with my parents, and as we were chatting our attention kept being drawn to the beautiful singing coming out of the cafe’s speakers. We couldn’t figure out who the singer was, so we asked other people nearby, who were similarly entranced by the background music. Finally, we called a waiter over, who went back to the stereo to solve the mystery. “Nilsson” was the answer. He became one of the things my parents and I always agreed on.
“Without You” is one of the greats. Period. Nilsson is why a good portion of my 60’s memories are not just sad—but bereft of deserving my attention.
Generations of greatness, but mostly potential greatness, went unrealized by vain and feckless performers who could not even be rescued by their
own music. I love “Music”. My love is largely vested in its restorative healing properties. It takes me places. When those places are tainted by the
ghosts of sick personalities it diminishes my experience and I stop absorbing the vibes. Sorry. Nilsson got more than he gave—“Without You”—
wasn’t even HIS. He jumbled random talent into an uneven box of rocks. Not bad but not good. Syd Barret would be ashamed. Jeff, I give you all
the credit in the world for organizing my thoughts and keeping my brain cells active. BTW, “Without Her” by Johnny Mathis is golden.
Nice story. I should have included this lovely clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYbNaFnU4Eg
Oddly, in music he has more affinity with Paul than with John.