the Nilsson thread
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where'd the pictures go SLS! I liked dropping in and looking at them oh Harry Harry Harry.. I'm still stuck on the music bro. love it. I've learned pretty much all the songs on guitar from Son of Schmilsson recently, to varying degree of accuracy. I could listen for hours. AmBuSh the song was sung with spirit but soft and like a choir but by the time we stopped the song the enemy had opened fire
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was just looking up some things about Nilsson Schmilsson and ran across this blog or something where the guy had posted this story. there's no way it's true, but I hadn't ever heard it, had to post it :
"They say that when Nilsson was making this record, the band was worried at one point because they had been in the studio for like 4 weeks and all Harry had done all day was dick around and he hadn't written a thing. Old Gary Wright had been getting mad because they kept scheduling him to come in and record but every time nothing would get done. So one morning the dudes come knocking on Nilsson's hotel door and the plan was to put on some sort of intervention to get his ass moving, or they were just going to abort the project pretty much. So he answers the door having just woken up, and tells them to have a seat while he "washes the sleep out of his eyes". So Harry gets out of the shitter after like 20 minutes and these guys are just sitting there stewing all that time, and they just start cutting into him about his work ethic. He's standing there in his bathrobe listening for a minute and he finally cuts them off with, "What are you guys talking about? I've got the entire album written!" Of course the band is like, "Yeah, he's totally bullshitting right now." But Harry won't change his tune, and off they go to the studio. Wouldn't you know, 3 hours later they've run through the basics of all ten songs on the album, along with one or two others that didn't make it onto the final mix, and all the songs are great. I mean this is a fucking nice mix of material, conceptually sound and with a couple tracks that would eventually become Nilsson classics. So the guys later on are like, "Harry, seriously, when did you come up with this stuff?" "That morning when you guys all stopped by, I wrote it all while I was pinching a loaf," Harry says. Well, nobody believed him but to remember the occasion they had him put on his bathrobe and pose for some pictures for the album cover. Legend has it that from that time on, Gary Wright did all his songwriting while in the John in order to try and capture some of Harry Nilsson's magic."
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so I just picked up the album Sandman and am diggin the song 'Pretty Soon There'll Be Nothing Left for Everybody'. classic Nilsson, some great horns going on it there. have a listen, song #42 at this link. http://new.music.yahoo.com/harry-nilsson/tracks/ you like?
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kapoo:
I seriously have a new favorite song! Nilsson does a version of the Moore/Abner song At My Front Door (Crazy Little Mama), on his Son of Schmilsson album. I just got this on vinyl and been wearing it out, the energy is amazing. Ringo (Richie Snare) drums on it, and you got the works: Klaus on Bass, Nicky Hopkins on Piano, Peter Framption on Guitar, Bobby Keys on Sax. It's the most rocking track on earth, I'm convinced! Rich Perry got it right! for the life of me I cannot find Harry's verison anywhere online.. so sad! if anyone can help me out there. otherwise I'll just keep playing the record here's the old school El Dorado version to wet the whistle
Most rockin track on earth heard it here first btw there's a great pic on the rear cover of Nilsson wearing the Schmilsson robe over a tuxedo, underneath his dracula cape.. smokng a pipe. cant find that pic online either or I'd post. but fantastic stuff.now I'm quoting myself.. : but I tracked down a version of Nilsson's take of the old school ElDorado's jam 'At My Front Door'! read it and weep rock n roll hooligans, the most rockin track on earth! http://www.last.fm/music/Harry+Nilsson/_/At+My+Front+Door crazy lil mama come a knock knock knockin just like she did before
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sorry but how sweet is this little number:
What's Your Sign?, off Duit On Monday. funky and killer vocals by Harry and Gloria Jones. I love that ![](http://aceterrier.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/gloriajones.JPG[/img] [img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/12/Harry_Nilsson_Duit_on_Mon_Dei.jpg/200px-Harry_Nilsson_Duit_on_Mon_Dei.jpg) -
how freaking beautiful is this :
just bought this LP for 3 bucks! nice find. for you vinyl lovers, here's where I got it: http://www.platterpus.com/ -
kapoo:
was just looking up some things about Nilsson Schmilsson and ran across this blog or something where the guy had posted this story. there's no way it's true, but I hadn't ever heard it, had to post it :
"They say that when Nilsson was making this record, the band was worried at one point because they had been in the studio for like 4 weeks and all Harry had done all day was dick around and he hadn't written a thing. Old Gary Wright had been getting mad because they kept scheduling him to come in and record but every time nothing would get done. So one morning the dudes come knocking on Nilsson's hotel door and the plan was to put on some sort of intervention to get his ass moving, or they were just going to abort the project pretty much. So he answers the door having just woken up, and tells them to have a seat while he "washes the sleep out of his eyes". So Harry gets out of the sh**ter after like 20 minutes and these guys are just sitting there stewing all that time, and they just start cutting into him about his work ethic. He's standing there in his bathrobe listening for a minute and he finally cuts them off with, "What are you guys talking about? I've got the entire album written!" Of course the band is like, "Yeah, he's totally bullshitting right now." But Harry won't change his tune, and off they go to the studio. Wouldn't you know, 3 hours later they've run through the basics of all ten songs on the album, along with one or two others that didn't make it onto the final mix, and all the songs are great. I mean this is a f**king nice mix of material, conceptually sound and with a couple tracks that would eventually become Nilsson classics. So the guys later on are like, "Harry, seriously, when did you come up with this stuff?" "That morning when you guys all stopped by, I wrote it all while I was pinching a loaf," Harry says. Well, nobody believed him but to remember the occasion they had him put on his bathrobe and pose for some pictures for the album cover. Legend has it that from that time on, Gary Wright did all his songwriting while in the John in order to try and capture some of Harry Nilsson's magic."
Just saw this...
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that's great Loves2travel, I laughed too now not sure if anyone will give two about this.. but I found a site where you can download the original demo's Harry did for the Popeye sound track! nice.
and a nice shot from Harry and Una's wedding I had never seen. Ringo on violin folks, Ringo! don't know all the people, but the guy in front of Ringo in the white jacket is Van Dyke Parks I believe -
this is pretty classic, Nilsson just making a buck on deodorant. an old school Ban commercial http://www.harrynilsson.com/sounds/ban.wav
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This is awesome.. this section I took from the Nilsson biography at the link below. good read, and this story specifically is so great! This is Harry recounting the story of how he and John walked over to RCA to persuade the President of RCA, Ken Glancy, to re-sign Harry. I think John could have gotten you or me a contract if he intimated he might sign too http://www.harrynilsson.com/page-one-last-touch-of-nilsson-part-1.html
"(My association with) John Lennon hurt me a lot, with the bad press. But on the other hand, I owe John everything. I had signed an agreement with RCA for a new, $5 million contract and they had reneged on it; the new president didn't sign it. I had been saying, "The contract's binding. We'll take you to fucking court, man.' And the president had said, 'It's not binding here.' And there was this question of jurisdiction and all that stuff, and I was prepared for a fight. "I said to John, 'I just got $5 million, and they took it away from me, like that.' He said, 'Ah, they're all fuckers, Harry. They're all fuckers." He said, "Just go down and tell the guy he's a fucker.' "So I went down to RCA. We'd been up all night long and it was now 10 in the morning. Both still drunk, with shades, hats, dark jackets. The secretary said, 'Mr. Glancy, uh, Harry Nilsson and John Lennon are here to see you, sir.' "What?' Boom! Door opens immediately. We walk in. There we are, you know? In every office, heads are turning to look at us. He said to John, 'Hi! How are you doing, sir? Would you like a cigar?' John said, 'No, thanks. I'd take a brandy.' So we had a brandy, and John said, 'Look, it's about Harry. You know, you've only ever had two artists on your label: Elvis and Harry. He told me what you're paying him. Look, for that money, I'll sign it. You've got an artist! Pay the two dollars!" "Pay the two dollars' was like saying, pay the parking ticket, rather than fight City Hall. He said, 'I'll sign with you, for that kind of money.' "When the guy heard that, his mind went 'Bing!' Dollar signs! So he said, 'Well, we'll have to get the contracts together.' I said, 'No, no. They're on the 10th floor. They're in Legal. Ask Dick Etlinger, in Business Affairs. He's the guy.' So he calls up and says, 'Do you have the Nilsson contract? Could you bring it up here?' Because he didn't want to look like an asshole in front of John. "They brought up the contract. I said, 'All you have to do is affix your signature where it says "President." Just write your name on it.' He said, 'Okay,' and he did it, right in front of John. John made me $5 million that minute. I looked at John for a minute and I almost cried. Then I said, 'I'd like four copies.' I gave one to John, one to me, one in the hotel safe, and I sent one out to California. An that's how I got to be a multimillionaire. Thank you very much, John!"
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Think about your troubles
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Here?s a clip of Mickey and Davey from the Monkees talking about the musical of Harry?s ?the Point?, I guess this went on in 1977? I still cannot figure out why everyone used to pronounce his name Nealson.. very strange to me.. at about the 4:20 mark (appropriate) they perform Harry?s Gotta Get Up too!
I think this is the sleeve for the Me and My Arrow single in Japan. Crazy looking seriously, I?m just skimming the surface of Nilsson material to post.. so much more to come -
here's a clip of Van Dyke Parks talking about his lyrics, and about how he had to defend them within the Beach Boys group.. I'm posting it here because I noticed he's wearing a homemade tank top with the word Sandman written on it. Doing some promoting for Harry
over and over the crow cries uncover the corn fields - from the Beach Boys song Cabin Essence columnated ruins domino - from the BB song Surf's Up Here's a cool page from Van Dyke's site, remembering Harry: http://www.vandykeparks.com/miscfiles/harrynilsson.html a couple captions from: During "duit on mon dei" and "sandman" recording sessions at RCA Studios in Hollywood, Harry would often walk in to a room filled with full rhythm and horn sections reminiscent of the Big Band era, bringing only a winsome melody in his head, and a handful of bar napkins, scawled with lyrical outlines from the night before. .......... Harry died in 1994. That's when we had the last great L.A. earthquake. His headstone is there in the West Hills Cemetary. George Harrison crossed the pond for this. Harry was known as "The Fifth Beatle" after all. A Nilsson toddler caressed the casket under the incantation of the 23rd Psalm. Una had asked me to notate the first three notes of "Remember" (from "The Point"). It's there on his stone now, etched from my own hand. ..the only weird thing there is "Remember" wasn't on the Point, it was on Son Of Schmilsson. I swear, everyone from that period have just terrible memories! is that just being old?? -
kapoo:
Way to go Jimmy! did you see that, he got Ringo talking about Nilsson! at about the 1:00 min mark http://www.hulu.com/watch/120234/late-night-with-jimmy-fallon-ringo-starr-interview-part-2 I'm going to have to check out Harry's version of River Deep-Mountain High now
I just picked up Nilsson's Aerial Pandemonium Ballet, which is a pretty cool thing cause it's basically the very first remix album. he re-did, remixed, new vocals, a couple arrangement variations, on songs he had done on Aerial Ballet and Pandemonium Shadow Show. I finally have his River Deep on vinyl! I found it on Rhapsody so I could post it. you'll like. it's a Phil Spector track actually, and he produced it for Harry when it was originally done on PSS.. but Ringo was right, Harry goes off on it. http://www.rhapsody.com/harry-nilsson/aerial-pandemonium-ballet--1971-rca-records-label ![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/0d/Harry_Nilsson_Pandemonium_Shadow_Show.jpg/200px-Harry_Nilsson_Pandemonium_Shadow_Show.jpg[/img] <strong>+</strong> [img]<a href=)http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f2/Harry_Nilsson_Aerial_Ballet.jpg/200px-Harry_Nilsson_Aerial_Ballet.jpg[/img] = [img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/aa/Harry_Nilsson_Aerial_Pandemonium_Ballet.jpg/200px-Harry_Nilsson_Aerial_Pandemonium_Ballet.jpg"/>
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Cool vid.. John and Harry at the March of Dimes rally in Central Park, April 1974.
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So check this little similarity I picked up on, and you tell me if there was any homage being paid to Nilsson?s song Driving Along.. thought to have been written around June 1971, released on Nilsson Schmilsson in November 1971. great song by the way, and a little too Macca-esque if you ask me . check it out at the 55 sec mark! Total McCartney vibe at its coolest
And here is Paul?s Eat At Home. Thought to be recorded March 1971, released in May 1971. released a month before Nilsson started recording his.. listen to Paul?s vocals at the 58 sec mark obvious homage, right? Makes you wonder, you think Harry deliberately pinched it? I'm sure Paul heard it.. even the entire bridges sound alike, don?t they? Start Driving Along at .42, and start Eat At Home at .46, at the beginning of both bridges.. the bridge of Eat at Home is about 19 secs long.. Driving Along runs about 21 sec. I swear, its like Paul and Harry wrote the same damn bridge! My real issue is that I waste time with stuff like this Okay.. back 2 work -
Have you ever watched a moonbeam as it slid across your windowpane? I tell you what.. please listen to this song called Moonbeam by Harry. From Nilsson Schmilsson. First listen and read along with the lyrics, because they are so clever; double entendre, use of the word crap, all kinds of crazy stuff going on.. I wish it was easier to write like that, he was great at it? and then check out the images that this guys put up on YouTube to go along with the song. When I watch it it?s actually semi moving for me.. so relaxing, and the song just totally takes me away.. and the images even assist that more. Dig it
Have you ever watched a moonbeam as it slid across your windowpane? Or struggled with a bit of rain. Or danced about the weathervane. Or sat along a moving train. And wondered where the train has been. Or on a fence with bits of crap around its bottom. Blown there by a wind beam. Who searches for the moonbeam who was last seen looking at the tracks of the careless wind beam. And moving to the tracks of the tireless freight train. And lighting up the sides of the weathervane and the bits of rain and the windowpane and the eyes of those who think they saw it happen -
Whats up Nilsson shrine! ! Got more to post on you... I so love this little shrine I?ve created anyone getting the feeling yet that what you're looking at here is one man's deep-dive crash-course education and subsequent fascination with the Nilsson catalogue? I share with friends, that's just how it goes so I came across this song called A Love Like Yours (Don?t Come Knocking Everyday). It was a new one for me, I hope you enjoy it. Its an oldie written by somebody.. but Harry and Cher do a version at the link below. That site (which is amazing in itself) claims Nilsson and Spector had worked on it originally as a backing track for John?s Rock n Roll album, but when it wasn?t used he enlisted Cher and made it a single on his ill-fated Warner Bros vanity label. A NilsSony & Cher duet produced by Phil Spector Old School Dig It http://fortheloveofharry.blogspot.com/2008/02/nilsson-cher-love-like-yours-1975.html
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Btw, I don't know if you knew this but all the greats wrote for Mary Hopkin. you know, just in case you're ever on Jeopardy and that guy says, "for $600, who did all the greats write for?" and you can say "who is.. Mary Hopkin!" Mary doing Harry?s Puppy Song (which btw Harry wrote at the request of Mr. Macca, to help fill out Mary?s Apple debut album, Postcard )
Mary doing Paul?s Goodbye (credited to Lennon/McCartney actually .. but we know ) why not write for Mary Hopkin, right? cool gig. and you never know folks. can never be too prepared too much coffee today. -
Ella Fitzgerald doing Harry?s Open Your Window in 1970. Open Your Window is such a pure tune.
It?s hilarious to me that you can?t find Harry?s version on YouTube. His version of River Deep-Mountain High, I?ll go as far as to say one of the single greatest vocal performances of all-time.. is nowhere to be found as well Am I the only one shocked by that? Ella also did a live trio version of Open Your Window in 1969, that was later released on her album ?In Budapest?. You can hear it hear http://fortheloveofharry.blogspot.com/2009/06/ella-fitzgerald-open-your-window.html