Day 59: Harry Nilsson – Nilsson Schmilsson

Album cover courtesy of RCA Victor

I’ve obviously heard songs by Harry Nilsson before – he’s one of those artists who you definitely have heard here and there, even if you think you haven’t – but I know absolutely diddly about the man himself and have definitely never sat down to listen to a record of his. I have a feeling I’m missing out, so today’s album is Nilsson Scmilsson by Harry Nilsson.

Harry Nilsson started off writing songs for other people while he was working as a computer specialist at a bank. He started working as a songwriter with Phil Spector and penned some songs for acts like the Ronettes, the Monkees, Fred Astaire and the Yardbirds. After his song "Cuddly Toy" became a hit for the Monkees, he quit his job at the bank and started pursuing music full-time. He signed a record deal with RCA later that year.

Nilsson’s music is enduring, with his hits playing in films like Goodfellas, Reservoir Dogs and Practical Magic. Another more controversial part of his legacy is his reputation for hard partying with his celebrity friends. He and John Lennon famously behaved badly during Lennon’s 18-month lost weekend, even getting kicked out of a nightclub for heckling the musical comedy duo Smothers Brothers. Friends of Lennon thought he was a bad influence.

Against that backdrop, you wouldn’t expect his music to be so sensitive and vulnerable. I was reading up on him and saw a critic saying that they struggled with reconciling with the fact that Nilsson’s songs were so raw and rich with emotion, yet he had a reputation for being a bit of a drunken lout, saying that this juxtaposition in his personality is the reason she stopped enjoying his music.

Frankly, I couldn’t agree less – it makes perfect sense to me that a man who famously was so timid that he wasn’t able to even perform his songs live would escape that part of himself with substance abuse, yet be able to expose that part of himself in his music. Knowing that doesn’t make me enjoy his music any less, nor do I struggle to understand it.

Nilsson Schmilsson is tongue-in-cheek with some earnest moments peppered in, most notably the classic post-break up drunk cry ditty “Without You”. The soundscape of the album is lush and it sounds way more sophisticated than I expected, I thought he was maybe a little bit gimmicky based on hearing the hits like “Coconut”, but the way he structures a song makes it very fun to listen to, and there’s much more substance to it than I thought.

I love the seemingly occasionally slightly horror-theme inspired musical theatre number “I’ll Never Leave You”, as well as “The Moonbeam Song” where he implicitly suggests a number of pleasant activities. Not really any skips on this album, though, it’s a treat from beginning to end. Turns out I like a bit of Harry Nilsson. 8.5/10.