Chicago Reader review: Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin’ About Him)?. I discovered this on Netflix last night and really enjoyed it.
I’ll bet there are one or two Nilsson fans here. Most people probably recognize a couple of his songs, but have no idea of who he was. Either way, John Scheinfeld’s tribute is worth watching. It features a few of his famous friends recounting their misadventures. Mickey Dolenz remembered “getting the call” in the middle of the night and “waking up three days later in Phoenix”.
Harry was a tremendous talent who burned out big time, but he left behind some *really *great music.
Awesome. I will have to check that out.
This summer I did a few music gigs with a friend, and we have two Nilsson songs in our repertoire* (which I put there). When I introduced the first one, I’d always ask if there were any Harry Nilsson fans in the audience. And no matter how small the group, there was always one. And he (it was always a he, how odd) always seemed to enjoy our rendition.
Harry, we hardly knew ye.
- “Nobody Cares About the Railroads Anymore” and “Good Old Desk,” a particular favorite of mine.
Oh wow. I just watched the vid of “1941.” Chills, I tell you.
Harry was actually a lot cooler than the doc made him out to be. I met him at a Beatlefest Convention back in 1989. I had him sign a program and left it in the custody of my dad who was praising Harry on “A Little Touch of Schmilsson In the Night”. I ran into the convention area to find an album for Harry to autograph and when I returned neither my dad nor Harry were anywhere to be found. When I caught up with my dad, I asked him about the autographed program and he realized he must have left it on Harry’s table. I tracked down Harry’s address and sent him a letter that pretty much blamed the loss on my dad. A few weeks later I received a padded envelope stuffed with autographed memorabilia along with a note from Harry that told me to “not be so hard on my old man.” I’ve shared this story with other Harry fans and have been told that this was “typical Harry” and that he would give you the shirt off of his back without even asking him.
Is that the one where at the very end, out of nowhere, he gets a pie in the face, and then the closing credits just silently roll.
The one scene in the DVD that really got to me (I think it’s in the extra features) is his daughter describing how he saved her from drowning. He screwed up his first two marriages but I think he tried to make up for it the third time around.