Top 10 Nilsson Songs

Harry Nilsson was kicking round New York’s pop scene, writing songs with Phil Spector and others, earlier than “Everybody’s Talkin’,” which he did not write, grew to become a Top 10 hit, because of its look within the Academy Award-winning film Midnight Cowboy.

It was gradual going, even after that 1969 brush with success. But inside a few years, he began making information with informal disregard for the way issues had been completed. He made albums that jumped from type to type, and from period to period, inside 40 minutes.

He made an album of ’40s requirements lengthy earlier than anybody else considered it. And he was a hard-drinking artist who hardly ever performed dwell. His profession took a number of turns earlier than he died at 52 in 1994, nevertheless it was all the time fascinating and infrequently repeated itself, as you will see in our listing of the Top 10 Nilsson Songs.

10. “Me and My Arrow” (From The Point!, 1971)

In early 1971, a little bit greater than a 12 months after “Everybody’s Talkin'” reached the Top 10 because of its inclusion in Midnight Cowboy, Nilsson wrote and recorded a soundtrack album for an animated TV particular a few land the place the whole lot has some extent. The gently rolling “Me and My Arrow” was pulled as a single and hit the Top 40.

9. “As Time Goes By” (From A Little Touch of Schmilsson within the Night, 1973)

Think Rod Stewart was the primary rock ‘n’ roll man to launch an album of ’40s requirements? In 1973, Nilsson recorded a dozen songs by Great American Songbook composers like Irving Berlin and Gordon Jenkins. The album’s closing monitor was made well-known within the 1942 film Casablanca, although it was written greater than a decade earlier than. Nilsson’s delicate, beautiful tackle “As Time Goes By” is straightforward and chic.

8. “Remember (Christmas)” (From Son of Schmilsson, 1972)

Nilsson’s haunting, nostalgic “Remember (Christmas)” takes the spare piano chords of his hit “Without You” and provides a little bit of old-school melody and melancholy that hints at his subsequent challenge, 1973’s Great American Songbook assortment A Little Touch of Schmilsson within the Night.

7. “Spaceman” (From Son of Schmilsson, 1972)

The first single from the follow-up to Nilsson’s solely Top 10 album takes an identical strategy to Nilsson Schmilsson‘s hitmaking system, beginning with the horns that punctuate “Spaceman”‘s large and busy association. Neither the only nor album had been as profitable as their predecessor, with “Spaceman” simply lacking the Top 20 and Son of Schmilsson stopping at No. 12.

6. “You’re Breakin’ My Heart” (From Son of Schmilsson, 1972)

Nilsson adopted up 1971’s Nilsson Schmilsson, his solely Top 10 album, with a sequel of types. But underneath strain from his document firm to make use of the identical template, Nilsson rebelled and turned in a extra various assortment as an alternative. The gutsy rocker “You’re Breakin’ My Heart” is greatest recognized for its kiss-off refrain – “You’re breakin’ my heart, you’re tearin’ it apart / So fuck you” – which could not have made execs completely satisfied.

5. “‘Many Rivers to Cross” (From Pussy Cats, 1974)

After 1973’s normal assortment A Little Touch of Schmilsson within the Night, Nilsson bought again in a rock ‘n’ roll temper on the next 12 months’s Pussy Cats. Working with pal John Lennon, throughout his drunken “lost weekend” section, the pair lower a boozy document crammed with Nilsson originals and a handful of covers, like reggae star Jimmy Cliff’s nice “Many Rivers to Cross,” which kicks off the album.

4. “‘Coconut” (From Nilsson Schmilsson, 1971)

After 5 years and 7 albums, Nilsson lastly had a real hit. Midnight Cowboy helped make his cowl of Fred Neil’s “Everybody’s Talkin'” a Top 10 smash greater than a 12 months after its preliminary launch, however Nilsson Schmilsson earned its Top 5 exhibiting. The playful “Coconut” was the third single launched from the album and Nilsson’s third (and remaining) Top 10 hit.

3. “Jump Into the Fire” (From Nilsson Schmilsson, 1971)

Before Nilsson Schmilsson, Nilsson’s albums had been in all places – starting from a soundtrack for a youngsters’ TV particular to an LP of all Randy Newman songs. His seventh album was no much less centered – that is simply the way in which Nilsson labored nevertheless it’s persistently nice, shifting from unhappy piano ballads to playful oldies to powerful rockers, just like the seven-minute volcano “Jump Into the Fire,” with ease.

2. “Without You” (From Nilsson Schmilsson, 1971)

Like his first hit, “Everybody’s Talkin’,” “Without You” wasn’t written by Nilsson. And like his 1969 Top 10, “Without You” was successful – however this time he went to No. 1 for 4 weeks. “Without You” first appeared on Badfinger’s 1970 album No Dice. But Nilsson’s hovering, delicate studying of the music is the definitive model. Not even Mariah Carey can take that away.

1. “Everybody’s Talkin'” (From Aerial Ballet,1968)

“Everybody’s Talkin'” was initially launched on Nilsson’s second album, Aerial Ballet, in 1968. The music, written by folksinger Fred Neil, was launched as a single and stalled at No. 113. A 12 months or so later, the music grew to become the theme to the Oscar-winning film Midnight Cowboy, was reissued and climbed to No. 6, changing into Nilsson’s first Top 10 hit.