A music podcast where we discuss our favorite albums, song by song. New episodes every other Tuesday.

174: Harry Nilsson - Nilsson Schmilsson (1971)

“[Harry Nilsson] turned my head around because he could be retro without shame. He followed his own nose without any sense of apology, reserving even the right to be wrong because he knew that it was necessary to keep that right to reach any height.”

–Van Dyke Parks

By the late 60s, Harry Nilsson’s songs had a way of showing up everywhere, from TV and movies to other people’s hit records. However, it was 1971’s Nilsson Schmilsson that finally scored him a bona fide hit album, spawning three hit singles and a Grammy win. The record holds the unique status of being Harry’s most focused and disciplined album while still featuring an idiosyncratic range of styles including hard rock, power ballads, and oddball novelties. All of these genres are effortlessly held together with one of the best voices in the business. Join Dan, Amanda, and Rich as they put the lime in the coconut and discuss the man, the legend, and the group himself.

Miscellany

As of the release of this episode, the documentary Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin’ About Him?) is available to stream in the US on Kanopy, Hoopla, Flixhouse, Fawesome, and Pluto TV for free, and on Amazon Prime Video with a subscription.
We briefly discussed the chaotic recording of Harry’s 1974 album Pussy Cats with producer John Lennon. Another interesting tidbit is that the sessions sparked the only post-Beatles jam session with John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Later surfacing as a bootleg recording appropriately titled… ahem, A Toot and a Snore, it perhaps has more value as a historical artifact than anything else, but who doesn’t love Beatles history?
We didn’t quite land on a consistent pronunciation for Nilsson’s last name in this episode, but to set the record straight, it’s “NEEL-son,” two syllables, not “NEE-el-suhn,” like Leslie Nielsen.
In addition to the needle drops mentioned in this episode, “You’re Breakin’ My Heart” was used in a memorable dance sequence in the third season of HBO’s Girls.
Amanda misspoke about All Things Must Pass - George wanted Jim Keltner but he wasn’t available, so he does not actually play the drums on that album.
Turns out that photo of Anne Murray with the Hollywood Vampires was pretty much a publicity stunt. Still a great picture, though.

Discord & Rhyme Roll Call

Dan Watkins (host)
Amanda Rodgers (moderator)
Rich Bunnell

Nilsson Schmilsson tracklist

Gotta Get Up
Driving Along
Early in the Morning
The Moonbeam Song
Down
Without You
Coconut
Let the Good Times Roll
Jump into the Fire
I’ll Never Leave You

Other clips used

Harry Nilsson:

Everybody's Talkin'
1941
You Can't Do That
Best Friend
Good Old Desk
Gotta Get Up (Alternate Version)
Don't Leave Me
One
Nobody Cares About the Railroads Anymore
Living Without You
Dayton, Ohio 1903
Without Her
Spaceman
Perfect Day
Open Your Window

Others:

Aimee Mann - One
Shelley Duvall - He Needs Me
The Monkees - Cuddly Toy
Three Dog Night - One
Blackalicious - Blazing Arrow
Electric Light Orchestra - Mr. Blue Sky
Paul and Linda McCartney - Dear Boy
Louis Jordan - Early in the Morning
Joe Jackson - Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby
Artie Butler - The Journey (from The Rescuers)
Lou Reed - Walk on the Wild Side
Bruce Springsteen - I'm Goin' Down
John Lennon - Rip It Up / Ready Teddy
George Harrison - Let It Down
Badfinger - Without You
Mariah Carey - Without You
Kermit the Frog and the Muppets - Coconut
Fred Schneider - Coconut
Shirley and Lee - Let the Good Times Roll
Duran Duran - A View to a Kill
Jeff Wayne - Horsell Common and the Heat Ray
Wilco - Spiders (Kidsmoke) (Kicking Television version)
Badfinger - Better Days
Ween - Candi

Band/album personnel

Harry Nilsson – vocals; piano (1, 5, 8, 10), Mellotron (2, 4), organ (3), harmonica (8), electric piano (9)
Jim Gordon – drums (1, 2, 4, 7, 9), percussion (7, 9)
Klaus Voormann – bass guitar (1, 5, 6, 8), rhythm guitar (2, 9), acoustic guitar (4)
Chris Spedding – guitar (1, 5, 8, 9)
Herbie Flowers – bass guitar (2, 4, 7, 9)
John Uribe – acoustic guitar (2, 4, 6), lead guitar (2, 9)
Henry Krein – accordion (1)
Richard Perry – percussion (1), Mellotron (2)
Jim Price – trumpet (1, 5), trombone (1, 5), horn arrangements (1, 5)
Jim Keltner – drums (5, 6, 8)
Roger Coulam – organ (5)
Bobby Keys – saxophone (5)
Gary Wright – piano (6), organ (8)
Paul Buckmaster – string and horn arrangements (6)
Roger Pope – drums (7)
Bill Linnane - piano (1)
Caleb Quaye – guitar (7)
Ian Duck – acoustic guitar (7)
Jim Webb – piano (9)
George Tipton – string and horn arrangements (10)
Robin Geoffrey Cable – engineer (Trident Studios)
Richie Schmitt – engineer (RCA Studios)
Phill Brown – additional engineer (Island Studios)

Credits

“Discord & Rhyme (theme),” composed by the Other Leading Brand, contains elements of:

Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf
Amon Düül II - Dehypnotized Toothpaste
The Dukes of Stratosphear - What in the World?? ...
Faith No More - Midlife Crisis
Herbie Hancock - Hornets
Kraftwerk - Autobahn
Talking Heads - Seen and Not Seen
Harry Nilsson - Jump into the Fire (this episode only)

You can buy or stream Nilsson Schmilsson and other albums by Harry Nilsson at your local record store, or the usual suspects such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and Amazon. Follow Discord & Rhyme on Instagram, Threads, and BlueSky @DiscordPod for news, updates, and other random stuff. Editing is by Rich Bunnell, and special thanks to our own Mike DeFabio, the Other Leading Brand, for production and original music. See you next album, and keep as cool as you can.