Nilsson Tribute:
The Harry Question
Andras Jones
&
The Nilsson brothers
From ANDRAS JONES: Harry Nilsson has always been one of my favorites. And I mean always. For the most part I have enjoyed his music all alone like Oblio in the pointless forest (and even he had Arrow as a companion). Harry never performed live so I never saw him in a room with other fans. And while I’m sure many of my musician friends appreciate his music it hasn’t felt like his inspiration gets the same cultural weight as the other biggies in the firmament of rock and roll. The things most people know about Nilsson are, to me, distractions: the incident with Lennon at The Troubadour, his covers – “Everybody’s Talkin'” and “Without You”, and the goofy humor of “Coconut”. If I bring up Nilsson to someone and any of these is the first thing they bring up it’s a conversation ender. Nothing wrong with those achievements but they all entirely miss the point of his music. I can only imagine how these reductions of his life and work rankle his kids if they send me into such conniptions of judgement and withdrawal. That being the case, I can’t explain how it has felt building this episode, getting to spend two days surrounded by people who love Nilsson, and then putting it out to people who also love him. This is the lifeline.
The high point of all of this, for me, kicks in about two thirds of the way through my rendition of “Little Cowboy” when Kiefo, blessed as he is with a Nilssonian Embouchure, cuts the air with that distinctive whistle. Chills. I get chills every time I hear it. There is no clearer indication that Harry’s mojo lives on in his kids and I’m looking forward to following what they do musically in the years to come.
Thanks to Morty Coyle, Chris Price, Jordan Zevon, Curtis Armstrong, Todd Lawrence, Rick Torres, Marshall Thompson and especially Zak Nilsson and Kiefo Nilsson for sharing your time, your talents and your intelligence to this Pop Oracle session. I’ll see you all at the Nilsson sing-a-long next June.
“Little Cowboy”
Little fellow you’re so tired
You can hardly lift your head
But you wanna hear a story
Before you go to bed
So if you’ll be quiet
And listen patiently
I’ll sing you a song
That my mother sang to me
Little cowboy, put your saddle in the barn
Tie your horse up tight, so he’ll know no harm
Put your hat and your gun
Beside you on the chair
Don’t forget, you’ve got to say a little prayer
Little cowboy, you’d better hit the sandman trail
Or you’ll be late for roundup time you know
If you wanna be a cowboy, you’d better rest a while
Little cowboy baby of the old corral
Little cowboy baby of the old corral
