Before I go any further, let me just say that yes, I know this song is over thirty years old. However, the late Harry Nilsson is one of my all-time favorite songwriters and was amazingly talented, prolific and so happened to be the favorite American artist of both John Lennon and Paul McCartney in 1968. Unfortunately, most of my peers don’t know who he was, much less that he was responsible for the song “One” which both Three Dog Night and Aimee Mann covered (yeah, I’m talking about that song in “Magnolia”).

His two definitive masterpieces, in my opinion, were “The Point!” and “Nilsson Sings Newman.” “The Point!” as you may or may not know was an animated “rock opera” televised on ABC in 1971. The recorded version was one of my favorite things to listen to as a child, and listening to it as an adult I’m almost certain it was because it was a neat story with a happy ending, and not because of the deep symbolism and meanings held within it. Briefly: Oblio is the only boy in the Land of Point born without a point on his head. For this, he is banished to the Pointless Forest by the evil Count. In the forest, he and his companion, his dog Arrow, encounter all kinds of unique creatures who teach him that everyone is different, and everyone DOES have a “point” - even if it’s not on his head. He brings this message back to the Land of Point and is embraced by his fellow townspeople. It’s just damn sweet.

“Nilsson Sings Newman” (which includes the song linked above) on the other hand, isn’t technically an original Nilsson work, instead, it’s his take on some of the songs of friend and contemporary Randy Newman, another musical genius whom I also feel doesn’t get the appreciation he deserves from my generation. It’s fantastic in principle alone - the idea of one artist offering his own perspective and flair to another’s work and in doing so, giving it a completely different identity. The closest anyone’s come to attempting such a feat, as far as I know, was Seu Jorge, whose Portuguese Bowie covers had me rollicking when I watched The Life Aquatic.

You can find “The Point!” as well as some of Nilsson’s other works on iTunes.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites