Harry Nilsson was an American singer-songwriter known for his distinctive voice, eclectic musical style, and prolific songwriting. Born on June 15, 1941, in Brooklyn, New York, Nilsson rose to prominence in the 1960s and 1970s, earning critical acclaim for his unique blend of pop, rock, and folk influences. His breakthrough came with the success of his cover of Fred Neil’s “Everybody’s Talkin’” and his own composition “Without You,” which became a chart-topping hit. Nilsson’s career was marked by his versatile vocal range, innovative songwriting, and collaborations with other musical luminaries like John Lennon.
In the book “Songwriters on Songwriting” Nilssons chapter dissects some of his interviews one of which he talks about his experience with John. “We sat in Harry’s big black car overlooking the canyons of west L.A. listening to “Save the Last Dance for Me,” the old Doc Pomus song that John Lennon produced for Harry’s 1974 Pussycats album. “We slowed it down to make it sexy,” he said wistfully.” Further recollecting on times with John Nilsson describes him loving Nilssons song “Don’t Forget Me” and personally picking it out as a favourite. “I remember he thought it was quite good.” Nelsson then reminisced on the song lyrics singing the opening line “In the summertime by the poolside / While the fireflies are all around you…”.
Further into the conversation Nilsson touched on his individual songwriting origins and processes recalling his first ever song “No work blues” which he wrote when he was fourteen built off of from a stolen Everly Brothers riff. When asked about an earlier comment that his songs are usually written in a “flash” Nilsson added that its usually in a car or on an airplane that song lyrics and melodies will come to him. “usually the first line comes first and you take it and put it in the middle. The chorus will come out of the first line…Unlike Johnny Mercer, who wrote a lot of songs with the first line as the title. A lot of my songs build to the punch-line or the title. “
ZOLLO, P. (2003b) ‘Harry Nilsson’, in Songwriters on songwriting. Da Capo, pp. 137–142.