Tag Archives: Harry Nilsson

A Follow-Up to Treacherous Double-Dealing from June

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I woke up to the sad news this morning that Harry Nilsson was not among the those nominated to be inducted into the 2016 class at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Back in June I published a post called Treacherous Double-Dealing, which concerned my horrible treatment at the hands of two people who wanted to claim all the credit for the campaign. Now, as far as I am concerned, they should share all the blame for it not happening. Step right up Gabriel Szoke and Todd Lawrence to take your bows.

After I was summarily kicked off the triumvirate committee that was spearheading this drive, those two crazy MoFos came up with what I always thought was a stupid idea. Milo Bender, Willie Aron, and Rob Laufer wrote a cute little jingle called “Let’s Put Harry in the Hall.” Sure it was a catchy little number, but the last thing that was needed was to turn it into a We Are The World-style vanity project. Watch:

I have no idea how much time, energy, and money was wasted on this vanity project, but I can tell you, without fear of contradiction, that it all would have been better spent actually doing some of the things that we had discussed, and agreed upon, before I was dumped.

It was my idea that we needed to start a grassroots campaign for Harry’s last birthday, something that was actually done. However, we knew that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame committee ignores grassroots campaigns because all bands and artists have those. The bigger idea, which never seems to have been implemented, was to use this grassroots campaign to influence the next level of influencers, who would then influence the next level of influencers, until it became a snowball rushing down the mountain that couldn’t be ignored.

But, a cute little video?

Oh, puh-leeze!!!

And, yes, at this point this is sour grapes. I was never in this for the credit, but merely to get Harry in the Hall. However, those two MoFos were all about getting credit. They made sure to get their credits on the video (and Gabriel made sure he got his name on there twice) and they were delighted whenever their names were mentioned in the scanty press they were able to garner.

Had I still been part of the committee, I guarantee that there would have been far more publicity. Furthermore, I would have been able to attract much bigger names to sign onto the campaign. I can’t say we would have succeeded getting Harry nominated, but it would not have been such an anemic and fruitless attempt.

Back in June I tried to warn people about these two. Sadly no one listened.

Since it’s Thursday, this seems like an appropriate way to end this post.

Treacherous Double-Dealing ► Unpacking The Writer

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In our last exciting episode of Unpacking The Writer, Bang The News Slowly, I revealed my part in a brand new grassroots campaign to get Harry Nilsson inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Funny story. The wheels have come off that bus, but before I tell you how, here’s a reminder of what I wrote last month:

The most exciting news of the last month is the campaign to put Harry
Nilsson in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Every year when the RnRHoF
nominees are announced I scream, “What about Harry?” Then when I see who
is finally inducted, I just shake my head in despair. This year I
decided to do something about it.

Just a few days before last month’s Unpacking The Writer, I fired up a facebookery called Harry Nilsson for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
It was only a few days later that I discovered there was a similar page
started much earlier than mine. Had I known, I would have signed onto Harry Nilsson belongs in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame,
started by Todd Lawrence, instead. Todd and I connected soon afterwards
in IM. I assured him that I didn’t consider my page competition to his
and that we should cooperate for the greater good. It can’t hurt that
there are two such pages because we travel in different circles.

It wasn’t long before Todd asked we could add Gabriel Szoke, moderator of the Harry Nilsson facebook fan page, to our IMs. Then the 3 of us started kicking around various ideas to put #HarryintheHall. None of our plans are ripe enough to be revealed, but I can assure you that they are grandiose.

That was then. This is now, just a month later.

I probably would have kept this unpleasantness on the facebookery, and far away from the Not Not Silly Newsroom, had I not woken up yesterday to find that I was reported on facebook for contravening Community Standards.

No, really!

A post of mine (a rant, to be fair) was removed from Harry Nilsson for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the page I created to help in this campaign. Some crybaby went running to facebook to whine. That’s why I’ve reproduced it below, in case it’s removed again:

I had hoped not to air this dirty laundry, but I have now been contacted
by several people who appear to have had very similar experiences as I
have. Therefore, it’s time to go public.

 I started up this
facebookery not knowing there was a similar page started before mine run
by Todd Lawrence. When I discovered it, I contacted Todd and we agreed,
in essence, that we would work together cooperatively and not look at
the other as competition. All for ‪#‎HarryintheHall‬!!!
As we strategized in IM, he asked me if we could include Gabriel Szoke,
who was operating one of the Harry Nilsson facebookery pages. My
attitude was, “The more, the merrier!” Anything to get #HarryintheHall.

That’s when everything turned to shit. While we agreed to work
cooperatively, I seemed to have the only person who understood what that
means.

I don’t want people to get the impression this is sour
grapes, but ideas I had were rejected. That is, until either Todd or
Gabriel came up with it a week later as if it was BRAND NEW. This ain’t
about taking credit, it’s about losing a week’s time in getting
something done.

When I called them on it, I was told we needed to
look forward, not backward. That phrase — an insidious form of
blame-dodging I’ve seen before — was to come up more than once.

We
agreed to agree on all actions, but suddenly emails with typos in them
started going out before we had even agreed on the wording or who would
be getting them. Again I was told to keep looking forward, not backward,
when I mentioned that we had agreed, yadda, yadda, yadda.

I was
tasked with writing a Manifesto, which I did because writing’s my game.
My manifesto was rejected out of hand. [I want people to understand I am
*NEVER* wedded to my words. 40+ years as a professional writer has
allowed me to work with any kind of editor from mild to red pencil
fiends. Editing improves the product. This isn’t about ego.] I was then
asked to ‘punch up’ what I thought was an inferior and pedestrian
approach as a manifesto. Eh? Oh, well. Anything to get #HarryintheHall.

So I started punching up this piece of shit. (Sorry, Todd. It was
awful. At least mine took a non-pedestrian approach to the topic. It
wasn’t dull, tedious, and cookie cutter.)

Meanwhile, I’d continue
making suggestions and Gabriel would tell me that I was stepping on his
toes because he’s the expert in that field (graphics, apparently). Yet,
time after time my expertise as a writer — one who has developed entire
media campaigns for record companies — who has written for all media,
was rejected. Cute, eh?

F’rinstance, I said that memes can be dashed
off in a minute and to prove it I fired up the Ol’ Meme Maker, made
one, and posted it here. Gabriel went wild in private, accusing me of
jumping the gun before we *AGREED* we were ready. He made me take it
down.

*AND*, he took personal offense that memes can be dashed off, because that’s his field.

Again, when I brought this up I was told we are looking forward, not
backward. However, once he started calling for memes on his Nilson [sic] page,
he didn’t seem to care how ‘dashed off’ they were.

I was made to
feel as if my expressing an opinion in this triumvirate was totally
inconvenient. More to the point my opinion seemed inconvenient to
Gabriel trying to be The Point Man on everything, the one who will get
the credit and be able to hobnob with celebrities.

However, even
though I foolishly believed we were working cooperatively, I suspected
Todd and Gabriel of talking and making decisions behind my back (but
have no way to prove that). Actions kept getting made that hadn’t even
been discussed. That needed coordination between them.

Suddenly, and
without discussion or warning, there were a bunch of folks added to the
Put Harry in the Hall Google Group that we had been communicating in as
a trio. At first I thought, “The more the merrier.” However, just as
suddenly I was deleted from the Google Group.

No one ever spoke to
me about it. No one ever explained. In fact, I only discovered it for
myself when I thought the group had gotten too quiet, so I went to look.
If my removal was mentioned in the Google Group I would have no way of
knowing, of course.
However, I always suspected that I presented a
threat to Gabriel grabbing all the credit for himself. I was expressing
my ideas there and some of them might have been good. People may have
agreed with me. Best to get rid of me quietly before I upset his
applecart.

Right then and there I decided to stop punching up Todd’s wishy-washy essay on Harry. HEY! I can take a fucking hint.

As I say, I wasn’t sure I wanted to go public with this, but this
morning I received the following IM from someone I have known online for
DECADES:

QUOTE: Hi Headly. Quick heads-up to be very careful of
Gabriel Stoke and his supposed Nilsson promoting group…he is only
interested in self promotion and is ousting any of us who have tried to
promote Harry on the Internet. .. He booted Roger Smith earlier and when
I messaged him to suggest that was not a good thing to do he booted me
and has blocked me from his group…. ENDQUOTE

He booted Roger
Smith? He booted the man who has had a Harry Nilsson tribute website
longer than than anyone else in the entire world? That Roger Smith? Hoo
boy!!!
However, I discovered, much to my regret, exactly the same
thing.

I will be the next person blocked because of this post. However, I
thought I had a duty to those people I had already talked to privately
about [SPOILER ALERT!!!] helping to mount concerts ALL AROUND THE WORLD
on Harry’s 75th Birthday. [But, I bet Gabriel wants to take all the
credit for that, too.] There had already been progress on Toronto and
Detroit shows and I had started putting out feelers for a show here in
Florida. Whether those will go forward or not remain to be seen.
Yesterday’s 74th birthday celebration left a very bad taste in my mouth.
I went from being very excited to be on the ground floor of something
that appeared to have enough momentum to achieve its goals, to being
turned into a passive bystander by two self-aggrandizing jerks, who are
only out for themselves. I can remain passive no more.

Apologies for the
drama, folks. Anyone who wishes to contact me privately to tell me of
their trials and tribulations will be welcomed. Maybe I’ll turn it into a
blog post, or a book.

If facebook is going to take my stuff down, I’ll post it here where it will not only stay, but will get even more eyeballs than where it had been. Congratulations, whomever reported me to facebook.

Meanwhile, what else is going on in this writer’s world this month?

The excitement builds as I am less than a month away from the 3rd Annual Sunrise to Canton Road Trip for Research. There’s still time to sign up if you want to get the full Aunty Em Experience.

This year, so far, I have tentative stops on the northbound leg planned for the Black History Museum in Macon, Georgia; Centerville, Ohio, “a real nice place to raise your kids up”; and Columbus, Ohio, which I was forced to skip last year due to a family issue.

I have more tentative stops scheduled for the southbound trek: Elyria, Ohio, to tour the new Elyria Art Depot; Akron, Ohio, where I will be taken on a tour of people and places important to Jim Bloor (to whom this road trip is lovingly dedicated); Steubenville, Ohio, where I will walk in the footsteps of Dean Martin, with whom I share a birthday; Wheeling, West Virgina, for a much needed coffee; Morgantown, West Virginia, the site of last year’s A Tribute to Don Knotts ► Morgantown’s Favourite Son; The Mothman Museum in Point Pleasant, Ohio; St. Augustine, Florida, just because it’s so old and so beautiful; and, lastly, Oviedo, Florida, before arriving home.

As of now, and subject to change, my trip will take 16 days, 5 hours, and 2 minutes (according to Microsoft Streets and Trips, a program no longer available) and I will have traveled 3063 miles, not accounting for side trips for sight-seeing. 

I wish I were leaving right now.

Closer to home, I have been rethinking the entire Headlines Du Jour column. 

I had been aggregating these headlines 3 days a week: Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday. However, the last month I’ve had to skip it a few times because of other commitments.

I’ve been compiling Headlines Du Jour for several years now, but it’s become something of a trap. It takes, on average, 2 hours to format the headlines I’ve collected since the last time. It takes even longer if I’ve been too busy to collect headlines before aggregating them.

To be perfectly honest, I’m bored with it.

I’ll continue with Headlines Du Jour until I leave for the 3rd Annual Sunrise to Canton Road Trip for Research, when it would have gone on a natural hiatus.

Whether it returns, or not, remains to be seen. I haven’t given up on it entirely. However, if I continue to compile the Headlines Du Jour, I’ll need a way to invigorate it. Feel free to send your suggestions.

As the Not Now Silly Head Writer I’ve been given a unique experience. Several of the candidates in Miami’s District 2 race have been talking to me OFF THE RECORD, everything embargoed until after the election. I’m hoping it will coalesce into a series of BEHIND THE SCENES stories about this election, which will be Miami’s most contentious.

As well, I have been going along with them on door knocks. The ground rules are that any conversation with voters is ON THE RECORD, but the stroll and chats are OFF THE RECORD.

Here’s what I can report: Almost everyone wants to talk about the current Miami District 2 Commissioner, [allegedly] corrupt Marc D. Sarnoff. The voters bring up his name before the candidates do. Which makes this a good time to remind readers about ABT — Anybody But Teresa, a little facebookery I fired up. It’s dedicated to making fun of the idea that [allegedly] corrupt Miami Commissioner Marc D. Sarnoff thinks he can buy and bully a commission seat for his wife, who has never shown any interest in city politics in the past 30 years.

Lastly, at least for this month, I have a number of posts half finished, for which I am waiting for callbacks, or am still researching the topics. If I finish them all, I’ll be very busy in the next 3 weeks, before I leave for my road trip.

Next month’s Unpacking the Writer will come from the road if I find the time.

Me vs The O’Jays ► The First Feud of 2014

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Cover of 1975’s Family Reuinion LP falls under FAIR USE, too

Well, that didn’t take long at all. It was only yesterday, in my Not Now Silly Year-Ender, that I said:

So . . . as we end this exciting episode of Unpacking The Writer, we have a brand new year to look forward to. Here’s to all the political muckraking, fights, and feuds to come in 2014!!!

Today I woke up to find myself in a legal dispute with Rock and Roll Hall of Famers, The O’Jays. That’s right. I said, “The O’Jays.” [WAIT!!! WHAT??? They’re in the RRHOF and Nilsson isn’t? WTF is wrong with this world?] My first thought was, “Are they still alive?” No matter. Two-thousand and fourteen begins weirdly, with a legal dispute with the O’Jays, or at least the company that handles their musical copyrights. Let me explain:

I have a YouTube channel where (among other things) I store the videos I’ve shot that will eventually be embedded at Not Now Silly. One of my playlists is called “One Grove – Community Mural,” which accompanied the blog post “Unveiling the One Grove Mural – A Photo and Video Essay.” It’s this video that the O’Jays have a problem with:

I shot this video the day I covered the unveiling of the One Grove mural. The mural is right across the street from the Trolleygate bus maintenance facility I had been writing about. It was a No Brainer that I would be covering the unveiling. At this celebratory community block party was a sound system that, between speeches, played Reggae and R&B tunes. The O’Jays are claiming a copyright violation against my YouTubery because their song “Family
Reunion” was part of the “wild sound” captured that day.

This is crazy on its face. My little video contains 34 seconds of their song. Yet, I can find that entire song and many more embedded on a facebook-generated O’Jays page. [Oddly enough there’s no music to be found on The O’Jays’ Official facebook page.] Plugging that song title into a Google video search returns 108,000 matches. Furthermore, Spotify allows me to create a playlist containing the entire O’Jay’s oeuvre. But they’re going to pick on little ol’ me because I covered a community event where their song was playing? That’s not how FAIR USE is supposed to work.

Listen to the O’Jays for FREE!!!
It’s on me!!!

This is not the first time that the O’Jays have claimed a copyright violation against me on this very video. They claimed a copyright violation when I first uploaded it. I appealed to the faceless Master Cylinder at the YouTubery and, naturally, claimed the FAIR USE exemption because I understand the law better than the rights holder!!!

This was a news event I was covering in my capacity as a journalist, one of dozens of news stories I’ve written about West Grove over the years. My qualifications for claiming a journalistic FAIR USE exemption should not be in doubt. When I first claimed FAIR USE, I was sure that would be the end of it. I have claimed FAIR USE for other videos with wild sound like this. All previous FAIR USE claims were accepted. Until now.

The O’Jays rejected my FAIR USE exemption claim. Consequently, I am appealing again. Another appeal to the YouTube Master Cylinder kicks the process up to a whole new level of legal dispute. This is the point where lawyers may start getting involved.

I could have just removed the 34 second video or, in the alternative, covered the audio with rights-free music. However, there’s a journalistic principle involved here and I’m clearly using the snippet of music within the FAIR USE exemption of the copyright law.

And, it’s hypocritical. On the group’s OFFICIAL WEBSITE there’s a section called Music, where you can listen to O’Jays’ tunes. What’s the first one in the list? Why lookie here: It’s Family Reunion.

BTW: If my 34 seconds of Family Reunion gave you a hankering to hear the whole tune, there’s hundreds of versions online. Here’s one to keep you satisfied. Below you can read my latest appeal.

“The O’Jays-Family Reunion”, sound recording administered by:
SME – Dispute rejected, claim has been reinstated.

Demon Music

You originally disputed the claim based on fair use. Please explain why your use of content is subject to fair use according to the following statutory factors.

Purpose and character of use:

I believe the rejection of FAIR USE is in error. I am a journalist who covers news in Coconut Grove, Florida. This video was covering a community event. The music heard on the video was wild audio captured as I covered this community event. My blog, with dozens of news stories on Coconut Grove, can be found at http://notnowsilly.blogspot.com/

Nature of copyrighted work:

I am not claiming ownership of the music in any way. I am fully aware of the copyright holder’s claim to the music, but that claim cannot cover news events where the audio captures wild sound at the event. FAIR USE is supposed to cover situations like this.


The amount and substantiality of the portion used:

This is a very small snippet of music — 34 seconds — captured as wild sound during a community event.

The effect of the use upon the potential market for, or value of, the original work:

It’s my feeling that no harm comes to the rights holder by my having shared this video of a community event with people in Coconut Grove. The fact that during a time of great joy — the unveiling of a community mural — the folks in Coconut Grove played this music goes to show what high regard the folks have for the O’Jays song.


I acknowledge that filing an appeal may lead to legal proceedings between me and the complaining party to determine ownership. I am aware that there may be adverse legal consequences in my country if I make a false or bad faith allegation by using this process. I understand the [REDACTED] personal contact information I provided above will be shared with the complaining party for purposes of my appeal and consent to this disclosure. I acknowledge that this information may be transmitted outside my home country as part of this process. 

I’ll let you all know how this turns out.

Watergate ► The End of the End

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Dateline August 8, 1974 – President Richard Milhous Nixon tenders his resignation, effective noon the following day, and becomes the first — and so far only — President of the United States to resign in disgrace. This was the culmination of events that began on June 17, 1972 when police arrested 5 men for Breaking & Entering into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate Hotel. At the time White House Press Secretary Ron Zeigler dismissed it as a “third rate burglary.” While it might have been “third rate,” it was the third rate burglary that brought down a president. The story didn’t get much traction until August 1st, when Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein wrote their first story for the Washington Post. From that moment on the drip, drip, drip of stories in the Post and other newspapers isolated President Nixon. Once it was proven that Nixon participated in the Watergate cover-up, it was all over for his presidency.

There are so many ironies in this story, but here are just three:

President Nixon posing with the
“expletive deleted” transcripts.

► The “Smoking Gun” tape of March 21, 1973 that proved Nixon was up to his ears in the cover-up, was made by a secret automatic recording system that Nixon had installed to preserve his historical legacy. Once the existence of the recordings were made known, Nixon could have had them destroyed; they had yet to be subpoenaed and therefore were not yet evidence. Once they were subpoenaed Nixon tried to tough it out, first claiming Executive Privilege, and then trying to get away with just releasing poorly edited transcripts of the Oval Office conversations. That’s when the words “expletive deleted” became a national punchline.

► Nixon’s resignation letter (above left) was addressed “Dear Mr. Secretary,” which was Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. However, it was Kissinger’s apoplectic reaction to earlier leaks, such as the New York Times printing the Pentagon Papers, that led to the creation of the infamous “Plumbers Unit” created to stop the “leaks.”

► Nixon’s presidency was brought down by Frank Wills, a minimum wage Security Guard at the Watergate Hotel Complex. Wills discovered duct tape on a door in the building while making his rounds, so he removed it. One of the “third rate” burglars saw the tape had been removed and, instead of it alerting them to the fact that the jig was up, replaced the tape. On his next round Wills noticed the tape was back and called police, who arrested the “third rate” burglars in the middle of their “third rate” act. Harry Nilsson dedicated “A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night” to Frank Wills and included a small picture of Mr. Wills on his lapel in the cover photograph. [The other picture is Harry’s son Zak, who I am proud to call a friend.] Frank Wills was also memorialized in the song “The Ballad of Frank Wills” by folk artist Ron Turner.

Further Reading on The Aunty Em Ericann Blog:

Watergate ► The Beginning of the End
Aunty Em Ericann’s Bun Fight With James Rosen of Fox “News”

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Musical Interlude ► Happy Birthday Harry Nilsson

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Dateline June 15, 1941 – A happy father had a son*, Harry Edward Nilsson III.

There was a time I listed my Top Three artists as Frank Sinatra, Frank Zappa, and Harry Nilsson. Who knew that Sinatra would outlive the other two?

I first learned of Harry Nilsson the same way much of ‘Merka did, when The Beatles name-checked him twice during their ’68 press conference to announce the formation of Apple. Wait! What? Who? The Harry Nilsson Web Pages picks up the story: 

The album came to the attention of the Beatles (through Derek Taylor their press agent). At the press conference to announce the formation of Apple, the Beatles were asked “Who is your favorite American artist?” to which John Lennon replied, “Harry Nilsson.” When asked “What is your favorite American group?” Paul McCartney replied, “Harry Nilsson.”

Harry’s arrangement of “You Can’t Do That” weaves some 20-something other Beatles’ songs in and around the Lennon-McCartney melody.It needs to be heard to know why The Beatles were so knocked out by it.

The great irony of Harry Nilsson’s all-too-short artistic career is that while he is an amazing songwriter, the two songs he is best known for were not written by him: “Without You” was written by two of the members of Badfinger and was originally recorded by that group, while “Everybody’s Talkin'” was written by Fred Neil.

That’s why we’ll start with songs Harry wrote. Here’s a rare version of “Coconut” created for one of his his BBC shows. All vocals are Harry re-recorded specifically for this ‘video’ and the instrumentation is minimalist. to say the least:

Many people have covered Nilsson’s “One.” His version followed by the obscure Chris Clark on the even more obscure Motown subsidiary label Weed, because that’s what this LP was apparently fueled by.

Here is a rare tee vee appearance of Harry’s on The Smother’s Brothers Comedy Hour. Harry was a good friend of The Smothers Bothers, which is why he thought he and John Lennon could heckle them at The Troubadour, but we won’t rehash THAT story. “Think About Your Troubles,” the second song here, is personally one of my favourite Harry Nilsson songs. I like the circular story. I like how it sums up this larger dynamic than the listener and then says, “You  think you’re the center of the universe? Well, I got news for you.” The third song is from the upcoming “The Point” cartoon, which is remembered fondly by many big kids.

Another rarity from his BBC tee vee special is this medley of three covers intertwined, Walk Right Walk, Cathy’s Clown, Let The Good Times Roll all recorded with 3-part harmony done by Harry himself.

Here’s the very obscure Miss Butter’s Lament, written by fellow Canadian Bob Segarini.

When Harry Met John resulted in Pussy Cats, an album that marked the nadir of Harry’s career. Yet there are still some true gems on this LP. Harry makes his ravaged voice work for this incredibly emotional cover of Jimmy Cliff’s Many Rivers To Cross.

I could go on and on, but this makes a good starting point for Harry Nilsson if you are just getting to know him.

*1941, by Harry Nilsson

Nostalgia Ain’t What It Used To Be ► Mr. Bojangles ► May 25

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Dateline May 25, 1878 – Bill “Mr. Bojangles” Robinson was born. It hardly matters that the Jerry Jeff Walker song was written about a White guy in jail in New Orleans. It will always be associated with the renowned star of stage and movies who managed to break thru’ the colour barriers of his time. In the day Black musical performances in movies were filmed in such a way so that they could be cut later when the movie played in the south. Bill Robinson’s dance with Shirley Temple in
The Little Colonel

was the first time audiences saw a Black man dancing with a White girl, with Robinson reprising his famous stair dance.

It hardly seems radical today, but it was groundbreaking in 1935. Yet, he will always be known more for his for his dancing than being the first this or that…which is the way it should be. Here’s his sand dance from “Stormy Weather.”

He just makes it look so easy:

Bill Robinson’s last public appearance was on the Ted Mack Amateur Hour in 1949, just weeks before he died:

As for the song itself? Here’s Jerry Jeff Walker performing it live:

The person who popularized the song, and made it synonymous with Bill Robinson — more than anyone else — was Sammy Davis, Jr., who made it a signature part of act for years.

However, in montage, here’s Sammy describing why emotionally it was such a difficult song for him to perform:

However, this post wouldn’t be complete without Harry Nilsson’s version of Mr. Bojangles. Enjoy:

Harry Nilsson ► Thursday (Here’s Why I Did Not Go To Work Today) ► A Musical Interlude

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“Thursday (Here’s Why I Did Not Go To Work Today)” has always been one of my favourite Harry Nilsson tunes. It comes from Sandman, a latter day effort. Harry’s voice had never been the same after the John Lennon produced Pussycats during Lennon’s “Lost Weekend.” This was no fault of Lennon’s. Nilsson had hurt his vocal cords and rather than tell Lennon he continued afraid to delay working with his hero. It only made it worse. While he never had that angelic voice again, he still wrote some lovely songs and this is one of them.It’s also a song on which his raspy voice gave the song the exact right amount of pathos. What do you think?

I’ve always especially loved the lyrics nearest the end. They’ve always had a Cole Porter feel to them for me, and that’s one of the highest forms of praise there is.

Monday is a blues day
That goes for Tuesday
Wednesday’s just the middle of the week, yeah mm
Friday is just another payday
The weekend’s just another heyday
But Thursday’s surreptitiously unique

That’s why I didn’t go to work today

Thursday’s got its own peculiar way

Of saying “hey”
Sometimes Thursday makes you want to run away

Thursday’s such a crazy, lazy day

Thursday’s such a crazy, lazy day

Thanks, Harry, for giving me a musical excuse to toss Thursday aside from time to time. However, today my clients were forced to cancel so I have the day off anyway.

So, while I have your attention: Here’s another wonderful Harry Nilsson performance, 100% live, from a BBC broadcast on which he did his entire “A Little Touch of Schmilsson In The Night” LP live. It’s sublime. And please note: Harry Nilsson was covering the American songbook long before Rod Stewart, Willie Nelson, or even Linda Ronstadt.

If you liked that, you will love parts two, three, four and five, which are all on the YouTubery.

You’re welcome.