23 March 2004

I'm on a big Harry Nilsson kick these days. This might just be a sign of my generational ignorance, but I was recently astonished to discover that, among many other songs, Nilsson wrote "One," memorably covered by Three Dog Night, and by Aimee Mann for the opening credits of Magnolia; "Coconut," which figures in the closing credits of Reservoir Dogs; the soundtrack to The Point, which I still remember vividly after many years; and the songs for Popeye, including the sublime "He Needs Me." He also sang the version of "Everybody's Talking" that appears at the beginning of Midnight Cowboy. Looking over Nilsson’s amazing body of work, I’m reminded of Homer Simpson’s response when he was told that bacon, ham, and pork chops all came from the same animal: "Yeah, right, Lisa. A wonderful, magical animal." And that’s exactly what Nilsson is.

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