Harry

This album has been added to 1 private list and 2 public lists:

• 

  Rearview (2025)

  nilmin

  "Dreams are nothin' more than wishes, and a wish is just a dream you wish would come true."

  From the first lines of this album, I knew Harry Nilsson wasn't fucking around.
  They're incredibly silly, but the passion and earnestness of his delivery absolute sell it. I feel like he's innocently batting his eyelashes and clasping his chest while he sings, yet somehow manages to wink at me at the same time.

  "We could be happy alone in a tent, think of the money we'd save on rent."

  Harry was released in 1969, which feels surprising because it simultaneously feels much older and much younger. The strings, horns, and ragtime piano, paired with the album artwork, suggest a real sense of nostalgia. The lyrics lean heavily into this nostalgia as well, but are cleverly balanced with moments of dark comedy, or just plain darkness, that cast aspersions on his own persona. It gives the striking sense that the nostalgia is really just a way of coping. The batted eyelashes and the wink, both as real as the other.

  "Say I'm acting just like a child
  But maybe I'm doing what I'm doing
  'cause I done what I did when I was kid."

  Fave Tracks: Puppy Song, Open Your Window, City Life.

• 

  All Time

  nilmin