Harry Edward Nilsson III (June 15, 1941 – January 15, 1994), sometimes cred… Read Full Bio ↴Harry Edward Nilsson III (June 15, 1941 – January 15, 1994), sometimes credited as Nilsson, was an American singer-songwriter who reached the peak of his success in the early 1970s. His work is characterized by pioneering vocal overdub experiments, a return to the Great American Songbook, and fusions of Caribbean sounds. Nilsson was one of the few major pop-rock recording artists to achieve significant commercial success without performing major public concerts or touring regularly.

Born in Brooklyn, Nilsson moved to Los Angeles as a teenager to escape his family's poor financial situation. While working as a computer programmer at a bank, he grew interested in musical composition and close-harmony singing and was successful in having some of his songs recorded by various artists, such as the Monkees. In 1967, he debuted on RCA Victor with the LP Pandemonium Shadow Show, followed by a variety of releases that included a collaboration with Randy Newman (Nilsson Sings Newman, 1970) and the original children's story The Point! (1971).

He created the first remix album, Aerial Pandemonium Ballet, in 1971, and recorded the first mashup song ("You Can't Do That") in 1967. His most commercially successful album, Nilsson Schmilsson (1971), produced the international top 10 singles "Without You" and "Coconut". His other top 10 hit, "Everybody's Talkin'" (1968), was featured prominently in the 1969 film Midnight Cowboy. A version of Nilsson's "One," released by Three Dog Night in 1969, also reached the U.S. top 10.

During a 1968 press conference, The Beatles were asked what their favorite American group was and answered "Nilsson." Sometimes called "the American Beatle," he soon formed close friendships with John Lennon and Ringo Starr, joining them in the Hollywood Vampires drinking club. He and Lennon produced one collaborative album, Pussy Cats (1974). After 1977, Nilsson left RCA, and his record output diminished. In response to Lennon's 1980 murder, he took a hiatus from the music industry to campaign for gun control. For the rest of his life, he recorded only sporadically. In 1994, Nilsson died of a heart attack while in the midst of recording what became his last album, Losst and Founnd (2019).

The craft of Nilsson's songs and the defiant attitude he projected remain touchstones for later generations of indie rock musicians. Nilsson was voted No. 62 in Rolling Stone's 2015 list of the "100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time," where he was described as "a pioneer of the Los Angeles studio sound" and "a crucial bridge" between 1960s psychedelia and the 1970s singer-songwriter era. The RIAA certified Nilsson Schmilsson and Son of Schmilsson (1972) as gold records, indicating over 500,000 units sold each. He earned two Grammy Awards (for "Everybody's Talkin'" and "Without You").

Full Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Nilsson

Discography
Spotlight on Nilsson (1966)
Pandemonium Shadow Show (1967)
Aerial Ballet (1968)
Skidoo (1968) (soundtrack)
Harry (1969)
Nilsson Sings Newman (1970)
The Point! (1970) (studio album and soundtrack)
Nilsson Schmilsson (1971)
Son of Schmilsson (1972)
A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night (1973)
Son of Dracula (1974) (soundtrack)
Pussy Cats (1974)
Duit on Mon Dei (1975)
Sandman (1976)
...That's the Way It Is (1976)
Knnillssonn (1977)
Flash Harry (1980)
Popeye (1980) (soundtrack)
Losst and Founnd (2019)

Easier for Me
Harry Nilsson Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Nobody loved her, it was easy to see
That made it easier for me
The boys never fought over her company
That made it easy for me

Love so bright could only blind us
How could reason hope to find us
Hiding in the milkyway

Without a star to shine the way?

Sandcastles fell from the tears in our eyes
That made it easier to see

Now the dream's over and I realize
That makes it easy for me

Overall Meaning

In Harry Nilsson's song, Easier For Me, he sings about a girl who was never loved by anyone, and how that made it easier for him to love her. The opening lines, "Nobody loved her, it was easy to see, that made it easier for me" shows how her lack of love had made her more approachable to Harry. He goes on to mention how the boys never fought over her, indicating that she was not seen as desirable, which made it easier for him to be with her.

The second verse talks about how intense love can sometimes blind us, and reason becomes irrelevant, leading to the two of them getting lost in their own world. They were lost without any guidance, and Harry uses the imagery of being in the milky way without a star to shine the way. The final verse talks about how their love was like a sandcastle that fell apart when reality hit, and that made it easier for him to see that the dream was over. He has finally realized that he needs to move on, and the lack of any real connection with the girl makes it easier for him to do so.

Line by Line Meaning

Nobody loved her, it was easy to see
The girl was unloved and neglected, which made it convenient for me to pursue her.

That made it easier for me
Her lack of attention from others made it simpler for me to win her affection.

The boys never fought over her company
Because nobody desired her attention or affection, I never had to compete with other guys for her.

That made it easy for me
Again, the lack of competition for her attention made it stress-free for me to seek a relationship with her.

Love so bright could only blind us
Sometimes, when love is too passionate, it can make it difficult to see the faults and shortcomings in the person we love.

How could reason hope to find us
Our intense feelings of love and desire for each other made it challenging for logic and rationale to dictate our actions and decisions.

Hiding in the milkyway
Sometimes, love can cloud our judgment and make it feel like we're lost in a vast, confusing universe.

Without a star to shine the way?
Without a guiding light or sense of direction, it can be challenging to navigate the complexities of love and relationships.

Sandcastles fell from the tears in our eyes
Our relationship was built upon a fragile foundation and ultimately crumbled due to the pain and sadness we experienced together.

That made it easier to see
After the relationship ended, it became clear to me that it was unsustainable and fraught with challenges.

Now the dream's over and I realize
Now that our relationship is over, I'm able to recognize the flaws and shortcomings that we were previously blinded to.

That makes it easy for me
In some ways, the end of our relationship has made things simpler for me by removing the stress and complications of trying to make it work.

Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: HARRY NILSSON, HARRY EDWARD NILSSON

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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