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)
Something True
Harry Nilsson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Something true to show you what I am to you
Something real to cause your heart to rush with love
And cause your mouth to rush to mine and make your eyes
Ignore what isn't real
But all my life I've failed to take advantage of my time
If we could only tell each other every other day
There'd never be a reason to be leaving
Chorus
Just something to hold on to when we are both afraid
Something to believe in when we think we've got it made
Some things never change, the doubt that lingers in your mind
Sometimes when you're down and out you leave the truth behind
Chorus +
Just something real to show that I still feel.
In "Something True" by Harry Nilsson, the lyrics speak of the desire to find something genuine and real to prove the love between two people. The song suggests that time is fleeting, and it's important to take advantage of it by expressing your love every other day. The chorus speaks of finding something to hold onto when times get tough, and something to believe in when things are going well.
The lyrics also suggest that doubt lingers in our minds, and sometimes we leave the truth behind when we are feeling down and out. Throughout the song, there is an underlying theme of the importance of honesty and authenticity in a relationship. It's not enough to say the words, "I love you," there needs to be something genuine that proves those words to be true.
Line by Line Meaning
Something true to show you what I am to you
I want to show you a truthful side of me that reflects how I truly feel about you
Something real to cause your heart to rush with love
I want to give you something genuine that will evoke strong feelings of love in your heart
And cause your mouth to rush to mine and make your eyes
I want to make you kiss me with passion and make you look at me with pure love
Ignore what isn't real
Let's forget about anything that is not genuine and true
But all my life I've failed to take advantage of my time
I have spent my life not making the most of my opportunities
And time is moving faster than the eye can see
Time passes by quickly and it's hard to keep up with it
If we could only tell each other every other day
If we could only express our love to each other frequently
There'd never be a reason to be leaving
We would never have a reason to leave each other because we'll always show our love
Just something to hold on to when we are both afraid
We need something genuine to hold on to when we are scared or insecure
Something to believe in when we think we've got it made
Even when things are going well, we need something truthful to hold on to
Some things never change, the doubt that lingers in your mind
We will always have doubts and uncertainties in our minds, even when we have something genuine
Sometimes when you're down and out you leave the truth behind
When we are going through tough times, we may forget about what is genuine and true
Just something real to show that I still feel
I just want to give you something genuine to prove that I still feel love for you
Contributed by Madelyn W. Suggest a correction in the comments below.