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)

Take 54
Harry Nilsson Lyrics

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It was take 54,
When she walked through the door
With the red light on it
I knew in a minute
If I wanted to get in it
Then I'd have to get on it--
I sang my balls off for you baby
I worked my fingers to the bone

I closed my eyes to get the high note
but when I woke up I was alone--
Baby, baby come back
I need you to make a good track--
Baby, baby come back
Baby, baby come back
Well I saw her today
Back in studio A
We were just gettin' started--
I sang for a minute,
She couldn't get in it,
I felt broken hearted--
I sang my balls off for you baby
I almost broke the microphone
I even sang the song that you wrote
But when I woke up I was alone--
Oh! Baby, baby, come back--
I need you to make a good track
Baby, baby come back
Baby, baby come back
High note--
But when I woke up I was alone
Baby, baby come back
I need you to make a good track

Baby, baby come back
be -be -be -baby come back

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Harry Nilsson's song "Take 54" depict a story of a man who is in love with a woman who he worked with in a recording studio. He sang his heart out to impress her during the recording session, but when he woke up, she was gone. The singer knew that he had to impress the woman if he had any chance of getting together with her, as is evident when he says, "If I wanted to get in it, then I'd have to get on it." The use of the phrase "get on it" implies that the man had to make a move and impress the woman to win her affection. He even mentions that he sang his "balls off" for her and "closed his eyes to get the high note," which shows how much he put into the recording for the woman.

The chorus of the song, "Baby, baby come back," is a plea from the singer to the woman to come back to him, as he needs her to help him make a good track. In the end, the man sees the woman again in the studio but again fails to impress her, leaving him heartbroken. The lyrics are a representation of the desperation the man feels to win the woman's affections and how he believes that music can be the avenue to achieve his goal.

Take 54Harry Nilsson Lyrics

Take 54
Harry Nilsson Lyrics