Kansas City Blog

Neko Case blew into town Sunday night and made sure to perform one of the highlights of her new album: a cover of Harry Nilsson's heartbreaker "Don't Forget Me." Commenter DLC then asked for a brief on Nilsson. So, thanks to a grant from the Nilsson Education Foundation, here's a quick lesson in the late singer-songwriter's towering awesomeness.

I. Songs Schmongs

"Don't Forget Me"
Duh. The original is pretty affecting on its own. Part of the power of Case's cover is that one of its intended recipients is the late Nilsson himself.

"Me and My Arrow"
An early example of Nilsson's unlikely genius for bounce. Bouncy, bouncy, bouncebouncebounce.

"Jump Into the Fire"
The man could also hit. To hear just how hard, listen to LCD Soundsystem's cover of this song. The original is mean, dirty and drunk, too. (See also: Goodfellas.)

"All I Think About Is You"
Big men aren't afraid to cry big tears. No one who has ever paid rent in the state of longing should do without this one.

"One"
Well, it is the loneliest number.

"Gotta Get Up"
The children's version of the McCartney half of "Day in the Life." And that's a good thing.

"I'll Never Leave You"
Liar.
[Couldn't find a stream of this one. Sorry.]

II. Albums Schmalbums

Nilsson Sings Newman
In which Nilsson yields to his interpretive impulse and finds, in a young Randy Newman, a songwriting voice as saturnine and vinegary as his, only more articulate. A truly great record whether you like either artist apart from the other (or if you, unaccountably, like neither).

Nilsson Schmilsson
OK, it has "Coconut" on it. It also features 6-foot-2 Nilsson on the cover wearing a bathrobe, a singular moment of truth-in-album-art-advertising because even its punchiest numbers (including a couple on this list) convey utter morning-after dissipation. Basically, this is Tonight's the Night for people who prefer tequila to heroin and need something to play seven hours after 3 a.m. while rinsing vomit out of the corn flakes bowl. Again, that's a good thing.

Pussycats
Music for 4 p.m. the same day. With John Lennon during his lost weekend and just before the start of his househusband years. It achieves with covers and throwaways and tattered voices and alcoholic nerves what few albums of all originals manage: It's basically a Raymond Carver story set to music, one about drunk, lovelorn, self-pitying rock stars. Not a great album but an unforgettable one.