Harris/Waltz Advertisement Uses "Best Friend"
On September 19, 2024, the Kamala Harris presidential campaign released a video showing clips of rival Donald Trump praising Mark Robinson a gubernatorial candidate under scrutiny for posting inflammatory comments on a pornography website. Nilsson's "Best Friend" plays throughout the short video.
Best friends ❤️ pic.twitter.com/baS5sRfzIo
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) September 19, 2024
The video was posted on X (Twitter) but later superceded by a longer TV commercial without Nilsson's song.
Herbie Flowers - "Jump Into the Fire" Bass Player - Has Died
Herbie Flowers died on September 5, 2024, at the age of 86. Flowers was a member of several groups including Blue Mink, T. Rex, and Sky. As a session musician, he played bass guitar, double bass, and tuba on recordings for artists including Elton John, David Bowie, Lou Reed, David Essex, Al Kooper, Bryan Ferry, Cat Stevens, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, and Harry Nilsson.
Flowers played bass on Nilsson's Nilsson Schmilsson album and created the famous "detuning bass" part in "Jump into the Fire."
The Dream Weaver Has Died
Gary Wright died at his home in Palos Verdes Estates, California, on September 4, 2023. Although best known for his solo hits "Dream Weaver" and "Love Is Alive" - and having been born and raised in the US - Wright first caught the attention of music fans as a member of the British band Spooky Tooth in the late 1960s. Wright left the band in early 1970 to begin a career as a solo artist and session musician.
In 1971 Harry Nilsson recorded "Without You" which was destined to be his biggest hit. Rick Wakeman played the piano for an early take of the song, Nilsson and his producer, Richard Perry, decided that Wakeman's track was "too busy, too complex."
So we replaced Rick Wakeman with Gary Wright and he began, just like you hear on the record, very simple. It was just right![1]
The Lost Weekend: A Love Story Released on Home Video
A Blu-Ray of The Lost Weekend: A Love Story is being released in mid-October of 2023. It is currently available for pre-order from Amazon.com. The film is also available for purchase online through Amazon Prime.
Bob Segarini Has Died
Songwriter and performer, Bob Segarini, died in his sleep on July 10, 2023. He was 77 years of age.
Patty Faralla, a press agent for RCA, introduced Segarini to Harry Nilsson in 1965.
Harry and Bob wrote a song together. Segarini's group, Family Tree, released their version of "Miss Butter's Lament" on their 1968 album Miss Butters album. Nilsson's recording of the song went unreleased until 1995 when it appeared on the Personal Best - The Harry Nilsson Anthology album.
At Patty’s apartment the first time we met, we passed an old acoustic guitar back and forth and played our songs for one another. [...] Harry is dutifully impressed when I play him a tune or two. I hand him the guitar, and he starts singing: “Well in 1941 a happy father had a son.... [...] "Holy crap," I thought, "this guy is amazing."
In 1967, Bob introduced Harry to Diane Clatworthy, the secretary of the Family Tree fan club. Diane and Harry married on December 31, 1969, in Las Vegas.
Segarini wrote a song, "He Spins Around" about his friend, Harry Nilsson. It was released as the B-side of single in 1968 then on the CD release of the Miss Butters in 2007.
Harry and Bob's relationship soured in the mid to late 1970s as Harry's lifestyle became intertwined with the Beatles, drugs, and alcohol.
The last time I saw Harry was in line at the Carnegie Deli in New York. He was in front of me in an overcoat and I recognized the back of his head somehow. He was on his way to London to hang out, record, and move into Ringo’s flat for a while. He looked world weary, but still had the old twinkle in his eye. We reminisced while his limo idled out front, caught up, and had a few laughs waiting for our medium old fashioned (pastrami) on a Kaiser with double mustard, pickle on the side. When I asked after Diane, he said that they had gotten divorced, the twinkle in his eyes dimming, with what I could only imagine was caused by leaving his wife and young son behind, of abandoning them, of becoming his father.
Margo Guryan wrote "Think of Rain" which Harry Nilsson recorded during his Aerial Ballet sessions. The recording remains unreleased.
He promised he would let me hear it, but we learned that although the song was listed on a tape box it was spliced out by Harry. Apparently he did that when he was unhappy with something he had recorded.
-- Margo Guryan (2017) [1]
We learned from someone at RCA who was compiling a Nilsson package that "Think of Rain" was listed on a tape box, but razor-cut out. (Harry apparently did that when he didn’t like a performance.) Harry told me that he had tried recording the song many different ways - fast, slow, hard, soft - but nothing worked. He said he’d let me hear it, but never did. So it was never released, I never heard it, and the public will never hear it. Alas!
-- Margo Guryan (2012) [2]
I already had a telephone friendship with Harry Nilsson. He recorded "Think of Rain" but didn't like the way it came out. It was never released. And, though he promised, I never heard it. He gave it to Judy Carne who performed it on "Laugh-In."
-- Margo Guryan (2015) [3]
Asked in 2018 about her songwriting and arranging process, Guryan mentions Harry:
The "arrangement" was usually part of the song as I was writing it. I didn’t write a song and then attempt to arrange it. That never worked for me, although it worked beautifully for others. George Tipton, who arranged Harry Nilsson’s "Without Her" is a case in point. It was the first song written by Harry that I heard. The cello line that Tipton employed is magnificent! Though I admire the contributions of many brilliant arrangers, my arrangements were always written into my songs.
-- Margo Guryan (2018) [4]
