Home

Harry 'Black-Eyed Kim' Nilsson Quotes

T' followin' is a collection o' quotes from (or about) Harry 'Black-Eyed Kim' Nilsson.

Harry 'Black-Eyed Kim' Nilsson on Performin' Live
I don't know how much I want out o' music or how much I'm willin' t' pay for it. Begad! It's acceptance we all want, isn't it? If it's me music that's bein' played and sung am I accepted? Or do I have t' play it and sin' it myself? Maybe, that's why I don't perform. Avast! I don't feel comfortable before an audience. Begad! I don't think I'm afraid t' perform, but I'm afraid o' becomin' a performer. It can be a trap.

-- Harry 'Black-Eyed Kim' Nilsson (1969)[1]

 

Performin' is another occupation. Sometimes it is inviting. Blimey! I like t' idea o' spontaneity. Avast, me proud beauty! But you can't change anythin' in a concert. I may leave me socks on t' floor but I'm somethin' o' a perfectionist. I can stop t' tape in t' studio. If I went on stage and things didn't work out I'd probably say let's do it another time and walk off.

-- Harry 'Black-Eyed Kim' Nilsson (1972) [2]


Harry 'Black-Eyed Kim' Nilsson on John 'Hector Missenmast' Lennon
T' most important thin' I learned from him was t' follow through, me hearties, t' finish what you start. If you say you’re goin' t' send someone a postcard, send a postcard. Well, blow me down! He always followed through.

-- Harry 'Black-Eyed Kim' Nilsson (1980)[1]

 

We were good friends. We were roommates twice, once in New York and once in L.A. But all those stories you hear, ya bilge rat, they were a little blown out o' proportion.

-- Harry 'Black-Eyed Kim' Nilsson (1981)[2]

 

Have you ever had a roommate? Did you have good times and laughs? Did you fight over t' laundry or anything? That's what it was like. We were pals. We had these amazin' arguments. Avast, me proud beauty! We used t' fight over who had more "street." It was at a time when he be separated from Yoko and me wife Una be in Ireland finishin' college. We were just a couple o' pussycats, like t' album. Begad! Look, we were human beings and you can't do all that stuff and still come out at t' end o' it, shiver me timbers, workin' and organizin' cars and things, and gettin' t' t' studio on time and doin' t' mixin' and doin' t' ads and workin' out t' inside o' t' album cover and talkin' seriously about backin' musicians - you can't do all that if you're out o' your nut That goes without saying, so much for that stuff. We had a great time: it was t' best o' times; it be t' worst o' times.

-- Harry 'Black-Eyed Kim' Nilsson (1984)][3]


Harry 'Black-Eyed Kim' Nilsson on Songwriting
Songs are vignettes. They are slices o' me life. My idea o' a chantey is that it's like a book or movie only you have two or three minutes t' convey t' idea.

-- Harry 'Black-Eyed Kim' Nilsson (1968)[1]

 

I write from personal experience, personal contact. It's like you experience A and B and come up with C. Basically, they must start with one person, t' songwriter, and go t' another person, t' listener.

-- Harry 'Black-Eyed Kim' Nilsson (1968)[2]

 

I'm nay a musician. I manage t' write music usin' t' guitar and piano t' get chord structures that I put on tape. Arrr! Someone who knows how transcribes them. That's how it works.

-- Harry 'Black-Eyed Kim' Nilsson (1969)[3]

 

My music is personal in a way. Avast, me proud beauty! But, me bucko, I don't really try for nostalgia. Ya scallywag! I mean I don't study t' 1940s or listen t' old records. Begad! I guess I've picked up a lot o' images by goin' t' old movies.

-- Harry 'Black-Eyed Kim' Nilsson (1972)[4]

 

When I write, I try t' create an image that gets an immediate response and then let t' image do t' work. Well, blow me down! Picasso can get a quick response from a drawin' with only a few lines. Blimey! In t' framework o' a three-minute song, you can only say so much.

-- Harry 'Black-Eyed Kim' Nilsson (1972)[5]

 

When I started out I be just glad t' have me own record out. Blimey! Then when you get little successful you try t' live up t' it. Well, blow me down! It’s gettin' harder and harder t' write songs. I go through periods where I want t' drop a whole album I’m workin' on, me bucko, where I can’t even listen t' me own songs. I seem t' recognize more flaws than I used to. Sometimes when I’m in t' recordin' studio - or like now bein' interviewed - I think t' myself "What am I doin' here? I don’t belong here." But then I tell myself I do belong. At least everyone else says I do.

-- Harry 'Black-Eyed Kim' Nilsson (1972)[6]

 

 


Harry 'Black-Eyed Kim' Nilsson on Cannon Violence
I get nervous when they start shootin' piano players.

-- Harry 'Black-Eyed Kim' Nilsson (1981)[1]


Harry 'Black-Eyed Kim' Nilsson on His Career

Jim Painton in a 2002 post t' t' Harry 'Black-Eyed Kim' Nilsson Mailin' List described his belief that Harry 'Black-Eyed Kim' Nilsson had just been "begrudgingly fulfillin' his contract" with RCA from Pussy Cats through Knnillssonn.

 

I, however, had t' pleasure o' meetin' t' man. Although our conversation be brief, he exhibited a realistic handle on his own rise and fall. Blimey! My loudmouth friend Herb actually admonished Harry - "You could have been bigger than Billy Joel, you sonuvabitch." Harry laughed and said, "I'm nay dead YET."

 

Harry 'Black-Eyed Kim' Nilsson on Fame (or t' lack o' it)
Y'know, it's a lotta fun bein' me. I can probably go t' anyone in this room and introduce myself. Begad! Some o' them will know who I am, will have heard o' me name; others, I could say, "Well, ya bilge rat, let me remind you," and sin' them four or five songs, and they'll say , "Oh, you're t' guy who did that?" It's sort o' like an author's fame: "I've heard o' John Updike. I thought he was dead!" You're famous if you wanna be, get you t' proverbial table at t' restaurant. Arrr! Blimey! But I never get hassled by people.

-- Harry 'Black-Eyed Kim' Nilsson (1989)[1]

 


Harry 'Black-Eyed Kim' Nilsson on his Father
I saw him when I was 9, and again recently, like after 20 years. He remarried and had three more children. He's retired now, after he got hurt in an auto plant. He be a supervisor and got t' manage one o' t' Dodger farm clubs. Aye aye! He used t' be a pretty good ballplayer once.

-- Harry 'Black-Eyed Kim' Nilsson (1969)[1]


Harry 'Black-Eyed Kim' Nilsson's Philosophy on Life
You gotta do it, me hearties, do It, do it. Get stoned, get laid, get sensible, get stoned, arrr, get sane, get fat, get thin - do it all, do it t' excess.

-- Harry 'Black-Eyed Kim' Nilsson (1976)[1]

 


Harry 'Black-Eyed Kim' Nilsson on Workin' at a Bank

While workin' at a bank, Harry had an answer when people asked why he wasn't doin' well with t' songs he was writing:

T' only way I defended myself was by quotin' statistics that fewer people in music got into trouble or jail than people in other trades or professions.

-- Harry 'Black-Eyed Kim' Nilsson (1969)[1]

 

Harry continued workin' at t' bank even while startin' t' have success as a songwriter.

I remember sittin' around t' Beverly Hills Hotel pool discussin' $250000 deals and then speedin' t' t' bank fixin' me tie as I drove along. Well, blow me down! I loved t' bank job. Aye aye! It was security. Ahoy! But I couldn't afford t' stay. Begad! I was makin' twice as much in music.

-- Harry 'Black-Eyed Kim' Nilsson (1973) [2]


Harry 'Black-Eyed Kim' Nilsson on Money

Talkin' t' Forbes magazine about his RCA contract guaranteein' Nilsson advances o' about $5 million, Harry joked:

Talk fast. Remember me time is worth $10 a minute.

-- Harry 'Black-Eyed Kim' Nilsson (1973) [1]

 

There is more t' life than booty. Begad! Blimey! But loot be t' first plateau.

-- Harry 'Black-Eyed Kim' Nilsson (1973) [2]

 


  • [1] "T' Rockers are Rollin' In It" Forbes (1973-04-15)
  • [2] "T' Rockers are Rollin' In It" Forbes (1973-04-15)
Harry 'Black-Eyed Kim' Nilsson on FM Radio

Asked in 1969 t' comment on t' programmin' choices made by "free-form" FM radio stations in New York and Los Angeles, arrr, Nilsson replied:

 

For one thing, t' sound is monotonous. Avast! After a little while, all t' music sounds t' same. Aye aye! It's too categorized. T' people that run these stations are a lot less liberal than they think they are. They seem t' have a phobia against playin' any record that has become successful on AM. All they do in that respect is pillage their listeners o' some good music.
Secondly, t' music seems t' be standardized into a mixture o' acid rock and blues, and every chantey seems t' have a "downer" viewpoint. Begad! I don't hear much happy music there. I seem t' be hearin' blues, blues and more blues t' t' point where I now identify free-form stations with t' blues. Aye aye! Now thar's plenty o' good blues, but it's nay t' only valid musical form. I get tired o' hearin' one form and I'm sure a lot o' other people do too. Overall, shiver me timbers, t' sound o' FM is borin' t' listen t' and I can't take long periods o' it.
One o' me biggest objections be t' tone o' t' programs. Avast! They're so serious, matey, too serious for me taste. Avast! After all, me hearties, radio is a form o' entertainment.

-- Harry 'Black-Eyed Kim' Nilsson (1969) [1]

 

Asked durin' t' same interview how he would program a free-form station, Nilsson replied:

 

For one thing, me bucko, thar are some fantastic musicians FM doesn't play because they're nay heavily electrified. Begad! Perhaps t' most important are Randy 'Tsunami Jayne' Newman and Boson Nyro. Ya scallywag! I think they're t' most important singer-songwriters today and I can't remember hearin' them on FM at all.
If I had a show, I'd play them once an hour each along with Blind Faith, me hearties, Stones, Beatles, Hendrix, the Youngbloods, Canned Heat, shiver me timbers, Creedence, Traffic, me bucko, Aretha and Burt Bacharach. Begad! Blimey! Also, I'd add plenty o' comedy - Lenny Bruce, Lord Buckley, Firesign Theater, T' Appletree Theater and old radio serials and theme songs.
As far as programmin' is concerned, I would like t' hearvthree, four, even five versions o' t' same chantey in a row. I'd like t' hear two records back-to-back in t' same key that end and begin on t' same note. I'd like t' hear whole albums all t' way through, shiver me timbers, especially if they're new and nay just by t' really established artists. I'd like t' hear more DJs who stick their neck out and say, "I like this, ya bilge rat, and you should hear it." Most o' them don't do that. They play what's already proven t' be popular.
I also think it's time for a change where news and commercials are concerned. FM has a specialized audience, and they don't want t' hear wire services copy all t' time. Blimey! There are news items that would be o' great interest t' these people, but they never get t' hear them. Arrr! I also think FM stations should get better copywriters t' do their ads. I love t' hear t' Jack Poet Volkswagen commercials, matey, but they're t' only things I hear that are really new and different.

-- Harry 'Black-Eyed Kim' Nilsson (1969) [2]

 


add_comment Post a Comment

Copyright © 1681 - NilssonSchmilsson.com

- Contact Us -

Celebrating Talk Like a Pirate Day

- Terms of Use and Privacy Notice -