On this day in 1941, the great singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson was born. He was an amazing talent, known primarily for the song “Everybody’s Talkin’,” which was uncharacteristically not written by him. All my life I thought it was a song by Glen Campbell. So for years I was looking for records of Campbell’s looking for the song. Finally, my friend Andrea straightened me out and I was introduced the world of Nilsson. I already knew a lot of his songs like “Coconut” and “Without You” and “Me and My Arrow.”

He was a very unique songwriter. For example, he wrote “One” which was a big hit for Three Dog Night and “My Best Friend” for the television show The Courtship of Eddie’s Father. But he also had a very unique pop voice. A long time heroin addict, he did eventually get clean, only to die of a heart attack at the age of 52. But he left an enormous catalog of music.

Here is his novelty hit “Coconut” that I’m still not tired of after all these years:

Happy birthday Harry Nilsson!