[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Harry_Nilsson_3935.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"Everybody's talkin' at me..."]]

->''Well in 1941 a happy father had a son''\\
''and by 1944 the father walked right out the door''\\
''And in '45 the mom and son were still alive''\\
''but who could tell in '46 if the two were to survive''\\
''Well the years were passing quickly''\\
''but not fast enough for him''\\
''So he closed his eyes through '55''\\
''and he opened them up again''\\
''When he looked around he saw a clown''\\
''and the clown seemed very gay''\\
''And he set that night to join that circus clown and run away''
-->-- "1941"

'''Harry Nilsson''' (June 15, 1941 – January 15, 1994) was a popular American [[SingerSongwriter singer/songwriter]] during TheSeventies. When a relative newcomer, Nilsson earned the attention of Music/TheBeatles, in turn [[ColbertBump garnering]] him some public notoriety of his own.

His big break came when his cover of the Fred Neil song, "Everybody's Talkin'", was featured in the film ''Film/MidnightCowboy''; earning him a Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance in the process. He would win the same award again a few years later for his performance of "Without You".

As time went on, Nilsson's continuing drug and alcohol abuse took a toll on both his voice and career, and he released his last album in 1980. His untimely death of heart failure in 1994 occurred just as he was aiming for a musical comeback.

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!!Discography:
* ''Spotlight on Nilsson'' (1966)
* ''Pandemonium Shadow Show'' (1967)
* ''Skidoo'' (1968)
* ''Aerial Ballet'' (1968)
* ''Harry'' (1969)
* ''Nilsson Sings Newman'' (1970)
* ''The Point!'' (1971)
* ''Nilsson Schmilsson'' (1971)
* ''Son of Schmilsson'' (1972)
* ''A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night'' (1973)
* ''Son of Dracula'' (1974)
* ''Pussy Cats'' [with JohnLennon] (1974)
* ''Duit on Mon Dei'' (1975)
* ''Sandman'' (1976)
* ''...That's the Way It Is'' (1976)
* ''Early Tymes'' (1977)
* ''Knnillssonn'' (1977)
* ''Flash Harry'' (1980)

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!!Tropes associated with Harry Nilsson:

* AgeProgressionSong: "1941".
* AntiLoveSong: "You're Breaking My Heart"
* ArtisticStimulation: Not beneficial in any way if you ask most people.
* AuthorExistenceFailure: Nilsson began recording a comeback album starting in 1993. It's been reported that he managed to finish the album a few days before his death. A few tracks have been leaked, but there's never been any indication that the album, provisionally titled ''Papa's Got a Brown New Robe'', will ever be released.
* BadassBeard: His pride and joy since the early '70s.
* BigApplesauce: "I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City".
* BreakupSong: Oh, so many... "Without You" being the most obvious example.
* BreakthroughHit: "Everybody's Talkin'". However, it took nearly a year from when it was first recorded for it to become a hit...
* ChristmasSongs: "Remember (Christmas)" is a perennial selection on Christmas compilations... despite having no Christmas connotations whatsoever.
* CoverVersion:
** His two biggest hits were covers. And pretty obviously, ''Nilsson Sings Newman'' is nothing covers of Music/RandyNewman songs.
** Music/TheBeatles uniformly agreed that his cover of "Mother Nature's Son" is their favourite Beatles cover song.
* CloudCuckoolander: Part of his brand of humor. "Coconut" is pretty much one of the all-time party tunes of CloudCuckooland.
* CreditsGag: The 1968 film ''Skidoo'' has Nilsson [[ListSong singing the entire end credits sequence]]: actors, crew members, and legal disclaimers. All of it. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4IMX26xF9Q Seriously.]]
* DisappearedDad: Messed him up, but good. He attributes his own self-admitted flaws as a father to this. This also becomes the subject of at least two of his songs.
* DoingItForTheArt: ''A Little Touch of Schmilsson...''
* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: "Mr. Richland's Favorite Song" was exactly that; the favorite Nilsson song of one Mr. Richland, a music publisher.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Nilsson's first releases, under the name "Bo-Pete", were rockabilly songs.
* EpicRocking: "Jump Into the Fire". That is, the album version.
* FunWithAcronyms: "'''G'''ood '''O'''ld '''D'''esk".
* GenerationXerox: "1941".
* GreenAesop: "Cowboy".
* GodIsLoveSongs: "Good Old Desk" (see FunWithAcronyms above), though it's pretty much admitted to be a joke. Not that it doesn't make a little bit of sense.
* HealingPotion: Apparently, if you put a lime in a coconut and drink 'em both up, your belly-ache should be gone in the morning. [[HereWeGoAgain Only, not]].
* HeterosexualLifePartners: With [[Music/RingoStarr Ringo Starr]]. Ringo still refrains from answering questions about Harry... for perspective, he doesn't have anywhere near the same trouble talking about [[Music/GeorgeHarrison George]] or [[Music/JohnLennon John]].
* HeAlsoDid: Conceptualized the basic story of animated film ''ThePoint''!, and also contributed the songs.
* LongTitle: "Nobody Cares About the Railroads Anymore", "I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City", "Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear"... all on the same album, even!
* LyricalDissonance: "Marchin' Down Broadway" is a super-cheery number about... celebrating America's victory over Japan in WorldWarII.
** The bouncy and wholesome-sounding "Cuddly Toy" was an obvious choice for Davy Jones to sing when TheMonkees covered it. As for the lyrics, they're vague enough to be interpreted in different ways (some quite sinister), but they're plainly about some sort of unwholesome sexual encounter.
* MagnumOpusDissonance: Though the general listening audience are mostly split between ''Aerial Ballet'', ''Nilsson Schmilsson'', and ''Pandemonium Shadow Show'' as being Nilsson's MagnumOpus, the man's own opinion was that ''A Little Touch of Schmilsson...'' was his best work.
* MeaningfulName: ''Aerial Ballet'' was named after the highwire circus act of his Swedish grandparents.
* NewSoundAlbum: ''A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night''. Standards and traditional pop.
* OnlyOneName: On many of his albums, he was credited as "Nilsson". (Which would make ''Harry'' a PunBasedTitle.)
* PleaseDontLeaveMe: "[[CaptainObvious Don't Leave Me]]".
* PopStarComposer: Of ''ThePoint'' and ''Film/{{Popeye}}''.
* ThePowerOfFriendship: "Me and My Arrow".
* PrecisionFStrike: "You're breakin' my heart... you're tearin' it apart... so FUCK YOU!" Possibly the most commercial song on the album, and the least likely to see airplay!
** RCA's Mexican division gamely tried to create a radio edit by (poorly) editing in "but I love you" from later in the song in place of the F-bombs.
* ReclusiveArtist: At least when it came to live performances, i.e. he never made any. At all.
* RepurposedPopSong: "Coconut" was nothing less than a ''shoe-in'' for ads for Coke Lime.
* RevengeOfTheSequel: ''Son of Schmilsson''.
* {{Scatting}}: An indelible part of his vocal style.
* SelfBackingVocalist: One of the masters, due to his (then) uncanny vocal range. When he was first starting out, record executives were more interested in signing his "backup singers."
* SelfTitledAlbum: ''Harry''.
* SillyLoveSongs: Though not as abundant as you'd believe.
* TheSomethingSong: A few more than a few; "Daddy's Song", "The Lottery Song", "The Puppy Song" being a mere three examples.
* SongOfSongTitles: Nilsson's cover of "You Can't Do That" features backing vocals singing the titles of various Beatles songs during the verses.
* SopranoAndGravel: Invoked in "Coconut".
* ThemeNaming: Notice all the albums with variations of "Nilsson" up there?
* ValuesDissonance: Invoked for parody with several songs on ''Harry''... a kind of super-sanitized chipper '50s worldview in the face of war, social changes, and more.
* VocalEvolution: Unfortunately, not the positive kind.
* WhiteDwarfStarlet: The subject of "Mr. Richland's Favorite Song".
* WordSchmord: This should be pretty obvious by now...
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