You ask most people to name their favourite singer of all time, and they’ll hum and haw for an eternity. The brotherly duo at the heart of The Beatles didn’t. “Nilsson”. That was the simple answer the songwriting powerhouse of John Lennon and Paul McCartney gave when asked for their favourite American singer during a press conference announcing the formation of Apple Corps.
When asked for their favourite American group, their reply was simple once more: “Nilsson”. Across countless other interviews, the two Beatles continued to effuse about the incredible talent of Harry Nilsson. They even shared a touching friendship with him for many years, and all because of one magical song.
Harry Nilsson’s classic cover ‘You Can’t Do That’ is about as far away from a typical cover song as you can get while remaining classified as such. It is not a straight take on the tune in the title, but the track is actually a composite of 15-20 different Beatles songs, effortlessly sewn together by the rich and warm vocal prowess of the Brooklyn native Nilsson. Featuring on his 1967 album Pandemonium Shadow Show, the track was accompanied by a far more traditional Beatles cover of ‘She’s Leaving Home’, a song which had only been released on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band ten days before he began recording. This was a bold move for any new kid on the block.
His unusual adaptation of ‘You Can’t Do That’ really caught Lennon and McCartney’s eye. As Nilsson once described the song: “One time I was just toying with my guitar. I struck this chord, and it seemed to lend itself to a million different songs. I noticed how many Beatles songs could be played on this one chord, so I run down to Wallach’s Music City on Sunset, at about midnight, just before it closed, bought the Beatles songbook, and finished the song that night.”
A pure vocalist, what Nilsson did with The Beatles covers was enough to gather up a small but growing population of fans. But, in truth, Nilsson wasn’t really given his chance to shine until he received the band’s backing. The Liverpudlian’s appraisal was the best credit you could get. He had the group’s serial tastemaker and publicist Derek Taylor – the man who branded the British Invasion to thank for putting the LP under their noses. Taylor fell for the LP when visiting America and made sure to pick up a few copies to dish out to his hipper mates, including The Beatles.
The story goes that Lennon binged the album for 36 hours straight, eventually calling Nilsson to share his admiration for not only the covers of The Beatles but the record as a whole. The next day, Nilsson would receive another call from a Liverpudlian; this time, Paul McCartney was ready to share his love for the LP. It would begin a friendship that would last for decades.
Nilsson needed this approval, too. Although the ease with which he conflated recent Beatles releases showcased his genius after he was bullied for performing in school, he was very wary of displaying his talents to anyone. Lofty praise from the biggest artists in history certainly helped to put that to bed to at least some extent. Now, he had made it, and he remained eternally grateful to them for reaching out.
Nilsson would go on to both work and play with John Lennon. The duo became infamous spectres of Los Angeles haunts during Lennon’s famous ‘Lost Weekend’, sharing Brandy Alexanders and getting up to the kind of rock star revelry they were probably too old to be engaging with. Equally, the two men also shared some fantastic moments in the recording studio too, as Lennon went on to produce Nilsson’s album Pussy Cats.
When Lennon was murdered outside his home in New York, Nilsson was distraught. Unable to work as he once had, the singer became an avid supporter of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence and was a fierce supporter of gun reform up until his sad death in 1994 at the age of 52.
Most recently, when Harry’s son Zak was diagnosed with cancer, McCartney saw fit to send him a letter of support, writing: “Very best of luck with your (chemo) treatment. My wife, Nancy, went through it years ago and stuck with it even though she hated it. She is now better and well, except for the fact she is married to me!!” Sharing another touching sentiment, “I was very privileged to know your Dad, whom I knew as a lovely guy and a great talent.”
There are countless artists and singers who impressed John Lennon and Paul McCartney over the years, and there is likely a list as long as your arm for their so-called “favourite” musicians. But we expect if you pulled together a list of each of their favourite performers, it would have very few crossovers, except, of course, for Harry Nilsson, the man so pivotal to the pair that he was often dubbed ‘The Fifth Beatle’, or perhaps more aptly, ‘The One-man Beatles’.
