Added: 4 years ago
From: glen922
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  • Too bad. These two should have performed a beautiful cover of this great song. Instead they killed it and their voices. If you want to hear a soulful version of it - listen to joe cocker's take. Of course, Jimmy's own version is hard to beat. Maybe Lennon and Nilsson figured that out and simply gave up with this nonsense.

  • NUMBER 9 DREAM ! Thumbs up if you can hear it !

  • i hear alittle #9 dream here , but I like this better

  • @jzerony. Check out Harry Nilsson: Save the Last Dance for Me (demo) That's at the start of Pussycats,a demo showing the tempo and how Nilsson wanted to sing it. Than listen to the album version..Harry voice before "the screams" and after! He hit some high notes. In the demo he'd never hit again! Sad but it was here he damaged that voice of his!!

  • john an harry at the time great .lets get pissed

  • Sorry, Lennon did not write the melody or lyrics..the first Raggae super star Jimmy Cliff did!!

  • Lennon went through Janovs Primal Scream Therapy..Harry and John were doing "primal screams"..screwed up Harrys voice,those highs were gone but he could still write and the singing was still good but not great!!Sad still!!

  • Why Reagan and 9/11 and Waco? All pro war, authoritarian bullshit that both Lennon and Nilsson opposed.

  • There is a reason why great musicians need producers, and this is it.

  • great stuff

  • Harry Nilsson, one of the best and never understood

  • @hoogveld42 Tarantino understood him all right

  • sounds very similar to Number 9 Dream

  • @Jay4P This is the song from which John borrowed the string parts for #9 Dream.

  • Comment removed

  • @omckevett how is this helping a death guy you douche

  • @omckevett i thumbed it down kthxbai

  • @omckevett

    How does that help John Lennon?

  • soooo long ago

  • Harry blow his voice out on without you song. If you listen close john lennon did some over dubs on the song to smooth out harrys voice because Harry was drinking way to much at that time.

  • @MegaTriumph1 Actually it was during the recording of this album that Harry did alot of damage to his vocal chords. He and Lennon got into a who-can-shriek-loudest sort of game with each other and Harry went over the top. He said he actually left blood on the mic.

  • Is this not the song that blew Harry's voice??

  • I can hear Dream Number 9 in this..............

  • Comment removed

  • @2degucitas John wrote the melody to this ... and then took the same melody and wrote his own lyrics to it ... #9 Dream.

  • @aaronhoffmeyer Yup. Lennon wrote the strings arrangement.

  • @2degucitas Yeah so do I. Neat eh?

  • Welll, what can you say.... Harry singing Lennon.... it's an amzing moment in time.... But I dont think this and most songs from the album are using Harry's range and his melodic qualities... we all, well most of us know what Harry can do... and the material on this album just didn't do him justice, even without his throta problem....

  • Beautiful imagery.

    Thanks for sharing

  • Never come across this version til tonight. Fabulous - thanks for posting it on.

  • Great version with Lennon's influence clealry heard

  • RIP Harry. Love you xxx Such an amazing beautiful voice x

    

  • go0ddamn right, Kevin!

  • What a voice Harry had. RIP, one of the greatest singers ever.

  • I HAVE BEEN TO PLACE PICTURED AT 1:02. IT IS ON THE LIZARD PENINSULA,

    CORNWALL ENGLAND. I THINK IT"S CALL PORTHLEVEN. VERY COOL.

  • @ taha6 cat, I believe it's mostly Nilsson singing the verses and the two of them together on the chorus. I can hear Lennon's stamp on the structure of the song, and the instrumentation, and you can sense the input from Harry in places in the arrangement....Of course, they did have pretty much the same sound in their music--they could have been brothers....!

  • this may be a silly question but can someone tell me if harry is singing with john? it sounds like john more than harry and i know that harry damaged his vocals during these sessions? Is it that Harry's vocal deteriation is what's making him sound so much like john? Or what I originally asked: the two of them dueting?

  • @Tasha6cat It's Harry singing, with John producing.

  • Buffalo Bill went out tiger hunting deep in the big apple urban jungle with Harry and Phil

  • unfortunately all of the artists like lennon and nilsson are dead now. hopefully we'll get a new batch soon.

  • @jookieloom Yeah, that;s wishful thinking. I don't think ANYONE could ever fill John Lennon's shoes. He was absolutely a one-in-a-lifetime human being.

  • @lalalives For sure no one could ever fill Harry's either!

  • @seapoppy I agree!

  • No one could ever ever fill Harry's either

  • disappointing.

  • These two guys had some really good times, together, in their day….

  • John admitted that he "borrowed" the string arrangement from Harry Nilsson's "Many Rivers To Cross" from Nilsson's album Pussy Cats for #9 dream.

  • so long a go, was it in a dream...

  • I hear #9 Dream in the background.

  • @InaudibleWhisper Yessir, definitely has shades of No. 9 Dweem in it. That would be thanks to Jessie Ed Davis' beautiful guitar work adorning both tracks. !!! This song is gorgeous

  • @flowerdoodle Yeah, and the string arrangement is exactly the same...

  • @TheHypehat Yeah. it really is. It would almost be a note for note too if he didnt stray to a different chord. Listen to it: Right after he sings FIND in the first verse it differs/changes. He sings "Many rivers to cross, but I just cant seem to find______. Splittin' hairs ;)

  • Great track! Thanx for posting this. But did you know when the Beatles broke through big time in the US Harry Nilson was having a cup of coffee and listening in to the radio and he suddenly heart John Lennon praising him as the best songwriter of these days 1964, Harry Nilson didn't know what was happening to him, nice story isn't it...John would later on work with him during his "lost weekend" and c-write "OldDirt Road" which is on his album "Walls and bridges"...

  • To the nine people who disliked. You certainly don't appreciate the meaning behind this. Lennon only spoke of peace for all and the oppositions we have had to face. Truly a wise man so many misunderstood. Next time try listening to the words, you might see things so much differently than before.

  • OMG Nilsson. 

  • Peace/Love

  • Then he's doing the most wonderful impression of Lennon that I have ever heard. But I bow to your research. Thanks.

  • I think it's really kinda sad to hear Harry's voice like this....he had one of the most beautiful voices and hard living took that away from him!

    RIP John Lennon & Harry Nilsson!

  • @xaz77 it was the Lennon sessions Nilsson had when John produced his record and they would compete with each other to see who could put the most gravel in their voice then Nilsson saw blood on the microphone :( that was in the documentary anyhow

  • @nickROHLA Either way his voice in his later stuff isn't nearly the same. What documentary was it in? I'm always down to find out more on both of them.

  • @xaz77 It was called who is harry nilsson? its actually a very good documentary

  • Love it. And its not John Lennon - its Harry Nilson seemingly trying to sound like John and using the same double tracking sound he liked - which is evident on the stuff Lennon did with Phil Spector. Great song, great singer.

  • That is absolutely Harry Nilsson, by the way. And man,did he destroy his voice on this album. Nothing against Lennon, but Nilsson had a better voice and range.

  • No, I think that you are the one who is wrong. I'm sure that is John as I have been listening to his singing since 1964. His voice is unique. However, I have been wrong in the past....no, I can't remember when it was but I know I have been wrong before.

  • @MrAlsfan5 its hard to tell ,,one minute it very john lennon then its not,, i know whaT lennon sounds like but not a huge nilson fan ,,,but what i do know ,i do like,,

  • @MrAlsfan5 its hard to tell ,,one minute it very john lennon then its not,, i know whaT  lennon sounds like but not a huge nilson fan ,,,but what i do know ,i do like,,,,i just "shazammed" it and it says its nilson,,,i was under the impression that it was going tp be a duet..

  • @MrAlsfan5 - fieldfullofthistles is right. It's Nilsson (and, why not -- it's on his LP!). And as an observant longtime listener of Lennon myself, frankly I don't see much confusion. Same style? -- sure; Lennon was producing Nilsson here (and as thistles points out, Nilsson WAS trying to emulate Lennon). But in terms of vocal signature, it's clearly (a rougher version of) Nilsson.

  • I've never heard this rare track with Harry Nilsson and John Lennon before.

  • Lennon was the lead vocalist on this song. His voice is unique.

  • @MrAlsfan5 you're wrong, MrAlsfan5. The lead vocalist is actually Nilsson. It's painful to listen to by this Nilsson fan, because his voice is in such ragged shape. The recording of this album was famously the one where he completely destroyed his gorgeous voice.  It's so tragic.

  • @fredoviola it was an absolute tragedy, he died in obscurity.

    

  • WOW, I never heard this.  incredable

  • It's been refereced in a few places that this is the album where Nilsson lost his voice (ruptured his vocal chords) but does anyone hear any pre-ruptured vocals on this album? Nilsson sounds pretty shot throughout. It's not like you hear crystal clear vocals on some tracks and then, boom... no voice. I have my doubts that it was quite that quick. I see it more as a gradual self destruction, started before the Pussycat sessions...

  • @jzerony Sounds like a soul singer to me. They could say the same about Otis Redding for that matter. The grit is the key.

  • @johnfright Yeah, Nilsson made his "newfound" raspier voice work to his advantage for a while - quite effectively on at least two or three albums after Pussycats. Duit on Mon Dei (1975) and Sandman (1976) are worth checking out....

  • @jzerony There is a reason for this. Apparently, John and Harry were having a screaming competition in the studio during the Pussy Cat sessions. In the end, John won and Harry's microphone was covered in blood. This was the end of Harry's effortlessly sweet voice. Funny, they were so similar, both very destructive, it's too bad the Harry had so much more to loose. All aside, two of my favorite people, the world would truely be a lesser place without their music. Cheers.

  • @fraserhayes15416 hey, I saw the documentary on him, and I had a thought that Lennon might of wrecked Harry's voice on purpose. Maybe some sort of jealousy; and don't forget that John Lennon died very soon after that. This may seem a little crazy, but I think John might have known he was going to die soon, and so he tried to destroy him( I know, crazy;) ) Anyway, just a thought...

  • @FaithsKey Saw that myself,Harry said his "Throw't was bleeding"by screaming it the mike.Egg'd on by Lennon.

    Think your spot on with your comment.Well said.

  • @FaithsKey John died 5 years later. He was self-destructive, and so he had a sort of a destructive influence on all the musicians of the Lost weekend period. But I don't think he had a special malicious intent towards Harry Nilsson.

  • @jzerony I think he had been partying. That's what I'd always heard. And in fact was was sick or run down as well. They made albums very quickly back then, so it's not inconceivable.

  • Harry sounds like John on this. Or should I say, John sounded like Harry on his future recordings

  • Definitely the cousin to No. 9 dream.

  • The nine people who dislike this song have MANY more rivers to cross. They should begin with an IQ test.

  • @stickbandit27

    dial a cliche

  • @stickbandit27

    you need an IQ test for getting wound up about it.

  • @stickbandit27 I'll never understand people who complain about the negative votes. I never even notice - just enjoy the music. Who cares?

  • @stickbandit27

    What good would an IQ test do? You know those don't make you smarter right?

    Also, implying that people with a different taste than you are dumb, is a little dumb in itself.

  • Woahhh!!! Fucking asshole??? Why all the aggression there, pal? Christ, I hope you're not this way offline as well as online... for YOUR sake. Talk that way face to face with someone and you're bound to missing a few teeth one day. Look, I'm not looking to get into a whole thing with you, but I HOPE you were just kidding.

  • @jzerony, some ppl who are so centered on their own belly-bottoms come online to disrespect others. I have started learning to show Mercy for them, for they don't know what they do...they already have a BIG WAR inside torturing them. If u happen to believe in God u could pray for them and even if it doesn't work on them...it returns to u as a Blessing.

  • senorinapiavefiume: Wow, what brought that on? Check out the comments by sunlover20007. And I do know something about music, thanks anyway.

  • NILSSON sings the shit out of this song - so much so that plenty of fools dont knowwww

  • who cares if it is cover? I'm sure you idiots don't know half of the shit on the top 40 is sampled or covers themselves. jeez. It's a good song. That's all that matters. Shit. How many times have you sang a song that belongs to someone else? Go stand in the corner until you can respect music. kthxbai

  • whoever said this lacks feeling is a moron...beautiful...

  • Lacks any feeling...just a cover

  • @howie9751 Of all the moronic comments I've ever seen on youtube, and there are far too many to count, yours takes the cake. If you knew ANYTHING about music and music history, you'd be ashamed of yourself.

  • I'm lovin this song so much from every artist that ever performed it, but especially this version, which I recently been reunited with because of the rock doc about Harry. I'll have to do a cover of this next. Its a beautiful and timeless tune.

  • @konaspirit They just don't breed them like this anymore. These were two of the most remarkable talents of their generation: working class boys from broken families with deeply developed poetic sensibilities. There is a lot of competition, given that this is one of the most covered songs of all time. But I agree that their's is a very special performance. John was murdered not long after they performed it and Harry's demons were beginning to get the upper hand.

  • The Darkness Of Night

    We are a nation of tragedies and costs

    But when the next catastrophe is over

    we will lick our wounds and come out to fight

    leaving our enemies to measure their own worth

    and fade into the darkness of night

    M.S. Morrison

  • Apparently Harry blew out his voice on this album because he john would have screaming contests during the sessions.

  • "ONE OF THE "BESTEST VERSIONS" EVER OF THIS CLASSIC . . . . . IN "MY" OPINION. PERIOD."

    NOT ONE. . . . . . BUT, "TWO" OF MUSIC'S GREATEST ARTISTS/MUSICIANS OF ALL TIME ON IT, HARRY NELSON & JOHN LENNON, OOOH, MAANN! ! !

    CHECK OUT ASIDE FROM MR. JIMMY CLIFF (the org.) CHECK OUT CHER'S VERSION. AND ASLO, LENNY KRAVITZ, etc.....

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  • Comment removed

  • How incredibly appropriate that the two top rated comments commend the two magnificent artists in this song, and both have the same number of thumbs up.

  • Very cool, thanks!

  • Exactly what i was going to say ipolson.........and anyway, just because individually they were both brilliant, doesn't mean that they were immune from turning out the odd duff track

  • I don't mean to diss the dead, but that's an appaling cover, it's so slow

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  • @triumphvic: The original was by Jimmy Cliff in th 60's.

  • So who is who on this recording? I can't tell

  • @reddupo As far as I can remember Lennon Produced this Album around 1975 I think it was Pussy Cats. Classic Harry singing to John's style.

  • the orchestrated part sounds very much like #9 Dream in a way....

  • @lildarkhorse

    It should. John liked the melody so much he used it on #9 from Walls and Bridges.

  • @mysteric70 Guess that would be the reason!!! LOL Wow, I didn't know that. Thanks :)

  • Poor Harry!

  • This World needs You Two so badly right now.

  • @Starman123baby  Well said.

  • @Starman123baby you are so damned right... the world was a better place with John and Harry in it.

  • @Starman123baby snap! as i was listening to this amazing song by two amazing artists, that was the exact though that came into my head, its such a shame!

  • dreams and rainy monday evenings

  • sounds like Dream No. 9 in a lower speed

  • Talkin about this. Both exceepcional singers. Congratulation Lennon and Nilsson

  • Them being friends and co-writers/performers always made sense to me because Nilsson was kind of like a 'cool' Paul, you know what I mean as much as I love Paul, he always has been a little nerdy. Harry was not at all, just look at who he hung with. If Keith Moon had anything to do with him, he was cool. Heh. John and Harry made some beautiful music we will never hear I am sure of. Bless both their spirits as they live on through US. - Life is what happens while your busy making plans - J.O.L.

  • .....I'm wandering and Im lost.......

  • I love Harry but I remember reading May Pang's account of how John Lennon was quite disappointed with Harry's broken voice. John knew Harry initially from his multi-octave singing from earlier years, and when he worked with Harry on Pussycats he got the beginning of Harry's vocal end. Pussycats is a real hard album for me to listen to without getting depressed. This song (and others like Don't Forget Me) are quite beautiful - but undeniably sad too - and for many reasons...

  • weird photographs ?

  • Wow, Awesome, I never had heard this before, Thank you! I loved both of these musicians. M.

  • You people are retarded. Either you need better speakers, or you should have your cleaned by a professional

  • this is fantastic... lennons backing vocals sound tortured as plastic ono band

  • Great video for this fantastic song! Thank you!

  • Talent that moves the soul like this, hard to find anymore these two men how great thou art "

  • Lennon was cut off at his prime

    McCartney really was lost without him history tells us that

    but we can only dream of what we lost

  • @mrg666 amazing how humans cut out other humans

  • no disrespect to these guys ,but they really butchered this once freat tune

  • True renman103 but both these guys were doin some serious drinkin and druggin togethet during lennons lost weekend. this was recorded around that time. Nilsson subsequently busted a vocal artery from doing so much coke and never recovered that incredible voice again. Sad but brilliant.

  • wow,did`nt know that, i still like this version never the less..

  • @renman103 YES THEY DID BUTHER IT...JAMAICAN BORN JIMMY CLIFF IS THE WRITER AND SINGER OF THE RIGINAL SONG AND HIS IS THE BEST ONE.

  • You're right bimbim, it's normal things. Lennon was pretty much "vanilla" if you will. When you get older, you'll figure it out and if you don't ..check out the next Yoko Ono show!.

  • Not right.....dont sound right sounds hippyfied ..was they stoned or somthink when they sang this...lennon sings better in his other songs....UB40 has the perfect voices for this song

  • this is for 420wade: you've got a good perspective but you're too uptight and quick to jump to the defenses. maybe you shouldn't get upset when people disagree with you, because everyone can't have the same opinion about something. in fact, its best to consider yours and geojoey's opinion to gain a much humbler and more expanded perspective.

  • sanc·ti·mo·ni·ous (saŋk′tə mō′nē əs)

    adjective

    pretending to be very holy or pious; affecting sanctity or righteousness

    Etymology: < sanctimony + -ous

  • @glen922-Wow the images are powerful. In my humble opinion the artists who chose to cover this song have been touched to the core by the lyrics, so I can appreciate the different versions, but I'm liking this one second to Jimmy Cliff.

  • this is good but joe cocker beats it

  • English soul nice

  • Maxeythecat I Can not type what I want to say , But I can say sorry!!!! for the way you think and hear. No one has let you out of !!YOUR!! box. Wish you luck so you can enjoy! just simply enjoy, great music when you hear it!!!

  • 2:27 total criminal. Fingerprint that wench!

  • To all you idiot thumb-downers, can't you see what an absolute CRIMINAL she was, sitting wherever she wanted? My God, she is a TERRORIST! Freedom of movement, speech, assembly, association and information MUST be regulated, if we are to live in a free society!

  • i completely agree

  • I think it is a very emotional and moving version of the song.

  • As much as I loved these guys, this album is bloody awful. Nilsson's voice was completely blown out ( and sadly never the same after this record), Lennon's piss poor imitation of Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound" is a muddled mess of mono that really suprised me, cos I knew he was capable of so much better..guess the album sorta describes the shape he was in at the time. I really wanted to love Pussycats, but try as I might I just could'nt get past the dissappointment I felt at every listen.

  • he blew his voice out yes, but still had the same passion and beauty, just without the beautiful tone. Pussy Cats is ok.  I especially like the bonus Flying Saucer song.

  • Heartbreaking to contemplate what we lost, musically, politically, spiritually, emotionally, socially, with the assassination of Lennon. He said 3 more albums in his head, unrecorded but studio-ready, when he was murdered. We must cross future rivers without him, but aided by his spirit, our memories of him, and the inspiration of the music he did manage to record before his premature death.

  • @4120Wade  great post.

  • WAYYYY too gushy, Wade. Lennon was NOT God.

  • Lennon was very very human. Hell, he was a heroin addict for a while. But he actually managed to channel something divine through his all too human body/spirit to hundreds of millions of us. The human race is much the richer for his music, his wit, his life, much the poorer for his untimely death.

  • NAH! Much the "poorer" for his untimely death? ha. Mebbe makes it all better?

    Dude, who gives a rip about the failings! :) More important his MESSAGE! Which seemed, in large part, this: "Why do these bastards want to control us and who the hell are they?"

  • I give a rip about the failings and the successes. Therein lies the power and the pathos. Sounds like you mostly give a rip about having the last word.  Then congratulating yourself about knowing best. Go ahead, blow hard again, so's you can have it again, congratulate yourself again.

  • i don't see anything that proves that he needs the last word. in fact, he didn't even fully disagree with you at all, he just added his own perspective to it and you totally took it as an attack, jumped to the defense, and pointed your finger at him for silly things that you don't know anything about.

  • 4120, I ask this of ALL of us: WHY could we EACH not facilitate such humanitarian impact? Because we can't play guitar or write a song? Do we each not have the same passion as Lennon? My pity on you, if you answer not. Your message is important, even if you can't sing "Twist and Shout".

  • you'll be more persuasive when you step off that self-congratulatory soapbox, Preacher Geojoey. "...And we all shine on..." Maybe millions of the rest of us are realizing more than you have yet imagined...

  • I thought you actually had some form of contribution for us, Wade. Sorry you decided to take the low road.

  • For "us"? You are not an us. You're a lonely control freak with nothing to control, wanking in your mother's basement.

  • Whoa. Really low road. You're right. I am not an "us".

  • he's got a point...haha ;)

  • ooh, that's kind of low, wade...not fair, and a completely incompetent assessment. where's your girlfriend? why isn't she wanking you? why are you spending your time on youtube imposing your views onto other people and not taking anyone else's into account? does it make you feel better to insult him? why is that? how does this comment make you feel?

  • though he took the low road, he still contributed...but i'm sure neither one of you are helping each other out by bouncing off of one another. i seriously think that you both made really good points, why can't each of you see that, now? come on, guys...

  • yeah well if you are, then keep it to yourself and stop arguing with him about it. you guys went from expressing your opinions on youtube to arguing about your own perspectives on youtube. i'm sure that neither one of you are losers, but thats what you seem like on here. come on, now, All You Need Is Love, guys. :)

  • @4120Wade id say his death erased all the contribution and we became poorest.

  • @4120Wade

    Last night outside Capitol Records fans gathered around John's star and sang all the songs we could.

    All we are saying

    Is give peace a chance.

  • @4120Wade yeah its very human to do heroin.... (facepalm)

  • @Girly2869 To err is human. And heroin addiction is a dreadful error. But this heroin addict was also a phenomenal human being, a compassionate heart, a spiritual leader, an inspiration to hundreds of millions, a great wit and satirist, and a musical genius. Even the greatest spirits have their fleshly failings. MLK, for example, perhaps the greatest American spiritual leader and martyr of the 20th Century, also repeatedly cheated on his Coretta.

  • @mobydoug I wasn't trying to slander Lennon, Its just the saying that irks me. to be human is to be erroneous, I know.

  • @4120Wade I agree, but you do know this isn't John Lennon - it's Harry Nilsson, don'cha? Lennon just produced this song/album...

  • @jzerony Good point. Nilsson is the lead singer, and is phenomenal. Certainly Lennon's footprints are all over the album. He has thoroughly Lennonized it, and Nilsson. Amazing to think what Lennon, had he lived, might have done with OTHER singers and bands as a producer. I don't mean to slight Nilsson. I love his work. But my mind's on Lennon because of 12/8/80. And because I used to see him and Yoko walking around our Upper Westside neighborhood--both charming and accessible.