{"id":793007,"date":"2019-02-13T09:12:14","date_gmt":"2019-02-13T16:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=793372"},"modified":"2019-02-13T09:12:14","modified_gmt":"2019-02-13T16:12:14","slug":"flashback-harry-nilsson-sings-a-wistful-gotta-get-up-in-1971","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/music-news\/flashback-harry-nilsson-sings-a-wistful-gotta-get-up-in-1971\/","title":{"rendered":"Flashback: Harry Nilsson Sings a Wistful \u2018Gotta Get Up\u2019 in 1971"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Harry Nilsson<\/a> is in the midst of an unlikely comeback. Netflix\u2019s new hit series Russian Doll<\/em>, in which a video-game developer dies over and over again on her 36th\u00a0birthday, features his charming \u201cGotta Get Up\u201d on endless loop. This has sparked interest in the Seventies singer-songwriter, and spawned articles informing viewers just who sings \u201cthat song\u201d from the show.<\/p>\n

But in his day, Nilsson was far from obscure. When the Beatles were asked who their favorite American artist was at a 1968 press conference, John Lennon and Paul McCartney didn\u2019t hesitate before naming Nilsson. He wrote one of the Monkees\u2019 greatest songs, \u201cCuddly Toy\u201d (\u201cYou\u2019re not the only choo-choo train\/That was left out in the rain\/The day after Santa came\u201d), and won a Grammy in 1973 for his bellowing vocal performance in \u201cWithout You.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beginning with Midnight Cowboy<\/em> in 1969, Nilsson\u2019s music has often featured on soundtracks. Whether it\u2019s Meg Ryan decorating a Christmas tree to the somber \u201cRemember (Christmas)\u201d in You\u2019ve Got Mail<\/em> or Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock screaming \u201cmidnight margaritas!\u201d and drunkenly dancing to \u201cCoconut\u201d in Practical Magic<\/em>, Nilsson\u2019s whimsical melodies and intense vocal range have enhanced on-screen images for decades. And now we get to hear him greet Natasha Lyonne back from the dead in Russian Doll<\/em>, over and over again.<\/p>\n

Released in 1971, \u201cGotta Get Up\u201d is the the opening track to Nilsson Schmilsson<\/em>. \u201cFrom that opening, the way the piano starts, you could sense that this was gonna be something special,\u201d recalled producer Richard Perry in the definitive documentary Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin\u2019 About Him)?\u00a0<\/em>The song, which you can watch Nilsson perform in the video above, is about waking up on the right side of the bed, despite reality. The lyrics allude to nostalgia for the past and reflect on the process of aging, which stand in stark contrast to the cheerful, optimistic melody. \u201cWe used to carry on and drink and do the rock & roll\/We never thought we\u2019d get older\/We never thought it\u2019d grow cold, but now \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

In the same way Bill Murray wakes up to \u201cI Got You, Babe\u201d every morning in Groundhog Day<\/em>, Natasha Lyonne\u2019s character Nadia keeps finding herself staring at her reflection and washing her hands to \u201cGotta Get Up\u201d in the bathroom on her birthday. \u201cI wanted somebody who was connected to a lineage of a certain kind of difficulty, or who gave you a certain effect,\u201d the star and co-creator explained to Rolling Stone<\/a><\/em> recently. \u201cThe sound of their voice would in and of itself be a reminder: a juxtaposition of the unpleasantness and the grandeur of the human experience on a daily basis. Harry Nilsson, specifically, encapsulates that.\u201d<\/p>\n

via:: Rolling Stone<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Harry Nilsson is in the midst of an unlikely comeback. Netflix\u2019s new hit series Russian Doll, in which a video-game developer dies over and over again on her 36th\u00a0birthday, features his charming \u201cGotta Get Up\u201d on endless loop. This has sparked interest in the Seventies singer-songwriter, and spawned articles informing viewers just who sings \u201cthat […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-793007","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-14 00:43:13","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=793007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793007\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=793007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=793007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=793007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}