Dec 08 2007
Songwriting…Without You
I’ve always been interested in how creative works are written, either stories, books, films, or songs. The inspirations behind them, trying to picture what’s inside the mind of the artist has often been a fascination for me. Here is a story behind one of the most haunting love songs ever written, “Without You”, made famous by Harry Nilsson, for which we go back to 1971….
“Without You” was written by Peter Ham and Tom Evans, who were with the band Badfinger at the time. This group had connections with The Beatles, Paul McArtney wrote one of thier hits “Come and Get It” while George Harrison produced their album “Straight Up” in 1971.
“Without You” was originaly two songs. Evans had a song, “I can’t Live, if livin’ is without you…” a harrowing plea to a departing lover, but nothing else so far. The group wanted to complete their album with this last song, and had planned to have a recording session this one night. Pete Ham had promised though to take his girlfriend out for a meal, and whilst in the car, the lady, seeing his preoccupied face, told him she did not mind if he did after all go to recording instead. Ham replied to the effect that, though her words implied no hurt on her part at missing the evening with him, her eyes conveyed something else. Then, in a flash, the song came to him..”You always smile but in your eyes your sorrow shows..”
Later, Ham’s verse was added to the outer sections of Evans existing song, and “Without You” was born, to complete the album. Excert from original version. The group thought no more of it, until Harry Nilsson asked to record it. Nilssons producer said of Nilsson at the time “it was like pulling teeth” to try to get Harry to record, but one night, high as a kite on a hallucinating drug (it was 1971!) Nilsson began his harrowing interpretation, and straight away, agian in the words of the producer “it was goosebumps time”, as Nilsson’s towering vocal performence earned him an award for best vocal that year. Nilsson on recording.
The song stayed at no. 1 in the chart for five weeks in Feb. 1972. But there was to be no happy ending for those involved. After a period of fruitless haggling over record royalties, one of the songwriters commited suicide, followed a short while by the other. In 1994, Mariah Carey recorded the song, and on the day it was released, recovering alcoholic Harry Nilsson died of a heart attack.
It’s ironic how a work can bring many people pleasure, but often not those who created it. Many times, great writers and composers are tortured souls. After all, if always happy, exactly where is the desire going to come from, to spend many hours, weeks, attempting to get out what is haunting the mind…
I aim to do a series on “making of” compositions, so look for posts on that.
