Coconut

Jay Dreyer

2 minute read

Song:Coconut
Artist:Harry Nilsson
Release Date:1971

How did this happen?

Easy. If you’ve ever heard the Coconut song, you are forever infected. It’s as simple as that. It can pop back in your head at any moment. Someone says “coconut”? Done. “Doctor”? Done. It really doesn’t take much. See coconut shrimp on the menu? Boom. I’ve already infected my children. My daughter will randomly come up to me and start singing it. It’s over for her now, too.

Go ahead. Let’s hear it.

I don’t know what’s up with this video, but it has 5.3 million views.

And everything is better with Muppets:

So about the song…

“Coconut” is a track from the 1971 album Nilsson Schmilsson by Harry Nilsson that reached #8 on the charts in 1972. This was Nilsson’s most successful album. Even the snobs at Pitchfork recognized its greatness and ranked it #84 in their top albums of the 70’s list. You’re still sitting there thinking, “Who the hell is Harry Nilsson”? And that’s a valid question. But I bet you know some of his songs, including this song. Also, I bet you’ve heard “Without You”.

There’s a huge Beatles/Nilsson link that I find fascinating. John Lennon and Paul McCartney both were very big fans of Nilsson. Per wikipedia, when John and Paul formed Apple Corps in 1968, during the press conference announcing it, the press asked John who his favorite American artist was. He replied “Nilsson”. When they asked Paul who his favorite American group was, he replied “Nilsson”. So, there’s that. There could be a book written about all of the ties between Nilsson and the Beatles. I should do it here, but it would mean I couldn’t write any more inane posts about ‘80s new wave for a while and I just can’t live with that.

If you’re still wondering about Nilsson, if you’ve seen Goodfellas, you’ve heard the third most popular track from Nilsson Schmilsson: “Jump Into the Fire”:

This clip is a ‘reminder’ of the scene, with lots of crap edited in so that it escapes copyright stuff. But if you’ve seen Goodfellas, this is the big paranoid drug run at the end of the film. Great stuff.

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