For The Love Of Harry

"The Courtship Medley" (27:55)
Unreleased Incidental Music From The TV Series,
The Courtship Of Eddie's Father, 1969
Songs Written And "Sunged" By Harry Nilsson
Music Score By Nilsson & George Tipton

Everybody knows the theme song. Hell, even people that don't know Nilsson know that theme. But what is less known, even by fans, is the incidental background music Harry penned for the 1969 television series, The Courtship Of Eddie's Father. Glorious thanks to our pal Les Peterson, who spent a considerable amount of time going through the original shows in the series, and pulling out all of the little tidbits, interludes, segues, joiners and background music that Nilsson concocted for the first year of the series. Because of the nature of these recordings (seconds-long snippets and quiet background music under the show's dialog), there's really no other way to listen to all this but as a whole, and Les did a top notch job of stringing all of these tidbits (over 55 of 'em) together, as well as providing historical info about Nilsson's involvement.

This music, as the funny screen shot on the right details, is really a joint venture with arranger George Tipton, who worked with Harry on albums such as Spotlight On Nilsson, Skidoo and The Point!, among others. You can hear Tipton's work in the numerous re-arrangements of Harry's melody lines for "Best Friend" and other tunes. Harry himself overdubs numerous one-line vocal punctuations for the show's visuals ("She Dropped 'Em" and "Be Careful With The Coffee For Your Dad," to pick a couple). We've isolated five segments below to give you an idea what's in the entire 28 minute medley. One surprising revelation is the minute long piece, "When We Were Young." It should be immediately recognizable to listeners as an early stylistic blueprint for The Point! (which Nilsson and Tipton would collaborate on a year and a half later, after Nilsson "sunged" Newman). It's not hard to imagine Harry instinctively recognizing that this technique - a vamping, two-chord keyboard weaving in, around and behind the dialog - was a handy tool for soundtrack composition. Tipton also expertly orchestrates a fairground version of the theme. Note also the two instrumental "rock and roll" backing tracks. One sounds like a typically generic TV rock combo, all hair-shaking 60s frenzy. The second, around the 24 minute mark, sounds closer to an instrumental reworking of "Good Times," from Spotlight On Nilsson. It's hard to tell, however, if Nilsson is actually involved in either of these tracks, even though his pre-fame discography is littered with this kind of basic R&R. All of this incidental music comes from the first 8 episodes of the series. By episode 9, the music began changing and Nilsson's vocals were no longer a part of the mix. By episode 10, the producers began using generic background singers for the rest of the year's shows (save the occasional Harry reprise from past episodes). The entire series ran until 1972. Listen to "The Courtship Medley" (and isolated segments) below. Get it HERE. We've been waiting decades for this, thanks a million Les.



Everybody's Got The Flu (Call Your Girlfriend) (:36)

She Dropped 'Em (:10)

Little Cowboy variation (:25)

He's A Good Old Dad (:06)

When We Were Young (:56)


Go here to listen to Harry & Brandon Cruz (Eddie) jamming on "Best Friend," Courtship's theme song. Go here to hear the two Nilsson songs that formed the basis for "Best Friend."