Talking The Talk

You might not know Harry Nilsson, but you know his songs. They’ve been engrained in popular culture for almost 50 years. And although bad experiences and good money early in his career meant the American pretty much never played live, he’s managed to claim a legacy that few pop musicians could obtain.

Like many, Freedman, the 49-year-old frontman for The Whitlams, was immediately enamoured by Nilsson’s big hits, Everybody’s Talkin’ and Without You – “two of the best pop vocals in history” – and was a “huge fan” of two of Nilsson’s close friends: John Lennon and Randy Newman. But it wasn’t until The RCA Albums Collection came out in 2013 – a definitive 17-disc collection – that Freedman really “delved deep” into Nilsson’s songs and history.

But what resonated with the Sydneysider was Nilsson’s outpouring of creativity from the mid-‘60s to the early-‘70s, then the poignancy of his descent. “He didn’t handle success and basically spent 20 years committing suicide,” he laments.

“Success didn’t make him happy and he was very insecure. He was screwed up from his father abandoning him, and he became an alcoholic. I don’t think you can say because he grew up poor in Brooklyn and was good at maths he wasn’t suited to be a pop star – most pop stars come from strange upbringings. He saw himself as a studio artist – he looked up to The Beatles especially in the late-‘60s when they didn’t play and they created their best records.”

Could Nilsson have performed those songs as they sound on record? Freedman isn’t sure. “His voice wasn’t always in great nick,” he remarks, referencing Nilsson’s partying sessions where he’d yell, drink and stay up far too long. But that was never a deterrent for cracking Nilsson’s canon himself.

Freedman also loves playing Randy Newman songs, singing a trio of tracks during the show “like Harry would sing them”. Because Freedman Does Nilsson is more than a night of musical interpretation – it’s a theatrical performance in a sense, with The Whitlams songwriter embodying Nilsson’s character completely while on stage; flat cap, beard and all.

“I imagine Harry doing a concert when he’s 50, and he tells stories about his life that relate to the songs, so I’ve got an American accent and the whole kit. This is new – I like cabaret and I like theatres, so I just thought I’d extend my range a little.”