(Sorry for this Earworm) –
Badfinger was a British pop band signed to the Beatles‘ label, Apple. One of their best songs, Without You, appeared on their second album, No Dice, and was released as a single on November 9, 1970. Paul McCartney once famously described the ballad as “the killer song of all time.”
Harry Nilsson started a four-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard charts with his cover of the Badfinger song Without You on this date in 1972. Nilsson first came across the song at a Laurel Canyon party in 1971 and initially thought it was a Beatles track. Badfinger was signed to Apple Records, the Beatles‘ label, and their original version was produced by Beatles associates Geoff Emerick and Mal Evans.
Nilsson’s version added an orchestra and a more dramatic production. When he first recorded it, he played the song slow and dark, accompanied only by a piano. Producer Richard Perry recalled to Mojo magazine in April 2008 that he had to persuade an unwilling Nilsson to record it as a big ballad: “I had to force him to take a shot with the rhythm section. Even while we were doing it, he’d be saying to the musicians, ‘This song’s awful.’” (The track went on to become a staple of middle school dances in the early ‘70s.)
In a very odd piece of trivia, Mariah Carey also had her first UK No. 1 with her version of Without You on this same date in 1994. Her version was released on January 24, just over a week after Nilsson died following a heart attack. As the song’s writers, Pete Ham and Tom Evans should have been set for life, but Badfinger’s label, Apple Records, collapsed in 1973 and they never received their full due. Tragically, both Ham (in 1975) and Evans (in 1983) committed suicide following an ongoing battle to receive their royalties.
The Haus of Dcaligari 