2000 Great Songs #1287 & 1288: Perfect Day
Not the first time I've been a little cute and offered back -to- back songs with shared titles. But this time around, given various similarities between the tracks, I opted to go with a single conjoined post. Look, we've been at this reverse-countdown project for more than 3 years, gotta mix it up a bit, right? So--"Perfect Day"(s). In both instances a drop-dead gorgeous track, lyrically almost hopeful and serene, yet both sounding so relentlessly sad. And in both cases, the depressing tone is partially musical, and partially triggered by cinematic needle-drop associations. (Hell, even the respective album covers share some stylistic parallels.) Let's start with Harry Nilsson's song, off 1977's Knnillssonn . By this point in his career, most of his best work was behind him, and he'd shot his voice partying with John Lennon and friends; but the album was unexpectedly lovely, if finding him more in his lounge lizard mode. Album closer "Perfect Da...
