Harry's Game

“I can’t live, if living is without you-oo

I can’t live, I can’t give any moooore

Can’t live, if living is without you-oo

I can’t give, I can’t give any moooore!”

HAVING “I can’t live, if living is without you-oo

I can’t live, I can’t give any moooore

Can’t live, if living is without you-oo

I can’t give, I can’t give any moooore!”

HAVING had this infernal tune lodged in my brain throughout the course of the day, I began to speculate whether the tragic lyrics of Harry Nilsson’s 1971 hit had led to an unprecedented spate of suicides in the way that Goethe’s Sorrows of Young Werther so dramatically reduced the population of eighteenth-century Germany.

As far as I’m concerned, this careless exercise in lyrical frivolity seems quite reckless on Harry’s part. After all, not everyone is capable of withstanding his 3.5-octave vocal range without throwing themselves under the nearest bus.