Try a Little 10derness

Last week’s 10 had a lot of heavy hitters in it! Including the mighty Harry Nilsson with “Me and My Arrow.” It’s a song featured in the animated television special “The Point,” (Affilaite link ahoy!) which holds the distinction of being the first ever animated feature to air on prime time TV.

Nilsson started developing “The Point” without a network behind it, and the story of getting it to air involves one of my favorite hardcore moves of all time. After being bumped off an ABC executive’s schedule multiple times, Nilsson social-engineered his travel schedule out of an assistant, then booked a seat on a flight from LA to NYC just to get the seat next to the exec so that he wouldn’t be able to escape for the entire duration of the flight.

It worked — by the end of the flight, he had secured a contract for the film to be an ABC Movie of the Week.

There have been at least four narration tracks recorded for “The Point.” The first track was by Dustin Hoffman, who agreed to do it as a personal favor for Nilsson. Hoffman’s contract, however, limited the rights to only a single airing, so it was re-recorded by Alan Barzman — a phenomenal voice talent, but with nowhere near the star cachet of Hoffman. In the 80’s and 90’s any time it appeared on television, audiences would have heard the dulcet tones of Dr. Seaver himself, Alan Thicke — while audiences who picked up the VHS (and later the DVD and blu-ray) would hear the story narrated by another of Nilsson’s close, personal friends, Ringo Starr.

“Me and My Arrow” isn’t the most popular song featured in “The Point.” In fact, it’s probably not even the second or third most popular song. But it has a certain amount of cultural legacy in that it was sampled as the hook for Blackalicious’ “Blazing Arrow.”

But for now, let’s get into this week’s 10 tracks!

For those joining in for the first time, every week I put my music player on shuffle and post lyrics pulled from the first ten tracks to come up. It’s up to you to get in the comments and identify the artist and song. Each correct guess gets you the coveted No-Prize.

Da Rules

1. No Googlin’
2. Get at least close to the title (Um, Actually rules apply)
3. I’ll give you credit for a cover version, but it has to be one I can find.

Da Lyrics

1. Jesus loves her, but she wants more.
2. That hypocrite smokes two packs a day.
   Beastie Boys, “Fight For Your Right”
   https://youtu.be/eBShN8qT4lk?si=Nny1M0i00iZSTK7C
   Identified by Sidney
3. I been hurtin’ since I bought the gimmick.
4. Everybody seems so happy — have I possibly gone daffy?
5. It made you believe in “No man, no cry.”
   *NSYNC, “It’s Gonna Be Me”
   https://youtu.be/GQMlWwIXg3M?si=niZkp2FWYoatBrL9
   Identified by Sidney
6. Tryna turn you from my bae to my fam.
7. She dances on air just like Superman’s child.
8. Am I weird to dance alone late at night?
9. An older version of me, is she perverted like me?
   Alanis Morissette, “You Oughta Know”
   https://youtu.be/NPcyTyilmYY?si=bRrGpwCEP40sXcXo
   Identified by Sidney
10. She need to get a piece of the American pie and take her bite out.

Featured Photo by Clifford Photos from Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-holding-playing-cards-2444580/