(circling back to old convos unprovoked,) i’ve been a “Lennon in the back” truther since him & Nilsson worked on Pussy Cats together but recently I’ve also been thinking on how both men also actually lived quite similar lives & that's another correlation. They were famous 60s/70s musicians who became friends & died fairly early, tragic deaths- Lennon was shot at 40, Nilsson died of a heart attack at 52. Besides that we know Lana generally has sought comfort in the “idols” she has, whether they’re dead or alive, like many of us do...
Ive often split the lyrics up as such:
Harry Nilsson has a song, his voice breaks at 2:05
Something about the way he says ‘don’t forget me’ makes me feel like
I just wish I had a friend like him, someone to give me five
Lennon in the back whisperin in my ear ‘come on, baby, you can thrive’
but I can’t”
as in she cannot thrive.
However now i’m thinking it’s:
Harry Nilsson has a song, his voice breaks at 2:05
Something about the way he says ‘Don’t forget me’ makes me feel like
I just wish I had a friend like him, someone to give me five
Lennon in the back whisperin in my ear ‘come on, baby, you can thrive’
but I can’t”
linked to the entire verse/bridge, as in despite the strong connection she feels to them through their work etc, she knows she can’t ever have them (or any of her other big inspirations.. Amy, Kurt, Marilyn, Jim, Elvis, Leonard etc) as her real life friends- she can’t get that high five from Harry or those positive affirmations from John. Both of them would be roughly 80 years old if they were still alive today, so it’s not like it wouldve been impossible for her to have maybe met them one day or atleast gone to a show of theirs or something, had life circumstances simply been different & that's also a sombering realisation to make..... especially when you yourself are pondering "whens it gonna be my turn? Don't forget me!"
it also makes me think back to her interview w Clash :
“When I was studying philosophy my teacher told me that it’s okay to feel like the people you’re closest to aren’t alive anymore. Sometimes that is the best company to keep. It’s about the people that pondered the same questions as you did, and had the same sort of life mentality as you. I was upset and inspired by that premise.
I knew then, really, that my closest friends would be people I have never really met before.”
I dont think her mindset on this has changed at all thru the years