Aerial Ballet - Definition and Overview

Aerial Ballet is an album by Harry Nilsson.

Aerial Ballet was Nilsson's second album for RCA Victor. It consists almost entirely of songs written by him, including "One", which would later become a Number One hit for Three Dog Night. (The song's opening line, "One is the loneliest number", is a common phrase to this day, but very few people know who coined it.)

Ironically, the most familiar track from Aerial Ballet is its one cover song, Fred Neil's "Everybody's Talkin'". Although not a hit at the time of this album's release, this song was subsequently selected for use in the Oscar-winning film Midnight Cowboy and became one of Nilsson's biggest hits as a performer.

The intended opening song for Aerial Ballet was "Daddy's Song", but this track was removed from the album by RCA at the last minute without the knowledge or consent of Nilsson. The reason that it was done was because The Monkees had recorded the song and were about to release it as part of the soundtrack of their film Head. The CD reissue restores "Daddy's Song" to its rightful place in the lineup.

Track listing

1. "Daddy's Song" (Nilsson) - 2:19 (CD reissue only)
2. "Good Old Desk" (Nilsson) - 2:22
3. "Don't Leave Me" (Nilsson) - 2:18
4. "Mr Richards Favorite Song" (Nilsson) - 2:12
5. "Little Cowboy" (Nilsson) - 1:20
6. "Together" (Nilsson) - 2:08
7. "Everybody's Talkin'" (Fred Neil) - 2:41
8. "I Said Goodbye to Me" (Nilsson) - 2:13
9. "Little Cowboy" (Nilsson) - 0:49
10. "Mr. Tinker" (Nilsson) - 2:41
11. "One" (Nilsson) - 2:50
12. "The Wailing of the Willow" (Nilsson/Smith) - 1:57
13. "Bath" (Nilsson) - 1:44