Aerial Ballet
Studio album by Harry Nilsson
Released	1967 Nov.8
Recorded	1967 Nov.8
Genre	Pop Music
Length	25:15
Label	RCA Victor
Producer(s)	Rick Jarrard
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link
Harry Nilsson chronology
Pandemonium Shadow Show (1967)	Aerial Ballet (1968)	Skidoo (soundtrack) (1968)

Aerial Ballet is an album by Harry Nilsson released in 1968. Image File history File links Harry_Nilsson_Aerial_Ballet. ... A studio album is a collection of previously unreleased, studio-recorded tracks by a recording artist. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... For popular music (music produced commercially rather than art or folk music), see Popular music. ... This does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Sony BMG Music Entertainment is the result of a 50/50 joint venture between Sony Music Entertainment (part of Sony) and BMG Entertainment (part of Bertelsmann AG) completed in August 2004. ... In the music industry, a record producer (or music producer) has many roles, among them controlling the recording sessions, coaching and guiding the musicians, organizing and scheduling production budget and resources, and supervising the recording, mixing and mastering processes. ... Rick Jarrard was a staff producer for RCA Records during the 1960s. ... The All Music Guide (AMG) is a metadata database about music owned by All Media Guide. ... Image File history File links 4. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Pandemonium Shadow Show is an album by Harry Nilsson. ... Skidoo (soundtrack) is an album by Harry Nilsson. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...

Aerial Ballet was Nilsson's second album for RCA Victor, and was titled after the highwire circus act of his grandparents. 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.) The title of the album has been given by Joey Kramer as the inspriation for Aerosmith's name and wings motif. An album is a collection of related audio tracks distributed to the public. ... Sony BMG Music Entertainment is the result of a 50/50 joint venture between Sony Music Entertainment (part of Sony) and BMG Entertainment (part of Bertelsmann AG) completed in August 2004. ... Tightrope walking is a spectacle activity usually performed for the amusement of an audience. ... Three Dog Night is an American rock and roll band, best known for their work from 1968-1975 but still making live appearances as of 2007. ... Joseph Michael Kramer (born June 21, 1950 in The Bronx, New York City, United States) is the drummer and percussionist for the rock and roll group Aerosmith. ... Aerosmith is a prominent American rock band, regarded by some as Americas Greatest Rock and Roll Band. [1][2] Although they are known as the bad boys from Boston[3], none of the bands members are actually from that city. ...

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. Another song, "Little Cowboy", later featured in The Courtship of Eddie's Father, was written by Nilsson's mother. Fred Neil (March 16, 1936 – July 7, 2001) was an important American blues and folk singer and songwriter in the 1960s and early 1970s. ... Academy Award The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are the most prominent and most watched film awards ceremony in the world. ... Midnight Cowboy is a 1969 film based on the 1965 novel of the same name by James Leo Herlihy. ... The Courtship of Eddies Father is a 1963 comedy film directed by Vincente Minnelli. ...

The original opening number for Aerial Ballet was "Daddy's Song", but this track was removed (apparently without Nilsson's awareness) after the first copies were issued, because The Monkees had recorded a cover version to be featured in their film Head, and had paid $35,000 for exclusive rights to the song. The CD reissue restores "Daddy's Song" (with the Monkees' contract long expired) to its rightful place in the lineup. The Monkees were a pop-rock quartet created and based in Los Angeles in 1965 for an NBC American television series of the same name. ... In popular music, a cover version, or simply cover, is a new rendition (performance or recording) of a previously recorded song. ... Movie poster for The Monkees 1968 feature film HEAD. Head is a motion picture released in 1968, starring TV rock group The Monkees (in credit order: Peter Tork, Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz and Michael Nesmith), and distributed by Columbia Pictures. ...

When Nilsson visited the Beatles in London during 1968, John Lennon played Nilsson "Revolution" and selections from the (then-upcoming) 'White Album', and Nilsson in turned played Lennon (who had spent thirty-six hours listening to Nilsson's first album) a demo cut of this record. The Beatles were an English rock band from Liverpool whose members were John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. ... John Winston Ono Lennon, MBE (October 9, 1940 – December 8, 1980), (born John Winston Lennon, known as John Ono Lennon) was an iconic English 20th century rock and roll songwriter and singer, best known as the founding member of The Beatles. ... The Beatles is the ninth official album by The Beatles, a double album released in 1968 (see 1968 in music). ...

Track listing

1. "Daddy's Song" (Nilsson) – 2:19

   About Nilsson's own experience, as a child of divorced parents. The Monkees bought exclusive rights to the song during 1968, which was featured in their movie Head, and was deleted from this album after the first run of copies. It was returned to the lineup for the CD reissue.

2. "Good Old Desk" (Nilsson) – 2:22

   Guest-starring on Playboy After Dark, Nilsson told host Hugh Hefner the song was really about its initials... "G-O-D". Even though Nilsson later admitted that he was just joking around, it is still commonly believed that the song actually is about God.

3. "Don't Leave Me" (Nilsson) – 2:18
4. "Mr. Richland's Favorite Song" (Nilsson) – 2:12

   A rags-to-riches to has-been story of a pop singer. Mr. Richland worked in music publishing, and liked this song best of the album selection.

5. "Little Cowboy" (Nilsson) – 1:20

   A lullaby by Nilsson's own mother, as he sings in the intro.

6. "Together" (Nilsson) – 2:08
7. "Everybody's Talkin'" (Fred Neil) – 2:41
8. "I Said Goodbye to Me" (Nilsson) – 2:13

   A veiled song about suicide.

9. "Little Cowboy - reprise" (Nilsson) – 0:49
10. "Mr. Tinker" (Nilsson) – 2:41
11. "One" (Nilsson) – 2:50

    Possibly the most covered original song of his entire catalogue, "One" is a fairly straightfoward song about loneliness and the desperation it brings. Three Dog Night covered it in 1969 with a completely different arrangement, bringing it to #1 on the charts. Aimee Mann and Jon Brion covered it again in 1994 as an homage to Nilsson's original and the Three Dog Night version for the tribute album "Everyone Sings Harry"

12. "The Wailing of the Willow" (Nilsson/Smith) – 1:57

    Nilsson was teamed with a co-writer.

13. "Bath" (Nilsson) – 1:44

    An innocent-sounding song, about coming home from an overnight visit to a brothel.

The Monkees were a pop-rock quartet created and based in Los Angeles in 1965 for an NBC American television series of the same name. ... Head is a motion picture released in 1968, starring TV rock group The Monkees (in credit order: Peter Tork, Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz and Michael Nesmith), and distributed by Columbia Pictures. ... Playboy After Dark was a television show starring Hugh Hefner. ... Hugh Hefner in 1979 Hugh Marston Hefner (born April 9, 1926 in Chicago, Illinois), also referred to colloquially as Hef, is the founder and editor-in-chief of Playboy magazine. ... Rags To Riches Rags To Riches was a TV show broadcast on ABC (1987-1988) starring Joseph Bologna as Nick Foley, a businessman with a playboy lifestyle who wants to develop a family man image, so he adopts a group of six orphaned girls and moves them into his mansion. ... A music publisher deals in the marketing and commercial exploitation of songs. ... Fred Neil (March 16, 1936 – July 7, 2001) was an important American blues and folk singer and songwriter in the 1960s and early 1970s. ... Suicide (Latin sui caedere, to kill oneself) is the act of intentionally taking ones own life. ... Loneliness is an emotional state in which a person experiences a powerful feeling of emptiness and isolation. ... Three Dog Night is an American rock and roll band, best known for their work from 1968-1975 but still making live appearances as of 2007. ... For the Stargate SG-1 episode, see 1969 (Stargate SG-1). ... Aimee Mann (born September 8, 1960) is an American rock guitarist, bassist, singer, and songwriter. ... Jon Brion at The Sunset Tavern in Seattle (photo by Nadja Dee Tanaka) Jon Brion (born 1962) is an American rock and pop multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, composer and record producer. ... A brothel, also known as a bordello or whorehouse, is an establishment specifically dedicated to prostitution, providing the prostitutes a place to meet and to have sex with the clients. ...

External links

• Aerial Ballet at The Harry Nilsson Web Pages