Aerial Ballet - Track Listing

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 straightforward 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 chart – the arrangement being used for John Farnham's version, also recorded in 1969. 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". A further rearranged version was recorded by Richard Patrick's Filter in 1998 for the X-Files film soundtrack. Progressive Metal band Mastodon recently recorded a version for the video game Army of Two advertisement campaign. The song and ad can be found on YouTube.The Three Dog Night version is also found in the animated Disney movie Recess: School's Out.

12. "The Wailing of the Willow" (Nilsson/Ian Freebairn-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.