Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon

"Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon" (aka "The Ballet" and "Make Me Smile Medley"), a nearly thirteen-minute song cycle/suite from Chicago's 1970 album Chicago (also called Chicago II), was the group's first attempt at a long-format multi-part work. It was composed by James Pankow, who got the inspiration to write the "Ballet" from his love of long classical music song cycles. The Buchannon in the title is actually a misspelling of Buckhannon, West Virginia. "Ballet" takes up three-quarters of side two of Chicago and consists of seven tracks, three of which are instrumentals:

Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon

"Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon" (aka "The Ballet" and "Make Me Smile Medley"), a nearly thirteen-minute song cycle/suite from Chicago's 1970 album Chicago (also called Chicago II), was the group's first attempt at a long-format multi-part work. It was composed by James Pankow, who got the inspiration to write the "Ballet" from his love of long classical music song cycles. The Buchannon in the title is actually a misspelling of Buckhannon, West Virginia. "Ballet" takes up three-quarters of side two of Chicago and consists of seven tracks, three of which are instrumentals: