Yeah, this is what I had to do ultimately:

```

(add-to-list 'load-path "~/.emacs.d/alpa/org-20131230")
(require 'org)
(require 'org-compat)
(require 'ob-tangle)
(setq org-list-allow-alphabetical t)

(defun org-defvaralias (new-alias base-variable &optional docstring)
  "Compatibility function for defvaralias.
Don't do the aliasing when `defvaralias' is not bound."
  (declare (indent 1))
  (when (fboundp 'defvaralias)
    (defvaralias new-alias base-variable docstring)))

(defmacro org-with-silent-modifications (&rest body)
  (if (fboundp 'with-silent-modifications)
      `(with-silent-modifications ,@body)
    `(org-unmodified ,@body)))



(setq org-directory "~/Documents/etc")
```