The Nature Boy

“Nature Boy” is a song first recorded by American jazz singer Nat King Cole. It was released on March 29, 1948, as a single by Capital Records and later appeared on the 1961 album The Nat King Cole Story.  It was written by eden ahbez (George Alexander Aberle) as a tribute to Bill Pester, who practiced the Naturmensch and Lebensreform philosophies adopted by Ahbez. The lyrics of the song relate to a 1940s Los Angeles based group called “Nature Boys”, a subculture of proto-hippies of which Ahbez was a member.

In 1947, ahbez approached Nat King Cole’s manager backstage at the Lincoln Theater in Los Angeles and handed him the music for his song, “Nature Boy”. Cole began playing the song for live audiences to much acclaim, but needed to track down its author before releasing his recording of it. Publicity material for Cole’s single instead makes the claim that Johnny Mercer recommended ahbez to Cole on behalf of Capitol Records. Jack Patton, in turn, is said to have advised ahbez to bring “Nature Boy” to Capitol after befriending him at the restaurant where ahbez worked.

Ahbez was discovered living under the Hollywood Sign and became the focus of a media frenzy when Cole’s version of “Nature Boy” shot to No. 1 on the Billboard Charts and remained there for eight consecutive weeks during the summer of 1948. In early 1948, RKO Radio Pictures paid ahbez $10,000 for the rights to “Nature Boy” to use as the theme song for their film The Boy With Green Hair, and he was credited as the song’s composer on the film’s opening titles * all the above quoted from Wikipedia*

The song has been part of the soundtracks of several movies. David Bowie sang it in “Moulin Rouge!” The song helped propel Nat King Cole’s solo career. The song’s otherworldly sound and haunting lyrics have made it timely across the years. It sounds like something out of a fairy tale. And the boy’s advice, be you fool or king, that the only thing that matters is that you learn how to love and be loved is good advice indeed.

There was a boy
A very strange, enchanted boy
They say he wandered very far
Very far, over land and sea
A little shy and sad of eye
But very wise was he

And then one day
A magic day he passed my way
And while we spoke of many things
Fools and kings, this he said to me
“The greatest thing you’ll ever learn
Is just to love and be loved in return”

The greatest thing you’ll ever learn
Is just to love and be loved in return

Songwriters: Eden Ahbez

Heroes and Villains, Magic and Violence, Revenge and Redemption