Nature Boy

In 1941, a 33-year-old George McGrew arrived in Los Angeles and began playing piano in the Eutropheon, a small health food store and raw food restaurant on Laurel Canyon Boulevard. The café was owned by John and Vera Richter, who followed a (nature person) and (life reform) philosophy influenced by the (Wandering Bird) movement in Germany. Their followers, known as "Nature Boys", wore long hair and beards and ate only raw fruits and vegetables. McGrew adopted the philosophy and chose the name "eden ahbez", writing and spelling his name with lower-case letters. It was there, while living in a cave near Palm Springs, that ahbez wrote "Nature Boy". Partly autobiographical, the song was a tribute to his mentor Bill Pester, who had originally introduced him to and . In 1947, at the prompting of Cowboy Jack Patton and Johnny Mercer, ahbez approached Nat King Cole's manager backstage at the Lincoln Theater in Los Angeles, handed him a tattered copy of "Nature Boy", and asked him to show it to Cole. However, his pleas were ignored and a disappointed ahbez left the sheet music of "Nature Boy" with Cole's valet, Otis Pollard. From him, Cole learned of the song and loved it. Cole began playing "Nature Boy" for live audiences, and received much acclaim. Irving Berlin, who was present during one of the performances, offered to buy the track from Cole, but Cole decided to record it himself. He needed permission from ahbez, however, before releasing it as a single, but he was unable to find the songwriter since ahbez had disappeared without providing any contact details. After ahbez was discovered living under the Hollywood Sign, Cole got his permission. == Recording and composition ==

Cole's recording, which took place on August 22, 1947, featured an orchestra conducted by Frank De Vol—the in-house arranger of Capitol Records. He used strings and flute as instrumentation in the song, to capture the "enchanting" vibe of the track. Instrumentalist Chris Tyle noted that the lyrics are a musical self-portrait of ahbez, with the lines like "There was a boy, A very strange, enchanted boy, They say he wandered very far, Very far, over land and sea". But he believed that it was the song's last line that made it the most poignant: "The greatest thing you'll ever learn, Is just to love and be loved in return". Various interpretations of the line are given by academics, with the eponymous nature boy being a child, advising on love and relationship, or an adult hippie talking about his journey and inner-love. According to author Jeffery P. Dennis, the song presented a homo-romantic theme, with the eponymous nature boy visiting Cole on a "magic day" and explaining that "the greatest thing you'll ever learn, is just to love and be loved in return". According to Joe Romersa, an engineer/drummer in Los Angeles, to whom ahbez bequeathed master tapes, photos, and final works, ahbez wanted a correction made to the lyrics, saying "'To be loved in return,' is too much of a deal, and there's no deal in love,", and that instead it should read "The greatest thing you'll ever learn is to love and be loved, just to love, and be loved." Romersa has stated that, because these lyrics did not fit with the original ending melody, ahbez re-wrote it. == Release and reception ==

to further popularize his singing career, and made him reach the white audience. In 1948, a second "Petrillo ban" on music recording was enforced by American Federation of Musicians (AFM) in response to the Taft–Hartley Act. Capitol Records, desperate to release recorded material to help sustain profitability during the strike, released "Nature Boy" as a single on March 29, 1948, with catalog number 15054. Crestview Music, which owned the publishing rights to Cole's songs, sold the rights for "Nature Boy" to Burke-Van Heusen, who acted as distributor and selling agent. "Nature Boy" went on to sell a million copies in 1948 and Billboard DJs listed it as the greatest record of the year, with the song accumulating a total of 743 points. The 1940s American music market was divided by race, and for a black artist to cross over to mainstream pop music was difficult. Author Krin Gabbard noted in his book, ''Jammin' at the Margins: Jazz and the American Cinema'', that Cole had to wear white makeup while filming for the performance of the song. Although he had come into prominence in 1940 as a leader of the jazz trio named King Cole Trio, it was with "Nature Boy" that he received widespread recognition, and it was his rendition that appealed to the white audience. He once described "Nature Boy" as one of his favorite recordings. The success of the song allowed ahbez to accumulate about US$20,000 ($ in dollars) in royalties. Basil R.T Mumma, a pianist in Chicago made important contributions to the song as well. "Nature Boy" has received wide acclaim from critics and contemporary reviewers. Author Ted Gioia noted in his book, The Jazz Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire, that all the musicians "who had created the golden age of American popular song had their quirks and idiosyncrasies, but eden ahbez demands pride and place as the most eccentric of them all". He added that, along with promoting the hippie culture, with "Nature Boy", ahbez and Cole were able to introduce a new era for black artists in white popular music. Billboard noted that such was the popularity of the song that audiences would only stay in theaters to see Cole perform "Nature Boy", and leave once he finished. A 1975 poll by the magazine listed it as the "Greatest All-Round Record" as well as the "Favorite Pop Recording" of the previous years. In 1999, the song was awarded the Grammy Hall of Fame, a special Grammy Award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old and that have "qualitative or historical significance". Novelist Steve Erickson in Los Angeles magazine gave a detailed positive review of the song: "Nature Boy" is so otherworldly in its melody and lyric that any number of interpretations over the decades, from Nat Cole's to Alex Chilton's, have never been able to make it ordinary. It sounds like something that, from the minute it was written, existed out of time and place—all thousand and one Arabian Nights compressed into two and a half minutes as mediated by a cracked Mojave Debussy slugging down the last of the absinthe from his canteen. When met with a lawsuit in 1951 for the plagiarization, ahbez first proclaimed his innocence, and telephoned Yablokoff to explain that he "had heard the melody as if angels were singing it... in the California mountains. He offered me $10,000 to withdraw the suit. I said that the money was not important, but I wanted him to admit that the song was geganvet [stolen]; and if he heard angels, they must have bought a copy of my song." Eventually ahbez's lawyers offered to have an out-of-court settlement, offering $25,000 ($ in dollars) to Yablokoff, which he accepted. Freidwald remarked that "it struck no one as ironic that a song with message of love and peace should come to symbolize how cutthroat the pop music business was becoming". == Other versions ==

The success of "Nature Boy" soon led to the release of a number of cover versions of the track. However, due to the AFM ban, other record companies could not release full versions with strings, only a cappella tracks. In 1955, Miles Davis recorded the song with Charles Mingus as bassist. The recording for the song was filled with tension due to an ongoing conflict between Davis and Mingus, resulting in a charged version of the song. They were assisted by Teddy Charles on vibraphone and Elvin Jones on drums. Another version was recorded by singer Bobby Darin, released in 1961 reaching number 14 in Canada and number 24 on the UK singles chart. A psychedelic rock version was recorded in 1965 by 1960s San Francisco rock band The Great Society, with lead vocals from singer Grace Slick, released on their 1968 post-breakup album How it Was. The same year, Marvin Gaye recorded and released his version on the Cole tribute album, A Tribute to the Great Nat King Cole. In 1969, Gandalf recorded a cover version released on their eponymous album. A version by George Benson reached number 26 in the UK singles chart in 1977 and in 1983 soul band Central Line reached number 21. Peggy Lee's version of "Nature Boy" was recorded in 1948, but released in 1995 as part of the compilation album, ''Why Don't You Do Right? Peggy Lee, 1947–1948''. Johnny Hartman made a 1972 recording that was included on Blue Note's 1995 album For Trane. Abbey Lincoln recorded a version of the song for her 1995 album ''A Turtle's Dream. Howard Reich from the Chicago Tribune'' was impressed with the cover saying that "the mood of reverie and awe [that Lincoln] expresses in 'Nature Boy' epitomize this album's haunting appeal." Natalie Cole, the daughter of Nat "King" Cole, paid tribute to her father by recording her version of "Nature Boy" for inclusion on an entire album of songs that had been, according to Alex Henderson from AllMusic, "major hits for him in the 1940s and early '50s." That album, Natalie Cole's Unforgettable... with Love, won several Grammy Awards in 1991 including Record of the Year and Album of the Year at the 34th Annual Grammy Awards. Celine Dion performed the song as part of her A New Day... concert at Caesars Palace. The song appeared on her 2002 studio album, A New Day Has Come, and on her 2004 live album, A New Day... Live in Las Vegas. Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic said that the decision to include "Nature Boy" in A New Day Has Come was inspired by the song's appearance in Baz Luhrmann's musical, Moulin Rouge! (2001). With Billboard, Dion expressed her feelings while recording the track: "This is the one I had the most kick out of in the studio. I could hear the pedal of the piano and the touch of the keys while I was singing. We were following each other, this is the real thing. This was such my pleasure." Initially strings and other instrumentation were added in post-production, but were later removed to maintain the simplicity of Cole's version. Aaron Neville's interpretation of the track was released in 2003 on his jazz standard album, titled Nature Boy: The Jazz Album. That year in December, Harry Connick, Jr. released a holiday themed rendition of "Nature Boy", on his holiday album, Harry for the Holidays. On the tenth season of American Idol, contestant Casey Abrams presented a jazz version of the song, which was received with a standing ovation from the audience, but faced criticism from the media for the "strange" musical arrangements. Norwegian singer Aurora performed an acoustic version of the song during a live session in May 2015. Her cover was later included as a bonus track on the deluxe edition of her debut album All My Demons Greeting Me as a Friend, released in 2016. Sofia Hoffmann recorded her interpretation for "Nature Boy" on her second studio album Rebirth which was released in 2022. The song was produced by Grammy Award winning American pianist, arranger and producer John Beasley. Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga version }} After recording the jazz standard "The Lady Is a Tramp", American singer Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga began working on a collaborative jazz album, titled Cheek to Cheek. It features instrumentation from flutes and drums, and has an orchestral arrangement. According to Kory Grow of Rolling Stone, Gaga sings in a Liza Minnelli inspired voice with a breathy range, followed by Bennett complimenting her with the story of meeting the titular character. Gil Kaufman from MTV News gave a positive review, saying that "This song sounds like what you imagine a smoky jazz club in 1940s New York would feel like." Grow praised it as "sublime", describing the track as a "loungier" version Gaga and Bennett's collaboration. Dave Lewis from HitFix believed that the "magic" of the song really happened once Bennett's vocals were heard, following Gaga's singing and the orchestration. Lewis said that "It's not exactly 'Do What You Want with My Body', but Gaga and Bennett generate a different kind of heat." Caroline Sullivan of The Guardian said that the song was "treated with the greatest delicacy". He praised the flute sounds and the contrast between Gaga's "vulnerable" vocals and Bennett's "assured" one. Alexa Camp from Slant Magazine gave a negative review, saying that her timbre in "Nature Boy" appeared inconsistent, "shifting from soft and almost pleasant to parodic and comical, often within just a few short bars". "Nature Boy" reached number 22 on the Billboard Jazz Digital Songs chart. In Russia, it peaked at number 259 on the official Tophit airplay chart. == Usage in films ==

's version in Moulin Rouge! was critically appreciated. The song was a primary theme of the film score for The Boy with Green Hair (1948), for which the original version was used. The producers of the film reportedly paid $10,000 to ahbez for using the song, which was cumulatively more than what the author of the story, Betsy Beaton, was paid. A recording by Kate Ceberano with an orchestral arrangement by Derek Williams was featured in the film The Crossing (1990). The tune and lyrics feature prominently in the film Untamed Heart (1993), for which Cole's version was used during the closing credits, while a piano version by Roger Williams served as the opener for the film. The song was also played in intermediate scenes featuring the principal cast. Miles Davis' recording of "Nature Boy" was used in the film The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999). In the book Music, Movies, Meanings, and Markets: Cinemajazzamatazz, author Morris Holbrook described the song as a "nondiegetic performance", exemplifying the plot development and sexual tension in the scene featuring Tom Ripley (Matt Damon) and Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law) playing chess, naked, and later in a bathtub scene. The song is performed at a jazz club in the film Angel Eyes, (2001). A version recorded by Jon Hassell on trumpet and Ronu Majumdar on flute is featured on the soundtrack. The writing of "Nature Boy" was the theme of a 2000 Canadian TV film of the same title, directed by Kari Skogland. Callum Keith Rennie played ahbez, writing the song for Cole, played by Terence Carson, after falling in love with a woman named Anna Jacobs, portrayed by Tanya Allen. The song was a central theme in Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge! "Nature Boy" was initially arranged as a techno song with singer David Bowie's vocals, before being sent to the group Massive Attack, whose remix was used in the film's closing credits. Bowie described the rendition as "slinky and mysterious", adding that Robert "3D" Del Naja from the group had "put together a riveting piece of work", and that Bowie was "totally pleased with the end result". Both Bowie's version and Massive Attack's remix appeared on the soundtrack. The version used in Moulin Rouge! was sung by John Leguizamo, as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, during the introductory scenes, as well as by Ewan McGregor's character, Christian. Some of the film's premise was based on the lyrics, in particular the opening lines. The closing lyric, "The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return" is used throughout the film. While reviewing Moulin Rouge!, Erickson noted that "[by] itself, ['Nature Boy'] redeems the wonderful idea behind Luhrmann's flawed but often wonderful movie." The song was performed by Heleno de Freitas (Rodrigo Santoro) in the film Heleno (2012), during a radio interview scene where he asks if he could sing a song for his wife and son. Cole's version was again played at the start of Mike Tyson's one-man show, Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth, directed by Spike Lee that aired on HBO. On December 25, 2016, 20th Century Fox released a teaser trailer for the British-American science-fiction horror film, Alien: Covenant, using a cover of "Nature Boy" by singer Aurora, as the background score. It was also used during the title credits of Netflix's The Andy Warhol Diaries. == See also ==