"Nature Boy" is a song by eden ahbez, published in 1947. The song tells a fantasy of a "strange enchanted boy... who wandered very far" only to learn that "the greatest thing... was just to love and be loved in return". Nat King Cole's 1948 recording of the song was a major hit.
The first two measures of the song's melody parallel the melody of the second movement in Antonín Dvořák's Piano Quintet No. 2 in A, Op. 81 (1887). It is unknown if ahbez was familiar with Dvořák's piece, or if he arrived at the same melodic idea independently.
The song is based on a 1940s Los Angeles-based group called "Nature Boys," a subculture of proto-hippies of which ahbez was a member.
Cool to see a video of Eden giving a brief synopsis of his philosophy.
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