This may be old news to some, but I only just came across it, and I thought it was very interesting....

My daughter the singer, recently did a performance of "Nature Boy" - originally released by Nat King Cole in 1947. It's been around a while, and been released by a number of artists, so many people are possibly familiar with it. I was, but I learned several things I never knew when we were looking for more information about the song.

For starters, I think this was the first time I really paid much attention to the words to the song - very unique and beautiful. Turns out it was written by a raw foodist in the 1940's named eden ahbez. He lived in a tent under the Hollywood sign with his wife and child and played piano at a raw food restaurant in LA. He wore long hair, sandals and a white robe long before the hippies of the 1960's. He only ate raw fruits, vegetables nuts and seeds. He died in 1995 from a car accident.

I think the lyrics are hauntingly beautiful:

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"

Sapphire

Nature Boy is a really beautiful song. I like George Benson's version...was released in the 70's. I used to love to listen to that song...gives me goose bumps. I had no idea of the history of the song...that the songwriter was a raw foodist. Wow, that's really cool. Thank you for sharing.

Sapphire thanks for post, Eden Ahbez was one cool bro,
this was written by eden,

many years ago, when "Nature Boy" was number one song all over the world, I was
`on one or two shows. and on one of the shows, the man said what is your `background? Where do you come from?and my poem came to mind, I thought oh yeah, `Ill tell him.
you really want to know my background? He said yes I do your a famous man. and `theres a mystery about you.
`so I told him I said

`once far into the desert land I went
to search as men are want to search for truth.
`and in meditation, all alone, quite suddenly,
`I came upon a youth,
`one in whos face all joy and sorrow blended,
`and as the holy book upon whose pages
`I saw the quest of birth and death had ended
`and read the eternal secret of the ages.
`he spoke to me, this wondrous child.
`his voice strong and his eyes mild
`I knew not what he said to me,
`but blessed was my reverie.
`I am a being of Heaven and Earth.
`of thunder and lighting,
`of rain and wind,
`of the galaxies
of the suns and the stars
`and the void through which they travel
`The essence of nature,
`eternal, divine that all men seek to know hear,
known as the great illuion of time,
`and the all prevailing atmosphere!
`and now you know my background.