• Home
  • About
    • About This Blog
    • About the Authors
  • Song of the Day
  • Videos
  • Album of the Week
  • Music and Art
    • Tony Live!
    • Music
      • Viva Duets
      • Songs
      • Albums
    • Art
  • And More
    • Collaborator of the Month
    • Songwriter of the Month – 2016
    • News
      • Cheek To Cheek
      • Bennett & Brubeck -The White House Sessions Live 1962
      • Life is a Gift
      • Viva Duets
      • Zen of Bennett
      • Other News
    • About His Collaborators
    • Musings
    • Extras
      • Books
      • Interviews
      • Media
  • The Interactive Tony Bennett Discography

The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

January 14, 2017 By Suzanne Leave a Comment

Song of the Day: Nature Boy

The song of the day for Saturday, January 14, 2017 is “Nature Boy.”

About This Song

“Nature Boy” was written in 1947 by eden ahbez, the name adopted by George Alexander Aberle, who was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1908. In the 1930s, he lived in Kansas City and worked as a pianist and band leader. In the early 1940s, he moved to Los Angeles and began playing piano in a health food and raw food store run by John and Vera Richter, who followed a Naturmensch and Lebensreform philosophy influenced by the Wandervogel movement in Germany. In following their philosophy, he and other followers grew their hair long, became vegetarians and were, for all practical purposes, the earliest hippies. They called themselves The Nature Boys.

At the suggestion of Johnny Mercer, eden ahbez approached Nat King Cole with his song “Nature Boy.” Unable to meet with Nat Cole personally, he left the song with Cole’s valet. Cole began to perform the song in his concerts; in 1947 he recorded it for Capitol Records, with an arrangement by Frank DeVol, who used strings and flute in his orchestration. The song was a big hit for Nat Cole and Capitol Records.

About This Version

Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga recorded “Nature Boy” in 2014 for their album Cheek To Cheek.

Nature Boy

Listen to Nature Boy on Spotify. Song · Tony Bennett, Lady Gaga · 2014


” Nature Boy,” as well as Cheek To Cheek, is available from iTunes.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a video today. What I do have are several recordings of today’s song from other artists:

First, of course, Nat “King” Cole:

And Etta Jones:

And finally, Miles Davis:

Happy Saturday, everyone.

Filed Under: Song of the Day Tagged With: Cheek to Cheek, eden ahbez, Lady Gaga, Tony Bennett

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • Home
  • About
  • Song of the Day
  • Videos
  • Album of the Week
  • Music and Art
  • And More
  • The Interactive Tony Bennett Discography

Copyright © 2025 The Year of Tony Bennett · Genesis Framework by StudioPress · WordPress