VLVL2 (1): Annotations (pp. 10 - 11)

[Eulenspiegel7646 at aol.com]

In a message dated 7/18/2003 10:18:38 PM Pacific Standard Time, 
vze422fs at verizon.net writes:

> He wrote two autobiographies. 

He also recorded a record album, accompanying himself on acoustic guitar.  
The best cut?  Nature Boy.

http://www.spaceagepop.com/ahbez.htm

Nature Boy 
by Eden Ahbez

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."

[Nat "King"] Cole and Capitol [Records] didn't know what to make of the song, 
so they sat on the record for months. Meanwhile, word-of-mouth about the tune 
began to grow from Cole's live performances, and eventually Cole realized the 
record should be released. Unfortunately, no one had bothered to secure the 
rights to the song, and Ruby went off on a hunt to locate Ahbez. Legend has it 
that he found Ahbez and his wife camped out below the first "L" in the 
"HOLLYWOOD" sign. It turned out that Ahbez had given a half dozen people different 
shares of the publishing rights, and he ended up with virtually nothing. 
(After Cole died, his wife eventually gave the rights in toto back to Ahbez.) 
    




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