"NATURE BOY" WRITER WAS PURPOSEFULLY HOMELESS

“The greatest thing you’ll ever learn 

Is just to love and be loved in return” 

If everybody could just live life by this credo from the lyrics of “Nature Boy”, wouldn’t things be so much easier?  And perhaps 90% of the world would get off the high-anxiety train of chasing that elusive thing that is their purpose in life. If only this simple phrase was our underlying motivating factor. Kumbaya.

There’s a great story about “Nature Boy”, its writer (Eden Ahbez) and how it got to Nat King Cole before coming a standard that’s been covered so many times.  There are different variations, but somehow this "natural living" person (hippie in not PC, I guess) Eden Ahbez, was able to get the song "Nature Boy" into the hands of a member of Nat King Cole's entourage. Nat liked the song very much and played it live in many of his shows to enthusiastic response. When Capitol Records wanted Nat to record the song, they went on a hunt to find the writer of the song. Legend of finding Eden Ahbez living unhoused, in the foliage under the Hollywood sign, may be hyperbolic but it makes a good story.

Needless to say, the song was a hit for Nat King Cole, helped him to become a cross-over artist and brought "organic" Eden Ahbez into the limelight. And the song lives on, covered in all eras from Sinatra to Lady Gaga (even Rick Astley in 2005).

But here's the rub: "Nature Boy" was a stolen song! A Yiddish composer named Herman Yablokoff sued Eden Ahbez over the rights and the suit was quietly settled. The irony of it all.

“Nature Boy” has been covered by so many artists, and although Nat King Cole’s is the definitive, I really love this version by Keely Smith.  Take a listen:

EDEN AHBEZ AUTOGRAPH

Eden’s autograph shown here is authentic; purchased for $26 on eBay in 2024. Much more affordable than his 1960 LP "The Music of an Enchanted Isle" which can sell for over $500 in NM condition.

NAT KING COLE AUTOGRAPH

The postcard from Caesar’s signed by Nat King Cole is also authentic and was gifted to me by my grandmother's cousin. (Gloria L- I love you tons! And I currently live in the house that she grew up in!)

JAZZ BASSIST JOHNNY WILLIAMS AUTOGRAPH

The "Answer Me My Love" sheet music appears to be signed possibly by band-member and jazz bassist Johnny Williams.  Since Nat’s “signature” is in the same pen as Johnny's, I’m guessing that Johnny told Mr. Ragland, "I’ll have Nat sign this for you … " (OR he signed it on behalf of Nat)

NAT KING COLE'S DAUGHTER, NATALIE & HIS LOVER, GUNILLA

"This will be. An everlasting love" - Natalie Cole sang it and Gunilla Hutton was hoping it.

NATALIE COLE AUTOGRAPH

I bought this Natalie Cole autograph in March of 2016 for $13.95. A nice photo featuring her and Stephen Bishop from her 1978 TV Special on CBS. But the price was too good to be true; this signature does NOT match Natalie's authentic autograph. It's too neat. Natalie and Cole are both fully spelled out without Cole dropping away at the end like she normally did. And the love ends in a lower case e instead of her usual upper case with round edges. Oh well.

I don't have much to say about Natalie, because I've never seen her in concert and only a few of her tunes really resonate with me. My favorite is this one ...

GUNILLA HUTTON IN-PERSON AUTOGRAPH

Gunilla Hutton is a lovely woman - very striking, even at 80 years old when I met her in March 2025. She is primarily known for "Petticoat Junction" and "Hee Haw", but I wanted her to sign this beautiful photo I had with her and Nat together. I didn't know how she'd react because they'd had a notorious affair back in the day and Gunilla allegedly called Nat's wife Maria and told her to divorce him. Well, that didn't happen and Nat and Gunilla broke off their love affair soon thereafter. I'm glad that she really liked the picture, looked at it fondly and said something like "He was an amazing man". I gave her a copy, for which she was very grateful. Gunilla was so much more engaging than I expected! She was super complimentary on my body wanted to know what my workout regime was and really focused on my skin. She told me I was lucky to have such nice skin, said something about melanin and then talked about how she was Swedish but would still be able to get tan when she was younger. I was equally complimentary to her, because this woman looked fantastic, trim and you could tell her own workout regime was paying off. Proof that we may get older, but you don't have to BE "old".