the adventures of nature boy

Rarely does jazz music move me to do anything but change the channel. However, on this late night I was feeling some sort of lethargy-melancholy, probably brought on by my first full-fledged sinus-cold of the season. It was approaching midnight and pumping dancetracks and techno music was not an option for my already aching head. A spin of the dial landed me on something soothing enough to dispel the raucous sounds of Friday night partiers on their way out to the clubs.

That's when I heard her voice, so haunting and passionately stirring at once. The lyrics were familiar, thanks to some relatively recent pop culture homage, though I had never in the past noticed the sheer beauty of this song as sung by this particular artist. Who sang it and the name of the piece were completely unknown to me. Thus, my quest began. It wasn't until a day later, several web searches and a trip up to HMV's jazz music section (and an embarrassing discussion with the clerk thereat) that I discovered what had had me so mesmerized the night before. My ignorance must be forgiven, in light of the warm aural embrace and sensorial awakening I had felt from what I believe to have been a classic rendition of Eden Ahbez's ''Nature Boy'' by the great songstress Sarah Vaughan.

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.''

''The greatest thing you'll ever learn

Is just to love and be loved in return.''