I doubt if there's ever been a stranger song that's been recorded by so many disparate artists. The song was written by Eden Ahbez and originally made famous by Nat King Cole (the REAL King) in 1948. It's a moody little piece with quirky changes, but there is something about it that has caught the eye of all the following artists. And this list is by no means complete:




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 1974 recording of this work that was made at Ardent Studios in Memphis, Tennessee and attributed to the band Big Star stands out to me among the many other fine versions of it I've heard. It was officially released on their album Third/Sister Lovers in 1992 on the Rykodisc label, and subsequently re-released on a number of compilation albums that followed. During the eighteen years that elapsed between the song's recording and the album's formal release, it was distributed on one or more bootleg albums primarily in the form of tape recordings that were passed between friends.

One of the things about this recording that makes it special is how it came about. The track consists only of an improvised piano arrangement performed by celebrated Memphis art photographer William Eggleston with Alex Chilton on vocals, though something that sounds like warmup exercises from session musicians who were hired to play string and woodwind arrangements can be heard at various points in the background. Eggleston is the uncle of Lesa Aldridge, a musician who was dating Chilton at the time and who performed backing vocals on several other album tracks including Femme Fatale and Holocaust. She is one of the sisters in the "Sister Lovers" part of the album title, Alex being one of the lovers. Several of Eggleston's photos have been used for Big Star's albums, most notably the cover of their second LP Radio City.

Eggleston was hanging out at Ardent one day for whatever reason (possibly taking pictures, as was his wont), and sat down at a baby grand piano that was in the studio where the band was working. From what I've been told second-hand by folks who knew the parties involved, this wasn't planned or rehearsed. Bill just started playing some things he knew how to play (principally classical music), and somebody in the mixing booth (probably producer Jim Dickinson) decided to record what was happening. Alex and Bill must have come to some agreement on recording this song as a one-off, since the John Fry mix of the track makes it clear they knew this was being captured on tape. When Alex gets to the "Is just to love" part of the last line, Bill's walking cane or crutch, which he had propped up against the piano when he sat down to play, falls over and makes a clattering sound on the recording. Alex manages to restrain his laughter but audibly cracks a smile as he sings the final words.

Rather than ruining the take, the perfectly-timed accident turned it into something that produced an unexpected and unreproducible reaction in the singer. This kind of serendipity was notoriously irresistible to Dickinson, who ultimately made the decision about what tracks to include on the album, and in what order. Though being the most stripped down track in terms of production, it is hauntingly beautiful and moving in a way that reverberates with the feel of the album. After the song ends, Alex was recorded laughing and saying "I like the part where Bill's crutch fell against the drum." In a way, I feel like this is a metaphor for the band as it was falling apart. Eggleston is not credited in the album notes for his role or participation in the recording.

Nature Boy (ISWC T-031.656.044-7 ASCAP BUMA) was written by eden ahbez at some point between 1941 and 1946 in Palm Springs, California.

Log in or register to write something here or to contact authors.