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Music Recs: 4 Versions of Nature Boy
Nature Boy, written by eden ahbez in 1947, is a Jazz standard at this point. And I adore it. Here are four different versions of this song.
1) Nat King Cole was the first to record Nature Boy (in 1947). It became very commercially successful for him. If you watch the video, you'll see why. He's fantastic. (Check out this Wikipedia article to find out how he got the song.)
2) The Late (and very much lamented) David Bowie sang Nature Boy for the soundtrack of Moulin Rouge (2001). This was the first time I'd ever encountered the song, and I immediately loved it (and started hearing versions everywhere. Even one in the tv show New Amsterdam). There are actually 2 versions of the song on the soundtrack, but the linked one is the non-Massive Attack one.
3) I love Aurora , so imagine my joy when I found her version of Nature Boy (2016). It's eerie and it sounds like there are wind chimes in the background on some of it. She really makes it her own.
4) There are so many versions of this song out there that it was really hard to choose four. (Seriously, just go to Youtube and type "Nature Boy song" if you want to hear more.) But for my final selection, I'm selfishly choosing mine. A few years ago I recorded it for a friend, and I just stuck it up on Soundcloud so you can hear it too. My version of Nature Boy...three ways (acapella).
I hope that these four selections helped you to enjoy Nature Boy as much as I do. If you have a favorite version (Frank Sinatra? Gregory Porter? Shirley Bassey?) please let me know in the comments.
1) Nat King Cole was the first to record Nature Boy (in 1947). It became very commercially successful for him. If you watch the video, you'll see why. He's fantastic. (Check out this Wikipedia article to find out how he got the song.)
2) The Late (and very much lamented) David Bowie sang Nature Boy for the soundtrack of Moulin Rouge (2001). This was the first time I'd ever encountered the song, and I immediately loved it (and started hearing versions everywhere. Even one in the tv show New Amsterdam). There are actually 2 versions of the song on the soundtrack, but the linked one is the non-Massive Attack one.
3) I love Aurora , so imagine my joy when I found her version of Nature Boy (2016). It's eerie and it sounds like there are wind chimes in the background on some of it. She really makes it her own.
4) There are so many versions of this song out there that it was really hard to choose four. (Seriously, just go to Youtube and type "Nature Boy song" if you want to hear more.) But for my final selection, I'm selfishly choosing mine. A few years ago I recorded it for a friend, and I just stuck it up on Soundcloud so you can hear it too. My version of Nature Boy...three ways (acapella).
I hope that these four selections helped you to enjoy Nature Boy as much as I do. If you have a favorite version (Frank Sinatra? Gregory Porter? Shirley Bassey?) please let me know in the comments.
