On Music Appreciation

A serendipitous sway shows the magic in the music we listen to today

What all started this whole train of musical appreciation thought was my 25+ year relationship with the fine folks at Hart Shaffner Marx’s designer suit division, the one that markets such suit labels as Kenneth Cole, Perry Ellis and Pierre Cardin.

A couple of years ago I was their guest for a Celine Dion concert at Caesar’s Las Vegas during the huge MAGIC menswear show.[1] Her incredible show began with the song Nature Boy, which I had vaguely remembered hearing sung by somebody, some long time back in my youth. My host told me the incomparable Nat King Cole first recorded this song, so when I returned home I bought the album, which I fished out and loaded in the sultry heat of my car while motoring around town today.

Now there are MANY musical masterpieces (and subjectively if any one person finds magic any music—yes, even, gangsta rap—then that music is for that person a masterpiece), but listening to the fluidly melodious voice of Nat King Cole, his accompanying orchestra and the arrangement on songs that defy the ages with familiarity made that word, “MASTERPIECE” bubble through my consciousness.

From “The Very Thought of You”, to “It’s Only a Paper Moon,” then “Route 66,” “Unforgettable,” and by “Mona Lisa” my spirits were soaring with appreciation for Mr. Cole, and for the power and magic of all and any music that can move our soul at any particular moment, mostly when we least expect it.

L is for the way you look at me O is for the only one I see V is very, very extraordinary E is even more than anyone that you adore can

You know, there are more than just the lyrics, the words and the voice that delivers them that creates the euphoric sensations we sometimes experience while listening to a song that strikes our soul. It is a micro-cosm of life, of all things working together in harmony that enables our enjoyment of, well, EVERYTHING.

Literally, everything, from the smallest toothpick to the most elaborate skyscraper--and even a little lily—is a culmination of hundreds, thousands of processes. Products come by an incredible series of human activity sharpened through centuries of building upon each prior generation’s progress and encompassing a worldwide network of people working together AS A TEAM. From the cultivators of raw materials, to the shippers, the designers, engineers, manufacturers, marketers, deliverers, maintainers and users it’s all one big harmonious interplay.

Just like the next song…”Don’t Get Around Much Anymore,”
♪ Missed the Saturday dance…Heard they crowded the floor…Couldn't bear it without you Don't get around much anymore…

And the next one… “Straighten up & Fly Right,”

The buzzard took the monkey for a ride in the air
The monkey thought that everything was on the square
The buzzard tried to throw the monkey off his back
The monkey grabbed his neck and said now listen, jack
Straighten up and fly right, Straighten up and fly right,Straighten up and fly right
Cool down, papa, don't you blow your top. (I love that line!)

And then my favorite, “Nature Boy,”[2] the haunting melody with the message of all that really matters:

There was a boyA very strange enchanted boy
They say he wandered very far, very farOver land and sea
A little shy and sad of eye But very wise was he
And then one dayA magic day he passed my way
And while we spoke of many things Fools and kingsThis 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 learnIs just to love and be loved in return"

Again, the interplay of voice, of instrumentation, cadence and tempo create the finished product. And most important to our listening enjoyment are the sound engineers, the producers and the technology that allows me to motor around with music at my beck and call, recreating a 1948 performance as if they were performing for me alone. Incredible!

And “Unforgettable.” So “Smile.”


[1] The theatre, the lights, the setting and physical changes for each of her songs was 25th century spectacular, as was her whole concert…simply Unforgettably unbelievably great!

[2] Nature Boy was written by eden ahbez (he refused capitalization as he thought it reserved for the divine only), an unlikely source for one of the greatest songs of all time.

From the Wikipedia: eden ahbez, born Alexander Aberle (April 15, 1908 – March 4, 1995), and adopted by a Kansas family and raised under the name George McGrew, was one of the few genuinely unique characters of pre-rock American popular music.
Ahbez composed the song "Nature Boy" about friend and fellow freegan "Tribesman" Robert Gypsy Boots Bootzin, who was leading a lifestyle which strived to be all natural and Spartan.
Eden lived a bucolic life. He refused to use capital letters to spell his name. He travelled in sandals, camped out below the first L in the Hollywood sign above Los Angeles, studied Oriental mysticism, and cultivated a Christ-like appearance with his shoulder-length hair and beard. He claimed to live on three dollars a week, sleeping outdoors with his family, eating vegetables, fruits, and nuts.
In the mid-'50s, he did some recording with jazz musician Herb Jeffries; he also did some occasional composing and singing, sometimes for rock & roll novelty records. His most comprehensive statement as a recording artist, however, was the 1960 LP Eden's Island, a bizarre record which mixed exotica album and beatnik poetry. Many consider it as one of the weirdest exotica records ever created.
Ahbez was also photographed with Brian Wilson in the studio in 1966, lending further credence to the theory that the head Beach Boy was influenced by exotica during the Pet Sounds and Smile sessions. He died in 1995 after being hit by a car.

For even more about this incredible story and how he got his song to Mr. Cole you MUST read this: http://www.spaceagepop.com/ahbez.htm