Nature Boy

The Boy With Green Hair（1948）緑色の髪の少年 Trailer

緑色の髪の少年
「窓」「暴力行為」のドリー・シャリイがRKOに置土産として残した映画で、原作は著名な新聞論説者の娘ベッツイ・ビートンで、これを新進ベン・バーズマンとアルフレッド・ルイス・レヴィットが共同脚色、新進監督ジョセフ・ロージーが監督したもの。撮影は「レベッカ」「美人サム」の名手ジョージ・バーンズ、音楽監督は「ママの思い出」のC・バカライニコフ、タイトル音楽としてエデン・アーベスのヒット曲「自然児」が用いられている。
（中略）
1949年度封切になる総天然色作品。
（中略）
ふとしたことから両親の爆死を知り自分が哀れな戦災孤児だと判ったから、悲しさの余り彼の頭は戦争の恐怖で一杯になる。そしてある朝、彼の頭髪は一夜にして鮮やかな緑色に変わってしまう。おじいさんは驚き、町の人々は好奇の眼を見張り、医者は首をかしげる。緑の髪は伝染するという噂がひろがり、町の人からも学友からもボイコットをくらう。孤独の淋しさに堪えかねたピーターは郊外の森深くさ迷いこむ。ふと目がさめると、彼は学校の戦災孤児救援のポスターに見た惨めな姿の孤児たちに囲まれている。
http://movie.goo.ne.jp/movies/p8759/comment.html

The song “Nature Boy” written by Eden Ahbez and sung by an uncredited chorus was a primary theme of the score for the motion picture. Nat “King” Cole’s version of “Nature Boy” shot to #1 on the Billboard charts, and remained there for eight weeks straight during the summer of 1948.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boy_with_Green_Hair

eden ahbez (born George Alexander Aberle; April 15, 1908 – March 4, 1995) was an American songwriter and recording artist of the 1940s-1960s, whose lifestyle in California was influential on the hippie movement. He was known to friends simply as ahbe.
Ahbez composed the song “Nature Boy,” which became a #1 hit for eight weeks in 1948 for Nat “King” Cole and has since become a pop and jazz standard.
Living a bucolic life from at least the 1940s, he traveled in sandals and wore shoulder-length hair and beard, and white robes. He camped out below the first L in the Hollywood Sign above Los Angeles and studied Oriental mysticism. He slept outdoors with his family and ate vegetables, fruits, and nuts. He claimed to live on three dollars per week.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eden_Ahbez

『緑色の髪の少年』の主人公は自分が戦災孤児であることを知り、ショックで髪がとつぜん緑色になってしまいます。その奇妙な色ゆえに疎んじられ謂れなき噂を立てられ差別されるのですが、それは孤児の問題だけではなく、戦闘員・非戦闘員の戦傷（外傷と癒されぬ心の傷）という、戦後ならではの問題を寓意として含んだものでした。
日本ではたとえば広島・長崎の被曝者が日本国内で差別され、政府にも冷遇されたという事実がありましたし、戦勝国アメリカにおいてさえ帰還した傷病兵が再就職で特に優遇されることはありませんでした。始めるときは国家の英雄であるかのようにおだてておいて、終わればポイ捨て。――戦争というのはいつの世でもそんなもんです。
この作品では反戦そのものを訴えるというより、反戦に目覚める者の姿を描くというスタイルを取っています。東西冷戦の時代ですから無理もありません。

主題歌『ネイチャー・ボーイ』の作者エデン・アーベスの生き様が６０年代のヒッピーに影響を与えたというのは、面白い話です。この投稿の一番最後に引用した動画の冒頭に１９４８年当時（？）の本人の姿がありますが、なるほどヒッピーそのものといった感じです。こういうタイプの人がこういう美しい歌を作るというのはちょっと意外ですね。

The first two measures of the song’s melody parallel the melody of the second movement in Antonín Dvořák’s Piano Quintet No. 2 in A, Op. 81 (1887). It is unknown if ahbez was familiar with Dvořák’s piece, or if he arrived at the same melodic idea independently.
Yiddish theater star/producer Herman Yablokoff, in Memoirs of the Yiddish Stage, claimed that the melody to “Nature Boy” was plagiarized from his song “Shvayg, Mayn Harts” (“Hush, My Heart”), which he wrote for his play Papirosn (1935).
ahbez protested his innocence, claiming to have “heard the tune in the mist of the California mountains,” but later agreed to pay Yablokoff $25,000 in an out-of-court settlement.
The song is based on a 1940s Los Angeles-based group called “Nature Boys,” a subculture of proto-hippies of which ahbez was a member.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature_Boy

A DVORAK PIANO QUINTET No. 2 Op. 81 COMPLETE ILYA ITIN et al
10:20 Dumka: Andante con moto
ドボルザーク　ピアノ五重奏曲　第二楽章

Herman Yablokoff – Shvayg, Mayn Harts（Hush, My Heart）

　　※動画なし。

ドボルザークの作品からのパクリと申しますと、これも名曲のほまれ高い映画『道（La Strada）』のテーマ『ジェルソミーナ』もそうですね。

トランペットは青春の調べ more register movement

“Nature Boy” from the movie “The Boy With Green Hair”（1948）

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King Cole – Nature Boy（1948 his original #1 version）
Nat “King” Cole
orchestra conducted by Frank DeVol

Backed by a studio orchestra and billed on the record label as simply ‘King Cole,’ the velvet-voiced leader of the King Cole Trio dismayed many of his jazz followers who claimed that he was abandoning them and “selling-out” to mainstream commercialism. On the other hand, his performance of the curious tune “Nature Boy” was enjoyed by millions, becoming the most successful recording of Cole’s career up to that time （7 weeks at #1 on the singles sales chart）. Dick Haymes and Frank Sinatra each enjoyed moderate success with their ‘recording ban’ a cappella versions of the song （both also included here）.
Note that the most commonly reissued Cole recording of this title over the years has been a 1961 stereo remake with a similar arrangement, but conducted by Ralph Carmichael rather than DeVol. This posted version is the original hit.

＜参考＞
The Unnatural Seven – Serutan Yob（A Song For Backward Boys And Girls Under 40）（1948）
vocal: Keren Tedder and Enrohtwah
ナット・キング・コールの「ネイチャー・ボーイ（Nature Boy）」をネタにしたスペル逆読みパロディソング。
タイトルにある Serutan は Nature’s の逆読みで、当時さかんに宣伝された下剤の名前だそうだ。

accompanied by members of The Pasadena Uke Club
recorded in Hollywood August 5, 1948
Billboard Chart Peaks: 12 （radio play）, 24 （sales）
The 1948 “Nature Boy” hit by’King Cole’
Throughout most of 1948, a musicians strike （aka’Recording Ban’） by the AFM forbade union musicians from performing in commercial recording sessions. Red Ingle would not cross the picket line to take part, but an offshoot of his Natural Seven group showed up for this UN-natural Seven session to parody the current Nat King Cole hit. Also present were popular Los Angeles radio DJ Jim Hawthorne （label billed as’Enrohtwah’） and others playing union-exempt instruments. For those too young to remember, Serutan was once a very widely advertised laxative: “Serutan spelled backwards spells Nature’s.”

Dick Haymes with The Song Spinners – Nature Boy（1948）

A 1948 ‘recording ban’ hit, performed a cappella （no musical instruments）.* Haymes reached #11 on the national jukebox listings with his competing version of Nat King Cole’s chart-topper. Frank Sinatra’s all-vocal effort is also included here. Other Dick Haymes tunes in this 1948 collection include “Little White Lies” “It’s Magic” and “You Can’t Be True, Dear.”
* During the nearly year-long strike by James C. Petrillo’s American Federation of Musicians, new vocal recordings for commercial release could be produced only as a cappella （all vocal…no instruments） or using such lesser, ‘union-approved’ tools as harmonicas, ukuleles and toy xylophones.

Frank Sinatra with The Jeff Alexander Choir – Nature Boy（1948）

A 1948 ‘recording ban’ hit, performed a cappella （no musical instruments）.* ‘The Voice’ reached #16 on the national jukebox listings with his competing version of Nat King Cole’s chart-topper. Dick Haymes’ all-vocal effort is also included here, as are the Sinatra tracks “I’ve Got A Crush On You” and “But Beautiful.”
* During the nearly year-long strike by James C. Petrillo’s American Federation of Musicians, new vocal recordings for commercial release could be produced only as a cappella （all vocal…no instruments） or using such lesser, ‘union-approved’ tools as harmonicas, ukuleles and toy xylophones.

Sarah Vaughan – Nature Boy（1948）

with the Ed Rodgers Choir
recorded April 1948
Billboard Chart Peak: 9 （radio play）
This was one of the 1948 ‘recording ban’ productions, performed a cappella （no musical instruments） due to the AFM musicians strike. And here’s the famous 1947-recorded Nat King Cole version which topped the charts in’48