This is my arrangement and cover performance of Nat King Cole’s “Nature Boy”, composed by eden ahbez in 1947, which was released on March 29th, 1948 by Capitol Records.
Since this is a bass voice channel, I needed to find the right approach to this song. I reflected on the lyrics and my own life and from there, started to sing the piece. As I was singing, I decided that I should record this on my cell phone as if I were leaving a message to my children in regards to one of the greatest things that one could learn (as stated in the lyrics). What came out was more akin to the vocals of Sir Patrick Page or Leonard Cohen – quiet, lower ranged, and somewhat speech-like.
Just as a father leaving some wisdom for the children, I also did not want this to become a “loudest and lowest” voice war so I chose a gentle approach while remaining connected (no extended techniques as you typically see). As Peter Cullen said in an interview when talking about what his brother told him, “be strong enough to be gentle.” I ended up an octave and a quarter step below Nat King Cole’s performance. This also means that the song consistently hovers around D2 and moves down to A1 throughout the piece (tuned a quarter step down).
What I did differently this time around was that I recorded my voice first with no cuts – just straight through only using my cell phone and no accompaniment. The piano was written to follow the vocal line and was actually tuned down in East West’s software in between D and Db as I did not sing along with a reference besides remembering what the pitch felt like before I started singing. This resulted in a darker piano sound. Whatever felt right harmonically, rhythmically, and melodically was what was written down into Logic Pro for the piano. I used EastWest’s Steinway Piano patch for this performance.
The videos were from the few snow days we’ve had this week in the area.
For the last section, I copied and pasted the last section because I wanted to add a piano section in the middle-end of the piece like Nat King Cole. Please enjoy this melancholy arrangement and don’t forget to do your YouTube duties – comment, like, subscribe, etc.
Thank you! – Thou
Video recorded with Samsung Galaxy Note S20
Audio recorded with Samsung Galaxy Note S20
Piano Sample from East West (Steinway)
Arranged and Edited with Logic and Final Cut