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. 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.
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| - 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. 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.
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Title
| - U.S. Billboard Best Sellers in Stores number-one single
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Before
| - "Mañana (Is Soon Enough for Me)" by Peggy Lee
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Years
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After
| - "The Woody Woodpecker Song" by Kay Kyser
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abstract
| - 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 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.
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