YOGI WRITES BEST SELLING SONG

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22669, 21 June 1948, Page 8

YOGI WRITES BEST SELLING SONG

NEW YORK. May 23. Eden Ahbez, whose worldly weaith consisted of one juice-squeezer, a double sleeping bag. a bicycle and a wife, will receive £6250 for a song he has written. Ahbez a bearded, nature-loving Yogi, who signs his name in small letters ’‘because only God has a right to capitals”, is the composer of America's current popular hit Nature Boy. Strolling into a Californian theatre where Nat "King” Cole, popular negro musician and singer, was featured, Ahbez left his song with the doorman. It took Colo weeks to find him and tell him it was a potential bcst-scller. This is a sample of the words that are bringing Abhcz a fortune: “There was a boy, a very strange, enchanted boy. They say lie wandered very far . . . over land and sea . . . This he said to me: The greatest thing you'll ever learn. Is just to love and be loved in return.” ~ It will bring the bare-footed 35-years-old Ahbez £6250 in royalties, but as he and his attractive wife live alternately in the back-yard of a friend's bouse and in a Californian canyon, he finds little to do with his sudden riches. He still lives on fruit juices and herbs, sleeps outdoor and wears his hair long.