<Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> Problems playing this file? See media help . </Td> </Tr> <P> Cole's recording, which took place on August 22, 1947, featured an orchestra conducted by Frank De Vol--the in - house arranger of Capitol Records . He used strings and flute as instrumentation in the song, to capture the "enchanting" vibe of the track . The first two measures of the song's melody parallel the melody of the second movement in composer Antonín Dvořák's Piano Quintet No. 2 (1887). Written as a pop ballad, "Nature Boy" follows an "A, B" format, with the primary three notes descending on a minor triad above the pickup note . An ascending line over the diminished ii chord returns to the initial minor triad . The harmonic structure makes frequent use of the standard ii--V--I progression in the key of D minor . The second 4 - bar section featured a chromatic descending line based on the lowering of the tonic (Dm--Dm--Dm--Dm). The same descending line then continues through Gm--Dm, then finally ending with a whole - step down to the G in the chord Em ♭ . </P> <P> The lyrics of the song relate to a 1940s Los Angeles - based group called "Nature Boys", a subculture of proto - hippies of which ahbez was a member . Instrumentalist Chris Tyle noted that the lyrics are a musical self - portrait of ahbez, with the lines like "There was a boy, A very strange, enchanted boy, They say he wandered very far, Very far, over land and sea". But he believed that it was the song's last line that made it the most poignant: "The greatest thing you'll ever learn, Is just to love and be loved in return". Various interpretations of the line are given by academics, with the eponymous nature boy being a child, advising on love and relationship, or an adult hippie talking about his journey and inner - love . According to author Jeffrey P. Dennis, the song presented a homo - romantic theme, with the eponymous nature boy visiting Cole on a "magic day" and explaining that "the greatest thing you'll ever learn, is just to love and be loved in return". Author Raymond Knapp described the track as a "mystically charged vagabond song" whose lyrics evoked an intense sense of loss and haplessness, with the final line delivering a universal truth, described by Knapp as "indestructible" and "salvaged somehow from the perilous journey of life". </P> <P> According to Joe Romersa, an engineer / drummer in Los Angeles, whom ahbez bequeathed with master tapes, photos, and final works, ahbez wanted a correction made to the lyrics saying "To be loved in return, is too much of a deal, and there's no deal in love .", and that instead it should read "The greatest thing you'll ever learn is to love and be loved, just to love, and be loved ." Romersa has stated that because these lyrics did not fit with the original ending melody, ahbez re-wrote it . </P>

Who said the greatest thing you'll ever learn
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