POETRY BREAK #18: "Full Moon" by EDEN AHBEZ, 1960 [with Audio!]

Albie's Note: One of the odder albums of the early sixties was Eden's Island by a sort of early hippie beach bum named  Eden Ahbez.  Ahbez  (15 April 1908 – 4 March 1995)  was already famous-- in a novelty sort of way-- for being the writer of Nat King Cole's gargantuan 1948 hit   "Nature Boy" and had guest starred on several major TV shows with that very claim to fame.  Ahbez has often been called the "first hippie" as he was sporting a long-haired, bearded "prophet look" as early as the mid-40s.  Really, though, I think he can be placed pretty safely among the Beatniks of the 40's and '50s just as well-- as ably illustrated by this bit of spoken word poetry form the aforementioned 1960 album.  The album was recorded by the great Bob Keane for his own Del-Fi Records and released September 1960 to just about no fanfare of acclaim whatsoever.  I tried out the album after it came to CD in the late 1990s because Keane is a personal hero of mine-- both for his great west coast body of recorded music and his cool attitude toward life in general.  He is most famous today for recording Ritchie Valens, Bobby Fuller, and many SoCal surf groups, but he had a famous open-door policy at his home based studio that attracted all kinds of nuts.

Enter Mr. Ahbez! 

Released with an announcement that  Ahbez would walk coast to coast to promote his record, starting in Los Angeles, the album is actually a really good one [at least I think so-- you are welcome to judge for yourself-- the whole thing can be heard on Youtube] and is aided immensely by Keane's expert production to become a marvelous summer mood enhancer.  Here-- without further adieu--  is the sixth track, "Full Moon."

Full Moon

To live in an oil shack by the sea
(And breathe the sweet salt air)
To live with the dawn and the dusk
The new moon and the full moon
The tides the wind and the rain...
To surf and comb the beach
And gather sea shells and drift-wood
And know the thrill of loneliness
And lose all sense of time
And be free
To hike over the island to the village
And visit the marketplace
And enjoy the music and the food and the people
And do a little trading
And see the great ships come and go
And, man, have me a ball
And in the evening
(When the sky is on fire)
Heaven and earth become my great open cathedral
Where all men are brothers
Where all things are bound by law
And crowned with love
Poor, alone and happy
I walk by the surf and make a fire on the beach
And as darkness covers the face of the deep
Lie down in the wild grass
And dream the dream that the dreamers dream
I am the wind, the sea, the evening star
I am everyone, anyone, no one.

PEACE