SONG: Nature Boy by Nat King Cole|  ARTIST: Jen Hood

Jen Hood — Nat’s version is my faveorite adaptation of this old standard. The song tells the story of a strange, magic boy who adventures over land and sea. The song says he has sad eyes. He’s been through it, battling unseen and unimagined forces in the quest to learn the greatest thing: just to love, and be loved in return. The tattoo design shows him sheltering this shared love from the foe that seeks to consume it through jealousy and infatuation. Reading into it? Maybe. But that was the assignment, right? Haha. I liked the challenge of perceiving the story through the lens of a different culture, in this case the Japanese traditional art style.