[R. S. Gwynn]

on Rod McKuen?

[John Whitworth]

Yes. Who is Rod McKuen?

[W.F. Lantry]

Originally Posted by John Whitworth

Yes. Who is Rod McKuen?

"McKuen was born on April 29, 1933, in Oakland, California. Raised by his mother and stepfather, who was a violent alcoholic, McKuen ran away from home at the age of 11. He drifted along the West Coast, supporting himself as a ranch hand, surveyor, railroad worker, lumberjack, rodeo cowboy, stuntman, and radio disk jockey, always sending money home to his mother."

Seems like a good guy.

[ross hamilton hill]

From Wiki
Rod McKuen wrote over 1,500 songs which have accounted for the sale of over 100 million records.[citation needed] His songs have been performed by such diverse artists as Glenn Yarbrough, Barbra Streisand, Perry Como, Petula Clark, Waylon Jennings, The Boston Pops, Chet Baker, Johnny Cash, Pete Fountain, Andy Williams, the Kingston Trio, Percy Faith, the London Philharmonic, Dusty Springfield, Johnny Mathis, Al Hirt, Greta Keller, Frank Sinatra[5][unreliable source?], and Gene Ween.[6]
Also here is a list of his classical output

Concertos
Finding My Father
An Outstretched Hand
Et Cetera
For Piano & Orchestra
For Cello & Orchestra
For Guitar & Orchestra
# 2 for Piano & Orchestra
For Ondes Martinot & Orchestra (Balloon Concerto) For Four Harpsichords
A Book of Days
A Book of Days, 2 Another Beautiful Day Another Beautiful Day, 2
Seascapes for Piano The Woodwinds
Music Collections
Symphonies, Symphonic Suites, etc.
New Carols for Christmas
The McKuen/Sinatra Songbook New Ballads
At Carnegie Hall
28 Greatest Hits
23 Songs
Through European Windows The Songs of Rod McKuen, 1 The Songs of Rod McKuen, 2 The McKuen/Brel Songbook 17 Rod McKuen Songs
The World of Rod McKuen
Symphony No. 1 Symphony No. 2 Ballad of Distances The City
II
3 Suites for Piano & Strings Adagio for Harp & Strings Rigadoon for Orchestra Pastures Green/Pavements Gray Symphony No. 4

He wrote 'if you go away' a translation of the famous french song 'ne me quitte pas, worth reading his Wiki entry. I had no idea. There's not much of his poetry online and what there is, is rather shallow (in my opinion) others may have some examples of his poetry that are better. He also wrote another big pop song hit but you can read the wiki article and find out for yourselves.

[John Whitworth]

He was a writer of pop songs and a good guy. Thank you. Now I know.

[Ann Drysdale]

He was also not a serial carjacker. I found that on tinternet.

Are we supposed to line up either side of the smirk-line; those who do and those who don't?

I do not make light of your carelessly-tossed decoy, Sam. We need to get into practice ready for Leonard Cohen.

[John Whitworth]

Good Lord, is the poor fellow dying. Or is he just old?

[Ann Drysdale]

No, John - he's just another of those polarising persons, like Rod McKuen, whose name will start a fight if we let it. Let's not.

[John Whitworth]

Absolutely not. But I have definitely heard of Leonard Cohen. Quite definitely.

[Susan McLean]

I first heard of Rod McKuen when I was in high school. I saw a few of his books in the room of a slightly older first cousin, and I read them. I was deeply interested in poetry at the time and wrote it myself, but had mainly read metrical poems from earlier centuries and knew very little about living poets (who were not read in my classes). I was surprised to hear that he was the best-selling poet of the time. I could understand his poems, but didn't find them to be particularly moving or interesting. It was a lesson in the difference between popularity and the kind of qualities I valued in poetry. When I went to bookstores after that, I kept seeing his books for sale there, but few books by other living poets. Although I stopped writing poetry not many years after that, it was not because of any discouragement about the chance of earning money in the field (I had no illusions about that), but just because everyone I encountered in the field was rejecting and putting down the kind of poetry I wrote, which was based on the kind of poems I valued most.

Susan