ASK ROD |
|
Rod & Sunny: Photo by Bob Gentry
8/5/1999
A Thought for Today
Don't be in a hurry. Death waits in the distance and is even surer than success or failure.
FEEDBACK: FLIGHT PLAN 9/2/2000
Rod, I can't tell you just how personal your "Flight Plan for Today" is to me. Thank you, thank you for your love and caring. Your "drive carefully" directive today really touched me -- and I'm sure many others who take the time to read your site daily.
I feel lately, after finding you again and re-reading some of my favorites of your writings, that I'm coming back from a coldness I took on after divorces, broken dreams, etc. Life is good; love is all that unites us with each other and the universe! GAWD!, I'm sure happy you are in my world! Karin
Dear Karin, So many people, like yourself, share personal moments with me that I feel all of us are a pretty close family. I warn visitors and friends going down the hill from my house to be careful driving. On a holiday weekend like the one just past I wouldn't consider not admonishing my family to take care and exercise caution on the highway.
Thanks for dropping in every day Karen, Warmly, Rod
RUSTING IN THE RAIN
Dear Rod, Recently while I was looking up some information for Ann I came across a newspaper clipping from May 4, 1979 in which you told the reporter that you had just completed your first book of fiction, "Rusting in the Rain". I
used the search engine to see if you had ever mentioned it in the Flight Plan.
I found two references to the book, one on June 29, 2000 in which you say that "Rusting in the Rain" is an already completed paperback, and another mention on July 20, 2000 in which you say that your poem to your "Jenny" will appear later in "Rusting in the Rain". So now it sounds like "Rusting in the Rain" is a yet to be released poetry book in paperback. What happened to the original book of fiction under the same title? (Please don't call me a female Boswell for this question.) *S* Love and Hugs, Carol Widel
Dear Carol, as a book title "Rusting in the Rain" has been kicking around for some time. As you know I have a song by that name that has been recorded by Glenn Yarbrough and The Kingston Trio among others. It seemed to fit as the moniker for a novel I began but put aside some years ago. Later, just before I decided not to publish anymore books for awhile it became the title for a paperback collection I completed in 1984. In fact it was scheduled for spring 1985 publication so it would have followed "Watch for the Wind." It will be published, but after the hardback release of "A Safe Place To Land." Thanks for reading all that small print, Carol and coming up with some new questions. Luv, Rod
GRAND TOUR '73
Hello Rod; Greetings from Long Island once again. I was wondering how many of us from The Grand Tour in '73 are still around. That truly was a great time, and it remains one of my fondest memories. I am sure that holds true for a number of others from that great trip as well.
I would love to hear from any of them, and if possible could I please leave you with my E- mail address? Jolsen136@aol.com. Thanks Rod and am anxiously awaiting from and or about anything new. Regards as always, John.
Hi John, nice to hear from you. What a good idea. For those who don't know,
a gang of friends chartered a 747 and flew to London for a week of sightseeing, parties and a concert I was giving at London's Royal Albert Hall. I think a pretty good time was had by all. I know I enjoyed myself a lot.
I'd love to know what happened to some of the folks on our 'Grand Tour.' Alas the irrepressible I.B. Sarnow and the delightful Helen Fujita are no longer with us. Marion Lefkowitz, one of my favorite people has passed too. She and Ed were loved by all who took the trip. Ed has since remarried and I'm looking forward to meeting his new wife.
I know that over the years, John, you've maintained a kind of an outreach program keeping in touch with a lot of us. I'm so poor at letter writing that if it wasn't for your letters I'd be pretty ill informed about a lot of the old gang.
I hope printing your E-mail address leads to a lot more information on what's going on with many more of our old friends. Keep me posted. Affectionately, Rod
THE LARRY CONNECTION
Hello Rod, I am writing to you hoping its a day that you didn't get any other mail (I AM a dreamer, aren't I?) so that you may focus on mine. Since LarryJ first told me about "A Safe Place To Land", I have wanted to write to you, but how do I possibly touch you with words, as you have touched me?
I was introduced to you (not in the flesh, unfortunately) and to your poetry in a creative writing class sometime in the 70"s. During that decade, every Christmas and Birthday, my mom or one of my friends would give me one of your books, not signed by you, but by them...telling me to enjoy!
Since then, I have had millions of yard sales, thrown out two husbands and all of my Bobby Sherman albums (I can't believe I did that!)but have always kept your books. They are dear to me, as you are!
Sometimes the books got put on a back shelf for a while, but my favorite poem has been in my billfold since sometime in the 70's. The first time I read it was around the time when others and I were discovering my body. "Noon Again" was the name of that poem, and it still remains there. (I retype it and replace the tattered copy every time I get a new billfold).
I met a man a couple of months ago (known to all as LarryJ). He was unlike most men I talk with. I couldn't place what it was, but I felt at ease talking with him on the net and the phone. Then one night he said something that told me how he was "separate" from the others. It told me so much about the man I was getting to know. He mentioned your name! In surprise, I said, "You know who Rod McKuen is?" He said, "Yes" and proceeded to tell me about the site. Immediately, I jumped on the computer and typed in www.rodmckuen.com, and voila, there you were. Unbelievable! I DID find "A Safe Place To Land". Thanks to LarryJ!
Thanks to you, Rod, for being there with me in my room at night as a teen, helping me to appreciate and absorb my own feelings. You and I went through a lot of boys, and since, a few men that I have loved. A soft kiss to your belly! (Should I be so bold!) Stephanie
Dear Stephanie, Larry J. is another member of our extended family and an important one. Based on other letters I've received and now and again glancing at the message boards, I've noted how he never seems too busy to help. He's really knowledgeable too about lyrics and songs and my career in
general. We're all lucky to have Larry in our lives and none more so than me.
As you navigate your way around the message boards and other parts of the official and not so official McKuen sites, you'll find there's a terrific bunch of people out there. Interesting, involved, fun people. I may be the catalyst or the common denominator in bringing them together but that's where it stops. These are just caring, involved and intelligent souls who lead all kinds of different lives. I like to think they didn't find me, I found them.
Never mind today's popular catch phrase, not all men are from Mars and women from Venus. Some of us do a lot of traveling and are pretty good at it. Sincerely, Rod.
AND TO EACH SEASON
What a wonderful surprise it was to find your website. I seriously doubt that very many days have gone by in my life when a phrase from one of your writings or, more often, a lyric from one of your songs has not entered my mind. Thank you.
You wrote a "counterpoint" to Canon in D - I am unable to locate which album (boy does that show my age) it was on. Beginning I believe - "And to each season, something is special -- lilac, red rose, and the white willow. Young men of fortune, old men forgotten -- green buds renewing, brown leaves dead and gone..."
Would you be so kind as to furnish the rest of the lyrics?
Again, my daily visits to "Today's Flight Plan" are a wonderful diversion and your words, as always, transport me to places past, tune me in to places present, and give me courage to places future. Fondly, BJ Connery
Dear B.J. Thanks for writing. Reprinted below are the lyrics to the counter melody I wrote Pachelbel's "Canon in D." Since it's already a 'cannon' I guess this in effect makes it a double cannon.
Over the years I've written lyrics to classical melodies that are special favorites of mine. They include Satie's Gymnopodes 1 & 3 (Home by Water & Things to Come} The 4th movement of a Beethoven Symphony (The Carols of Christmas),
the largo from Rodregio's Concerto de Arenjuez (Inside of me) and later as a special request from Petula Clark I did another lyric to the same melody and titled it "The Wind of Change." I'm proud to say many of her fans (including me) consider "The Wind of Change" one of her finest performances.
Lately I've been working on lyrics to the music of Rachmaninoff. At any rate here is one of three lyrics I wrote to be sung against Canon in D Major. Jay Hagan was kind enough to type both of the versions he knows of. This is an alternate version that I sang on the album "Pastures Green." The more familiar lyric appears on my Christmas CD. All the best, Rod
And to Each Season (Alternate Version #1)
And to each season
something is special
lilac, red rose or the white willow.
Young men of fortune
old men forgotten
green buds renewing
the brown leaves dead and gone.
Spring and the lilacs
pale white and lavender
fill up the room
of my gone mother.
And when the cat springs
on to the window ledge
his only greeting
is the silence and the rain.
And to each season
something is special
lilac, red rose or the white willow.
Young men of fortune
old men forgotten
green buds renewing
the brown leaves dead and gone.
Deep down in autumn
all of the brown leaves
fall on the garden
and cover up the lawn.
Let us remember
each year in turn then
when there was sun enough
to cover up the wrong.
And to each season
something is special
lilac, red rose or the white willow.
Young men of fortune
old men forgotten
green buds renewing
the brown leaves dead and gone.
Roses in summer
climb up the stone wall
playing with sunlight
and the morning shadows.
Petals as firm
as the young men's striding
pants filled with love
hearts filled with longing.
And to each season
something is special
lilac, red rose or the white willow.
Young men of fortune
old men forgotten
green buds renewing
the brown leaves dead and gone.
Welcome the winter
robed in its whiteness
bending down the willow
with it's snow blankets.
And the wild berries
hidden in the wood now
from all the creatures
lost in the darkness.
And to each season
something is special
lilac, red rose or the white willow.
Young men of fortune
old men forgotten
green buds renewing
the brown leaves dead and gone.
Welcome the winter
robed in its whiteness
bending down the willows
with it's snow blankets.
And all the wild berries
hidden in the wood now
from the creatures
lost in the darkness.
Old men forgotten
leave to me something
for I've no family now
but that of man.
Tell all the young men
passing in the lanes now
soon I'll be coming down
to take my place with them.
And to each season
something is special
lilac, red rose or the white willow.
Tomorrow will come with or without us so let's make a pact to meet here again. Sleep warm.
9/17/2000 Previously unpublished
|
