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A Thought for Today
Without some 'think time,' we relinquish our quest for knowledge to others and are forced to accept their opinions as our own.
Hi Ken
My name's Greg O'Brien and I was born in the South of Johannesburg, namely
Rosettenville.
First heard of Rod from my late uncle Donald Sylvester in the sixties and between us bought all the books and records we
could get our hands on. The favorite song was from his live album, apparently
it was Rod's birthday, the song was "A Cat Named Sloopy".
Then our whole family went to see the movie "A Boy Named Charlie Brown" and guess what, we all
sang that song for many years.
After my uncle passed away went to get 'our' records
but they were all gone. My cousin said she thinks he may have lent them to a
friend. Well thank goodness a few have been released. The problem is every time
I get into the car with my kids they want to hear "Soldiers".
Good luck mate,
Greg O'Brien
Thanks for
making this an all South African day, Greg!
We've
featured "Sloopy" and "Soldiers" here fairly
recently but it's been awhile since we had a visit from Charlie. As is
the case with a lot of Rod's work, there are a number of different
versions of this song and the one I've selected for today is taken from
his "Greatest Hits Vol. 2" album.
The version
on the original soundtrack album contains an additional verse which,
following the death of Charles Schultz earlier this year, now
makes rather poignant reading:
Now the shadows of the morning
have gone past the August afternoon
and Charlie's had his way
his very special day
his morning and his evening and his noon.
Thanks for the contribution,
Greg.
The address for your story
of a favorite McKuen song or poem is ken@mckuen.com
and I look forward to hearing from you soon.
- Ken, Johannesburg, October 18 |
