8th & 9th February, 2010
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Photo by Eric Yeager
©2009 All Rights Reserved
A Thought for Today
Remember the compliments and remember to
return them. Forget the insults and don’t show your backside by
responding in kind.
TO BEGIN WITH
This edition of Ask Rod was meant to run over the past weekend but alas
after pulling two all nighters in a row I crashed and fell asleep for 14
hours missing my deadline to get this off to Webmaster Ken in time for
posting. I needed and enjoyed the sleep but my apologies for being a
couple of days late.
.ASK
ROD
TWO DIFFICULT TO ANSWER QUESTIONS
Rod, Here are a couple of questions. 1. For the
last 30 years, the single most difficult thing being a Rod McKuen fan is
that there have been NO new songbooks. Through the years I've bought
every one I could get my hands on, but the last one you put out was in
December 1975, which you must admit was definitely a few weeks ago!
Plus, in re-reading your 1998 interview with Ken Blackie, on page 13
you're quoted as saying, "When I work out a new publishing agreement
there will be songbooks aplenty." Unfortunately, that's turned out to be
somewhat of an understatement.
I'm not even asking for the complete musical arrangement; I'd be more
than happy with just the words and guitar chords! I LOVE this stuff! And
if I were to name the 12 I want most, it would be these: Many Summers
Ago, Each Of Us Alone, Home To the Sea, Somerset, Thank You, Sleep Warm,
Isn't It Something, I Never Go There Anymore, The Girls Of the Summer,
The Green Hills Of England, Who Has Touched the Sky, Sea Without Sun (La
Mer, Sans Soliel).
What would it take to create an Internet songbook
download? That way we could send the money and you could send the song
sheets electronically. I can't be the ONLY fan who asks about this
stuff, can I?
2. Tell me the truth: Has the Warner Brothers/Bear Family Box Set hit a
snag again, like the RCA box did for so long? You don't have to explain,
just yes or no, so I can stop looking forward to it. Thanks for all the
tough times you got me through. 53 years on, Glen Johnson Vancouver,
B.C.
Dear Glen, Your letter hasn’t been collecting dust but it has been
sitting here for awhile because at the time I received it I too was
still groping for the answers to both questions. I’m pretty sure you
won’t be totally satisfied with my attempt to satisfy your queries but
here goes. This is what I know at the moment.
Regarding Question #1: I’m as frustrated with the fact that there have
been no recent songbooks and I sent an earlier letter you wrote to me to
the company that administers the copyrights for The Stanyan Music Group.
I haven’t heard anything back recently but I assume that’s because there
is no news to report. I hope that will change soon because we get
several letters a month from music stores asking when new sheet music
and/or song books will become available.
As for downloading sheet music, when this site was first going up I
discussed the idea of having a song every month or so that could be
downloaded with our Webmaster Ken Blackie. After discussing it with The
Site Designer Ken Blackie was informed that it wouldn’t be possible at
that time. That was nearly a dozen years ago so I’m sending a copy of
this letter to Ken and another to our sound guru Eric Yeager to see if
they have any new ideas on the subject.
Note: I passed along your note to both Ken and Eric who seem to feel
that sheet music downloads would be too costly and impractical. I feel
they are right otherwise some other songwriter would have started doing
it by now. Thanks for the suggestion all the same.
Regarding Question #2: A year ago I started mastering albums for two
more Bear Family Boxed sets of 8 CD’s each. I worked on 32 albums
including such titles not previously released on CD as Alone, Sleep
Warm, The Beautiful Strangers, Goodtime Music, McKuen Country, New
Ballads, Odyssey, Grand Tour, Back To Carnegie Hall, Stanyan Street &
Other Sorrows and Moment to Moment from the 3 Record “Essential McKuen”
set. I was even mastering the original demos I did for The Sea and Frank
Sinatra’s A Man Alone. The 32 albums included the complete Sold Out at
Carnegie Hall with unreleased tracks and the score and songs from The
Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. Nearly every LP was a gold or multi-platinum
seller and all have been among the most requested over the years for
compact disc release.
I compiled hundreds of unpublished photographs for the books that would
accompany the sets and was at work on two separate track by track essays
of 30,000 words each to be included with the boxes. This nearly
year-long project was a lot of hard but mostly pleasant work. Alas there
have been a couple of hitches and the project has been delayed for
release until at least the fall of this year. To be honest with you I’m
not sure if it will come to pass even then, if ever.
Because the work I’ve completed so far is still tied up and the hard
drives that contain it are being held hostage all of the digital
mastering will have to be redone if is not released on Bear. Worse
things have happened in my life and I have no intention of letting this
setback stop me from releasing the albums one way or another. Should I
elect not to go through with the Bear Project one plan is to start
releasing a series of ‘Double-Up’ CD’s each one containing 2 LP’s on a
single CD. That would of course mean the deluxe Bear treatment would not
be included. Still, getting the music out is far more important than the
extra packaging frills
I’m not at liberty to go into all the details just now but I have to
make a decision as to what direction to take within the next few days
because whatever I decide on I’ll have to go back into the studio within
the next few days in order to meet any deadlines. My disappointment at
having done so much work –– perhaps much of it for nothing –– makes me
somewhat reluctant to jump in front of the buzz-saw again but one way or
the other there will be back catalog CD’s released by me in the coming
months.
Now you know as much as I do concerning both of the questions you posed
Glenn. All The Best, Rod
SINATRA & A MAN ALONE
Dear Mr. McKuen, My name is Max Hudson and I am a 20 year old Psychology
undergraduate at a London University. I am a self proclaimed
Sinatraholic! with music and singing being a very large part of my life.
Perhaps 12 months ago during my attempts to secure copies of every one
of Sinatra’s out of print albums, I came across “A Man Alone”. An album
I had been wanting for a good, while and finally acquired at some
searching and financial cost. Needless to say the album was nothing of
what I expected, and it blew me away.
For me, concept albums are the kings of albums and something very hard
to produce, an album around a single theme is a true challenge to an
artist. Many concept albums throughout the years have only ever
concentrated on what I feel, relatively speaking, are very simple
emotions to portray; those of loss, sadness, happiness and so on, but I
have never encountered one that deals with loneliness.
The songs and soliloquies in that album are to my mind truly majestic.
They surmised exactly how I felt, and still do feel, at that period of
my life. The phrases and songs within that work projected and explained
the notion of the drifter and loner with very profound effect. People
who are that way inclined e.g. yourself and myself, and dare I include
Sinatra in that list! Are cursed in having to feel an emotion and way of
being that is ineffably hard to express or portray to others. I am
pleased to say that within your work on that album, you lifted that
curse, and forty odd years on your work is still deeply touching new
generations of people.
It is truly the best summation of who I am as a person I have ever
encountered, and it was done by yourself, a complete stranger to me.
That frankly amazes me, so thank you. With gratitude. Max John Hudson
Dear Max, Thanks for writing and for the compliments. When 20 year olds
write me and say they are fans of Sinatra (or in your case an out and
out ‘Sinatraholic’) it gives me great hope for the standards of Mercer,
Porter, Berlin and all the great writers I learned my craft from. It’s
been my own cliché that ‘any day when I’ve turned someone on to Johnny
Mercer or Jo Stafford I know I’ll sleep a little better that night.’
And, you might be very surprised to know how many of you are out there.
Sinatra, Clooney, Crosby, Ella, Dinah Shore and lesser known performers
(at least to the younger generation) like Jeri Southern, Anita O’Day,
Mildred Bailey, Billy Eckstine, Mable Mercer, Sylvia Syms and so many
other greats who set and improved the standard of singing during the
20th Century are being newly discovered by people like yourself.
As a Sinatra fan ever since I can remember you can only imagine what a
thrill it was to be asked to write the first album of original songs by
the man himself. The sessions were a wonder and of course I love the
result. And, yes there is a lot of me in the album and that you can
relate to those moods is very gratifying.
I too prefer concept albums whether they are vocal or instrumental. I’ve
been working on digitizing many of my own such albums recorded over the
years for release on CD. You mention in your note that singing is a
major part of your life, I’d love to hear what you sound like.
Considering the kind of music you like it won’t be the easiest thing in
the world to pursue a career as a soloist but if you’ve got the goods I
guarantee that with persistence you’ll make it. That’s just the way it
works, Max, if you want something bad enough it will happen. Thanks
again for taking the time to write me and for your kind words. Warmly,
Rod
PUBLIC SPEAKING
Dear Rod, I know this will sound strange but I
just came across your website and I am so happy to find you are alive
and well! A majority of the poets I enjoy are no longer with us, hence
the excitement of fresh poems from someone I really appreciate.
There have been times in my life when a line of your poetry would come
into my head and be perfect in expressing that moment or feeling. For
the past few years, I've somewhat forgotten how important, or more so,
how happy poetry makes me. Your words, both old and new, still hold the
same magic as they did then. I like to think some souls are parallel,
tend to cross and connect.
I fall under the category of one who has written for years (I started my
first diary at age 6) with composition books filled to the brim and
folders of paper and napkins and coasters. I know only a handful are
worth putting together and publishing, which I am fortunate I could do
if I so choose.
So here is my question: As one who does not speak well in front of
people, is there any hope for me? I know that if one wants to be a poet,
one needs to sell themselves and doing readings is a big part of the
position. Any suggestions?
Again, thank you so much. I look forward to reading more of your work
and hopefully, if you make it to the Bay Area, get to see you perform.
Sincerely, Julianne Premo "Juge"
Dear Juge, Yep I’m still here and not too anxious to go to that other
place any time soon. Thanks for noticing and for writing me.
Good for you for starting a diary so early in your life and continuing
to keep up with it. You remind me of Jay Hagan, my friend and the big
cheese as far as knowing where my poems and thoughts are buried on my
website and elsewhere. He continues to keep a daily diary and manages to
recount all the events of the day for posterity and his bookshelf. I’m
pretty steady with my journal but there are a far too many gaps in it.
One of these days I hope to make it back to The Bay Area (my spiritual
home) for a concert or two and if and when that happens I hope you’ll
hang around after the performance to say hello.
If I were you I wouldn’t be all that concerned about your skills as a
public speaker. Not every poet performs their work in public and
speaking aloud is by no means a requirement for being a successful
writer –– putting it down on paper is. You are right about promotion
however because to be an author who is able to market and sell their
work, drive is even more important than talent. Talent and the ability
to make sense on paper is certainly the starting point but beyond that
you have to desire success more than anything else in the world. That
often means sacrificing any kind of normal personal life.
In the old days the “if you build it they will come” syndrome seemed to
work just fine. As an illustration I offer one of America’s finest
literary talents –– a man who published only three books in his lifetime
and despite being a near recluse for most of his life died last week as
an authentic American legend. Of course I refer to J. D. Salinger, but
then again not everyone is capable of writing a “Catcher In The Rye” the
first time out. On the other hand with the advent of The Internet there
are many opportunities for self-promotion and drumming up some sort of
notoriety.
Actually I find shyness in anyone attractive. That may be because I have
always been a bit of an introvert and became an extrovert out of the
necessity to leave the nerdiness of my youth behind. And by the way that
old axiom of imagining your audience nude while you are addressing them
seems to have worked for lots of public and not so public figures.
Keep writing Juge and if you want to be published more than you want
anything else in life you will be. Sounds simplistic but trust me it
works. So Long and Stay Well, Rod
OF CATS AND PARROTS
Rod: I am looking for a particular line which you
used in one of your published poems, about how a cat’s purr always calms
you (paraphrased). Although not the correct quote, the thought has
always stayed with me. The reason I am looking for this is that I am now
writing a post for my blog … I have received two parrot bites in the
last 24 hours (ouch). This always means that I am moving too fast around
them. And the bite(s) remind me that I need to slow down. Which is where
I’d like to use your sentence correctly. Thank you, Beverly Taylor
Dear Beverly, The line is from what I call my "Maxims & Minimums". It
comes from an unfinished book "Rod McKuen's Book of Cats."
Here it is: "I've never known a cat who couldn't calm me down just by
walking slowly past my chair.” Watch those Parrots Beverly. Cheers, Rod
ROGER RAMJET WHERE ARE YOU?
In 1969 I served in the army and met a soldier
from I believe Virginia or North Carolina. He wrote poetry like you, and
was a fan of yours. I wonder if he reads your web site, his name was
Roger “Ramjet” Weiss or Weist. He signed all of his poems Roger Ramjet.
I was sent overseas and I lost track of him, and I often think about
him. I was wondering if something could be posted? Robert Price,
Actively Caring
Dear Robert, Lets see if this works. Cheers, Rod
2/5/2010 Previously Unpublished
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