Rod McKuen 1933-2015

[rn57]

The Los Angeles Times reported his death yesterday. Bruce set his poem If There Were Time to music, but other than that he has no connection to the guys I know of so this goes in GMD.

[SBonilla]

He wrote the English lyrics for Seasons In The Sun.

[rn57]

He wrote the English lyrics for Seasons In The Sun.

That's right - sometimes I misremember and think Mort Shuman wrote those lyrics.  Which means that one of several things Rod and Kim Fowley had in common was that Nirvana covered their material. (The be-flanneled trio recorded Seasons in Brazil in '93, and also used to do Fowley's tune Do You Love Me which they knew from Kiss's version.)

[rn57]

http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6457936/madonna-frank-sinatra-rod-mckuen-dies

An article indicating part of the pretty wide scope of McKuen's impact in the music world. Though it leaves out some things.

Such as "The Beat Generation," the song Rod wrote and produced (and recorded under the name "Dor" with the late Bob McFadden), which was rewritten by Richard Hell as the punk anthem "Blank Generation." 

Or "The Livin' End," the rock'n'roll number he wrote (with "Hank" Mancini) and produced in 1958 for a teen named Scotty Engel, later to gain a bit of fame under the name Scott Walker.

Or the fact he got his first gig as a professional entertainer with the help of Phyllis Diller - up in San Francisco at the Purple Onion.

He also had one of the bigger record collections out there - reportedly 500,000 LPs and around 100,000 CDs, as well as a 20,000 volume library.