Rod McKuen
Rod McKuen
Rodney Marvin "Rod" McKuenwas an American singer-songwriter, musician and poet. He was one of the best-selling poets in the United States during the late 1960s. Throughout his career, McKuen produced a wide range of recordings, which included popular music, spoken word poetry, film soundtracks and classical music. He earned two Academy Award nominations and one Pulitzer nomination for his music compositions. McKuen's translations and adaptations of the songs of Jacques Brel were instrumental in bringing the Belgian songwriter to prominence...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionComposer
Date of Birth29 April 1933
CityOakland, CA
CountryUnited States of America
For many people, I was a phase, a part of the period of growing up. People ask me why I connected. It was presumptuous of me to say, but I'm Everyman. The difference is I put my thoughts into words.
I try not to put messages in my songs. My only message is man's communication with his fellow man. I want to narrow the gap of strangeness and alienation.
I am not convinced the truth can make men free, but I believe it a beginning.
It seems to me that it's every man's obligation to make what contribution he can. You live each day as best you can. That, to me, is what makes life interesting.
You know, in a way, I wish I could hate a little more. It would make me a more rounded personality.
Extending your hand is extending yourself.
I cannot speculate on what our cluttered mind will save- sleepy Sundays, or a nosebleed after love. I know only the dying heart needs the nourishment of memory to live beyond too many winters.
I've come to terms with it, it knows I know.
Do not ask the definition of a friend. He/She is that one without whose company death and dying set in earlier and living is made more pleasurable.
We need sex education in schools, but we need it at home first. We need parents to learn the names of the teachers who are teaching their children. We need families to question day-care centers, to question other children and their own as to what goes on.
I can't understand people who give up and commit suicide. If I have a bad day, I figure tomorrow will be better. And even if it isn't, at least it isn't any worse.
I felt that some of my work was OK. If I could do it over, I'd do better.
I was tired. I peaked. I left when I was on top. One year, I did 280 concerts.