Eldergays, tell me about Rod McKuen

His tits, Rose.

He had a minor hit with "Jean," the theme song from "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie."

He was a poet.

He was gay when gay wasn't cool.

My mom loved his poetry. I did not know he was gay.

As a kid I used to read his poetry. As an adult- haven't read any. so not sure if he is a hack or not.

Oh, he's still living! I thought he had died. He's 81.

What is with all this "Elder gays tell me about" shit. Look it up you lazy bastard.

He got Petula Clark to try pot in their duet of "Baby It's Cold Outside":

[quote]What is with all this "Elder gays tell me about" shit. Look it up you lazy bastard.

Oh come the fuck on, R5. Aren't you glad there are young gay people out there who value the opinions and contributions of the generations that came before us?

He seemed like a gay Euell Gibbons to been. Seemed to smoke alot weed and did poetry and shit. Ate granola, lived on a commune with solar energy lesbians.

In the mid 70's he was on Dinah Shore's show all the time. He was bearded - pardon the pun - and kind of ok looking. Suspected, but did not know he was gay. When did he come out?

Was he gay or bi?

Still alive!

Does he still get work in the entertainment industry?

As a teen in the 70's I thought of him (if at all) as being lame and old fashioned...all hippy dippy without the sex drugs and rock and roll.

Listen to the warm, OP.

From Rod- I am thinking re-reading his work--it is a little corny...

“Be gentle with me, new love. Treat me tenderly. I need the gentle touch, the soft voice, the candlelight after nine.

Serge Gainsbourg singing A Boy Named Charlie Brown is pure poetry and some very deep stuff.

Here you go, R16:

I think it was remarkable that a POET for crying out loud was on all the talk shows in his day. I loved the song "Jean" that he wrote for the Prime of Miss Jean Brody, and really hated the song "Seasons in the Sun," which probably made him millions of dollars. I didn't now know he was gay. People seemed to have a broader range of interest in the 60's, and poets and painters and scientists were on all the talk shows. I can't imagine that any of them would be offered the chance to sit on the couch on a show now.

R17

Merci! But have the entire CD in my collection and nearly have worn out the "Charlie Brown" section. *LOL*

The French philosopher take moves ABNCB into a whole different realm, don't you find? I mean sometimes in our lives we all are a boy named Charlie Brown.

[quote]I mean sometimes in our lives we all are a boy named Charlie Brown.

I always hated it when he misspelled "Beagle" at the spelling bee. Between that and [italic]Snoopy Come Home[/italic] Charles Schulz sure knew how to get you right in the gut emotionally. But the cartoons made after Vince Guaraldi's death weren't as good.

Dusty Springfield covered one of his songs:

Terry Jacks did it even better. Had no idea it was McKuen. Whom Woody Allen made merciless fun of in "Sleeper" via Keaton's bad poet character. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHA03czGSvo

Sorry, the Jacks link.

He's no Richard Bach

Would you like it if we started referring to you as "the fetus"?

He died today

OMG! It's the Datalounge Jinx! Who should we talk about next?

He married Gomer Pyle

Poor Rod...

RIP

He had a singing voice to rival Bacall's.

OMG! Rod McKuen wrote Seasons In The Sun? Thankfully the body of his work overcomes that horror.

Next to "Alone Again Naturally" have never known such a depressing song as SITS to come over the airwaves.

He was gay, yes, but a closet case.

Loved the Bob McFadden and Dor (Rod) stuff... faux beatnik satire in 1959.

Damn you, OP! Damn you to hell!

Whom do you want me to start a post about next?

R7, yeah, when they write "eldergays tell me about" they're being respectful. Right.

Are you sure he was gay ?

His early work was about female lovers and relationships.

Maybe he was bi ?

Anyway, I hate that he passed away. I have all his books of poetry and his memoir about the difficult relationship with his father.

RIP

He had a lot of bestselling poetry books in the late '60s and early '70s, and they were all corny, trite, and boring to the point of being cringe-worthy.

Everyone I knew thought they were shit. (I was 16 in 1970, so we were all talented arbiters on the merits of bestselling poets of course. We loved Kahlil Gibran.)

I didn't know about his songs, though, nor that he was gay.

I'm sorry he died, but hope he had a good life, and that his money lasted as long as he needed it to. Rest in peace, Rod.

Rod "married" a co-worker of mine, Eddie Habib, back in the mid 60's. Only encountered Mckuen a time or two when I was living in Sleepy Hollow in Marin county. Seemed a nice enough guy, but was also somewhat damaged emotionally. Very deeply closeted but had superb taste in younger guys. My friend Eddie was a wonderful catch.

He had the most annoying whiskey voice. I was surprised to hear he was still alive. I'd have thought he died long ago.

[quote]OMG! It's the Datalounge Jinx! Who should we talk about next?

Justin Bieber. Justin Bieber. Justin Bieber. Justin Bieber. Justin Bieber. Justin Bieber. Justin Bieber. Justin Bieber. Justin Bieber. Justin Bieber. Justin Bieber.

He was an insatiable bottom.

he's fine!

Well, R40, he WAS alive until OP KILLED HIM!!! You started this thread just to see him die, didn't you, OP?

Please start another about the entire Kardashian clan.

R39

Are you sure he married him?

In the obit I read he's listed as his brother.

His work was all over the map, and then we didn't hear about him any more...

The Bibi threads seem to have no effect.

Neither do the Cheney posts.

Well I hope Walter Rinder is still ok. Last I heard he was selling on eBay.

R37, are you as dumb as you look?

Oh yes, Rod's up there on the bookcase right next to "Notes to Myself" by Hugh Prather.

Quote from Notes: “Now that I know that I am no wiser than anyone else, does this wisdom make me wiser?”

I had bad acne when I was a teen. I remember hoping I wouldn't end up looking like Rod McKuen.

May he RIP, but his stuff was the very definition of Insipid.

[quote]Comment on his website, dated 28th & 29th June, 2004: "I am sexual by nature and I continue to fall in love with people and with any luck human beings of both sexes will now and again be drawn to me. I can't imagine choosing one sex over the other, that's just too limiting. I can't even honestly say I have a preference. I'm attracted to different people for different reasons."

[quote]"I am sexual by nature and I continue to fall in love with people and with any luck human beings of both sexes will now and again be drawn to me. I can't imagine choosing one sex over the other, that's just too limiting.

More poetic, but almost my exact words to my Mom before I came totally out as being gay.

In the prime of Miss Rod McKuen, he was handsome.

I remember seeing him on some variety show back in the early 70s reciting some maudlin poem about a cat named Sloopy that made me and me sisters laugh hysterically. It also gave us a catch phrase, " 'Sloopy! Sloopy!' I cried."

Full obit in today's LA Times.

R39

The LA Times obit lists him as Rod's half brother.

[quote]He had a minor hit with "Jean," the theme song from "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie."

It was a minor hit? It went to Number 2, kept out of the top spot by "Sugar, Sugar" by the Archies.

[quote] What is with all this "Elder gays tell me about" shit. Look it up you lazy bastard.

not everybody needs to use the computer at the local library. get back and leave us to chat. we have unlimited access and come here for fun.

First pop poetry book I ever saw.

I know nothing about him except a good friend of mine from years ago at one point in the early 80 s I think........ was his paid live in boyfriend. He only said Rod was extremely ugly...........and I never asked him anything further.

a few offbeat tidbits............he was a universal studios contract player for 2 years, believe it or not from 1955 to 1957,,, His long time beverly hllls mansion which he owned for over 40 years up to his death sold for 12.9 million in 2015, so he managed to hang onto his money apparently.

I'm an Eldergay. My reaction wasn't quite "Who?" but it was close.

I remember the curse. We at DL accidentally killed Jani Lane in 2011 by mentioning him in a thread where somebody claimed to have had an encounter with him - he died very shortly after - then this thread was started the day before he died in 2015. Who else have we, as a hive, collectively killed?