<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"></head><body dir="auto"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div>Courtesy of NPR at:</div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/01/30/382602078/songwriter-poet-rod-mckuen-dies-at-81">http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/01/30/382602078/songwriter-poet-rod-mckuen-dies-at-81</a></div><div><br></div><div>--------------------------------------</div><div><h1 style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; line-height: 1.2; letter-spacing: -0.006em; font-size: 3.5rem; font-family: 'Gotham SSm', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51);">Songwriter, Poet Rod McKuen Dies At 81</h1><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.176em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; position: static; float: none; width: auto; max-width: 680px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The obituary in <a href="http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/posts/la-et-ms-rod-mckuen-dies-at-81-20150129-story.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">The Los Angeles Times</a> describes Rod McKuen as "prolific" and that may well be an understatement considering the many compositions he churned out.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.176em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; position: static; float: none; width: auto; max-width: 680px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">McKuen is credited with more than 200 albums and more than 30 collections of poetry.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.176em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; position: static; float: none; width: auto; max-width: 680px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">His work included the Academy Award-nominated song "Jean" from the 1969 film <em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, and </em>McKuen's music for the animated feature "A Boy Named Charlie Brown" was also nominated for an Oscar.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.176em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; position: static; float: none; width: auto; max-width: 680px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The<em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"> Los Angeles Times</em> <a href="http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/posts/la-et-ms-rod-mckuen-dies-at-81-20150129-story.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">writes</a>: Among McKuen's commercial success in the 1960s and '70s were his reworking of Jacques Brel's song "Le Moribond" for the English-language version of "Seasons in the Sun," which was later covered by the Kingston Trio and Terry Jacks. Frank Sinatra recorded an album of McKuen songs in 1969 called "A Man Alone," which included "Love's Been Good to Me."</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.176em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; position: static; float: none; width: auto; max-width: 680px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">For as much as McKuen seemed to be loved by the general public, that was not the case with critics.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.176em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; position: static; float: none; width: auto; max-width: 680px;"><font color="#000000"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/30/arts/rod-mckuen-prolific-poet-and-lyricist-dies-at-81.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=mini-moth®ion=top-stories-below&WT.nav=top-stories-below&_r=0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">The New York Times</a> writes: "For a generation of Americans at midcentury and afterward, Mr. McKuen's poetry formed an enduring, solidly constructed bridge between the Beat generation and New Age sensibilities. Ranging over themes of love and loss, the natural world and spirituality, his work was prized by readers for its gentle accessibility while being condemned by many critics as facile, tepid and aphoristic."</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.176em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; position: static; float: none; width: auto; max-width: 680px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Rod McKuen died on Thursday in Beverly Hills, Calif., after a lengthy illness. He was 81.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.176em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; position: static; float: none; width: auto; max-width: 680px;"><img src="cid:3C358FE4-435D-4FDF-9A61-D9B86EB0D7F8" alt="image2.jpeg" id="3C358FE4-435D-4FDF-9A61-D9B86EB0D7F8"></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.176em; padding: 0px 15px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; position: static; float: none; width: auto; max-width: 680px;"><a href="http://www.TomandRodna.com/RodMcKuen/Rod_McKuen.jpg">http://www.TomandRodna.com/RodMcKuen/Rod_McKuen.jpg</a></p></div><div>--------------------------------------</div><div><br></div><div><b>"A Cat Named Sloopy"</b></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><a href="http://www.TomandRodna.com/Songs/RodMcKuen/A_Cat_Named_Sloopy.mp3">http://www.TomandRodna.com/Songs/RodMcKuen/A_Cat_Named_Sloopy.mp3</a></span></div><div><br></div><div><b>"If You Go Away"</b></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><a href="http://www.TomandRodna.com/Songs/RodMcKuen/If_You_Go_Away.mp3">http://www.TomandRodna.com/Songs/RodMcKuen/If_You_Go_Away.mp3</a></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b>"Jean"</b></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><a href="http://www.TomandRodna.com/Songs/RodMcKuen/Jean.mp3">http://www.TomandRodna.com/Songs/RodMcKuen/Jean.mp3</a></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b>"Kearny Street"</b></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><a href="http://www.TomandRodna.com/Songs/RodMcKuen/Kearny_Street.mp3">http://www.TomandRodna.com/Songs/RodMcKuen/Kearny_Street.mp3</a></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b>"Love's Been Good to Me"</b></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><a href="http://www.TomandRodna.com/Songs/RodMcKuen/Loves_Been_Good_to_.me.mp3">http://www.TomandRodna.com/Songs/RodMcKuen/Loves_Been_Good_to_.me.mp3</a></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b>"Seasons in the Sun"</b></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><a href="http://www.TomandRodna.com/Songs/RodMcKuen/Seasons_in_the_Sun.mp3">http://www.TomandRodna.com/Songs/RodMcKuen/Seasons_in_the_Sun.mp3</a></span></div><div><br></div><div><b>"Soldiers Who Want to Be Heroes"</b></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><a href="http://www.TomandRodna.com/Songs/RodMcKuen/Soldiers_Who_Want_to_be_Heroes.mp3">http://www.TomandRodna.com/Songs/RodMcKuen/Soldiers_Who_Want_to_be_Heroes.mp3</a></span></div><div><br></div><div><b>"The World I Used to Know"</b></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><a href="http://www.TomandRodna.com/Songs/RodMcKuen/The_World_I_Used_to_.know.mp3">http://www.TomandRodna.com/Songs/RodMcKuen/The_World_I_Used_to_.know.mp3</a></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Rest well, Rod.</span></div><div><br><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Moscow Cares"</span></div><div><a href="http://www.moscowcares.com/" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font color="#000000">http://www.MoscowCares.com</font></a></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></div><div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tom Hansen</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Moscow, Idaho</span></div></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Strangers are just friends waiting to happen." - Rod McKuen</span></div><div><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>