|
Photo by
Edward Habib McKuen. ©2006 by Stanyan Audio Video Archives
A Thought for Today
Your friends have no doubt earned your
loyalty . . . don’t let them down.
TO BEGIN WITH
The last long holiday weekend of the summer is upon us. Relax and play
safely.
A FLIGHT FROM6THE
PAST
1 August, 1998
Of Yellow Unicorns / Part 1 of 2
I suppose I seldom go back and read something I've written and published
without wanting to change it or make it better. I do revise, rewrite.
With some books I continue to make minor changes to certain poems
through several editions. It used to drive my publishers nuts. After a
while when my concert schedule grew heavier the problems of revision
took care of itself. Instead of picking apart a newly published book on
an airplane ride, I would choose to catch up on needed sleep.
I thought about this today when I read an early poem of mine, "The
Yellow Unicorn" that Jay Hagan had posted on The RM Bulletin Board. It
didn't look quite right. The words were all mine all right, but I seem
to have remembered the poem differently. Still, Jay somehow always seems
to get his postings right, so I checked the original edition of Stanyan
Street & Other Sorrows that Edward & I had published from our basement.
Sure enough massive cuts had been made to the poem posted. Then I looked
at the Random House version, nope no changes there from my original. I
tried checking the same poem published in England in The McKuen Omnibus.
It was the same as the others.
I thought awhile and it dawned on me that I had written The Yellow
Unicorn some years before and recorded it for an album of the same
title. Did I have it on CD? Sure, I remembered, I mastered it for
Speaking Of Love a couple of years ago. Well, yes and no. When I played
the CD I discovered I had mastered a version I did in the 70's in London
that was issued in a 3 LP set for Warner Bros. Finally I went back and
listened to the one remaining very scratched The Yellow Unicorn LP.
There it was, the complete text. (Continued on 9/7/2006)
-first published in Flight Plan on August 1, 1998
Part 2 of this Flight Plan continues on September 7th.
Click
on the Stanyan House logo to buy Rod McKuen books, CD's and lots more
Click on the heart logo to
subscribe to the Rod McKuen mailing list
Catch Rod McKuen live!
Click on the links below for details of
concerts and appearances.
ROD McKUEN
CONCERTS
ROD
McKUEN APPEARANCES
|
