ASK ROD

Rod & Sunny: Photo by Bob Gentry 8/5/1999

A Thought for Today

Good habits are a great idea. They separate the serious adventurer from the mere traveler through life.

DOES IT REALLY MATTER IF SOLDIERS ARE HEROES?

Here's how it all started. On August 2Oth I received this E-mail from Paul Dolman of Birmingham, England; 

"I've probably missed the boat but I've just heard a song by Janet Jackson (its in the charts here) and it sounds to me if she has nicked part of "Soldiers who want to be heroes". I may be wrong, or I may be right and you know about it anyway..... But if you can, give it a listen. I couldn't catch the title."

Paul did get the title and a couple of days later sent it to me. The title was "Doesn't Really Matter." Meanwhile Zoe Baker sent this from Sydney Australia; "Who says Rod McKuen isn't contemporary, first you wind up on the soundtrack of "The Matrix," then Madonna and William Orbst sample another song, now Janet Jackson is performing "Soldiers Who Want To Be Heroes" with a new lyric. What gives?"

Other letters began arriving so I hiked myself to Virgin Records and bought a copy of Ms. Jackson's disk. Only the import version was available so I assumed it hadn't yet been released here. Wrong. As I found out later from Wade it was sold out because it was currently the number one single in the country. 

On the way home (I was with Edward and Bob) we played the recording on Edward's car system and he nearly hit a tree. It's the first time in a long time I've ever known Edward to be at a loss for words. He just began laughing uncontrollably.

Meanwhile I'd told no one else about the situation so I decided to give it the ultimate test. Why not let those most familiar with my work (you) tell me if they heard a resemblance to any of my work in "Doesn't Really Matter." Without mention of "Soldiers" or any other title of mine I wrote a Flight Plan asking you to listen to Ms. Jackson's recordings and see if it reminded you of anything of mine.

Here are some of the responses. Every single one pointed to "Soldiers Who Want to be Heroes" with the exception of two.
Those two, one from Sharon McElroy of Arizona and the other from Rita Bartlow, named no other song of mine or anybody else's. They didn't detect any resemblance to any other composition.

Here are some of the other responses:

I looked everywhere for a copy of Janet Jackson song "Doesn't Really Matter", finally found one yesterday, Sat., I didn't buy it, just listened). I have to say by the second play through the strains of something familiar seemed to be begging for a name. Bear in mind I didn't buy it so I couldn't play them back-to-back, so I'm left to memory here, and if that serves me well I think there was a definite similarity to "Soldiers Who Want To Be Hero's". But I have to admit that I don't have a trained or even an 'untrained' ear for music and know nothing of the technical side, only what I like and dislike. So, that's my long-winded way of saying I could be wrong. No doubt I am. But for what it's worth... Hope it helps. With Love, Shirley A.Sheehan


xxx

It's funny you should mention that today because I was in the car a few days ago saying to Brenda that the tag Janet used really hit my "sound's like a McKuen" nerve with me. Brenda, being used to my song comparison nature, just gave me the "I hear you, but I don't know if I'm interested" look ;-) that she always gives me in those moments!

Here's what I think it is....it is the chorus to "Soldiers Who Want to be Heroes". It's the phrase "Soldiers who want to be heroes, number practically zero. But there are millions who want to be civilians." (now that I sing it in my head, I guess that's the entire chorus----shoot!, it's the entire tag that you composed the song around!).

She doesn't use any of the words, she just uses the melody to start off her chorus. If you follow this link, I converted the song to a Real Media file, but not for streaming---so
download it. I just did her song ('cause I know you have yours).

You honestly cannot mistake the tune. It's more evident than George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord" going up against "He's So Fine". Take care, Eric Yaeger


xxx


Hi Rod, Since I only listened to a VERY brief clip of the song from Amazon.com just to see if I could hear anything, I may be way off base. I'm not sure, by what I'm hearing, what part is the chorus of her song, but there is a part that sounds to me like the verses of "Soldiers Who Want to be Heroes."

Waiting to hear news of a concert sometime soon....we miss hearing you perform your songs and poetry !! Thank you for sharing your words and music with us for all these years. Be well and happy. Beth Wood

xxx

Loved the video of "Doesn't Really Matter," but it could have used some more high stepping soldiers in it. Gus Weintrob

xxx

Dear Rod: The beat is the same and I can read your
"Soldiers" words into the music. No-one writes like Rod McKuen. Therefore there can be no duplicate. I have
heard your song at least 100 times. This is just my opinion--but women have great instincts. Do you mind if I say "it is you". "Soldiers" is in that song. That is my opinion. Love, Nan

xxx

Dear Rod: Even with the change of words, Soldiers Who Want To Be Heroes is the music Janet Jackson is using in her "Doesn't Really Matter" song. Not hard to figure out is it. Just about 4 seconds of hearing is all I needed. Sonja

xxx

At the time you mentioned "Doesn't Really Matter" I hadn't heard the song by Janet Jackson (she's great but I'm not much of a fan). I did finally hear it last week while being a couch potato and flipping through channels. I watched the video because the promised follow-up video was Matchbox 20 (more on THAT later). I forgot about your question, so when I saw you mention it again today (and make a point of my not responding *G*) I started "hearing" the song again in my head. Didn't take long to come up with "Soldiers Who Want to Be Heroes". Right? Tara Scofield

xxx

Dear Rod, I only had to listen to Janet Jackson's "Doesn't Really Matter" once to definitely catch the tune of "Soldiers Who Want To Be Hero's". Kathy Avants

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Hi Rod, If asked to rate Janet Jackson's new song on the basis of originality, this CIVILIAN would give it PRACTICALLY ZERO. Love, Ann Berzinsky)

xxx

Dear Rod, I could be dead wrong, but I think that I hear echoes of "Soldiers Who Want To Be Heroes" in the chorus of that track by Janet Jackson. I heard it over the phone from another computer so the sound was terrible, (couldn't make out most of the lyric) and the tempo of "Doesn't Really Matter" is so fast. The chorus of Janet's catchy song rolled around in my mind for some time before I thought of 'soldiers'.

I played Vol. 3 of your Greatest Hits CDs last night to listen to "Soldiers Who Want to be Heroes" just to refresh my memory, and I'm still not entirely sure if what I thought I heard was actually there. If I'm wrong, blame it on these jaded ears, or "The Klumps".

While I had the CD on I also played "The Single Man" a couple of times. As usual, that song brought back so many memories for me that I was moved to tears once again; it always happens. *S* Take care Rod. With love & affection,
Larry Baillie

xxx

Hi Rod, Finally managed to track down a copy of "Doesn't Really Matter" - didn't know it was only available as a single and that it was the soundtrack from "Nutty Professor 2".

It's definitely "Soldiers Who Want to be Heroes." My opinion - she doesn't have a prayer!!!!! Go kick some ass, dude. It's the most blatant crib I've ever heard. Blue Skies, Ken.

xxx

Dear Rod: The words may be different but that doesn't negate the fact that the song is Soldiers Who Want To Be Heroes. Does Janet Jackson have permission to change your words? Alan Sierra 


As this thing moves along (and you know it will) I'll keep you posted. In addition to everything else I've also discovered something else very pawky about the whole business. RM

ROSE & A MAC DATA BASE

Hello Rod, My folks were visiting me the other day, and my Dad and I started to sing ( That' OK, Rose would say) and reminisced about the Rod McKuen LP, we had when I was a kid years ago. I have been trying to find a tape of it with no success.

Would you remember on what album the song Rose was on. I would like to find it for my Dad. He is almost 80 and he likes to listen to music, as part of his daily schedule.

I was reading your (Thoughts on the last days of summer).
You mentioned about finding someone who can write a Mac database for your organizing your songs and poems. He writes software and has something that can help. I'm not trying to drum up business, just thought I'd let you know.

FYI if interested. Web page Kaltero.com Thank you for your time. Best Regards, Paula J. Felman

Dear Paula, The column you read about me searching for a Data Base for my songs and poetry was a repeat from a couple of years ago. Since then I've had the most wonderful tool imaginable and one that I use every day. Jay Hagan created not just a compendium of titles, sources and first lines to all of my poems and songs but an actual word by word electronic file. I have that and a printout that saves me hours of time in tracking down information for the hundreds of queries like yours that I get every week. It is an absolutely indispensable reference work and I'd be lost without it.

Leyland Ho has created a Filemaker Data Base that contains all my albums and singles. I've been using it lately to keep track of the restoration of older tapes to the Dat and CD format. 

When I need 'sound' assistance or information on the latest techniques and developments in the science of recording I can always count on Eric Yaeger to answer my questions or volunteer information I might otherwise miss.

Melinda Smith collates and types the monthly birthday list, a heavy-duty job and her largess is responsible for the ASPTL Mirror site.

Wade Alexander, my friend and associate for almost forty years, and the walking encyclopedia on all things McKuen (and everything else related to popular music), now lives and works on the East Coast. Thank God for E-mail, because no week goes by without us being in touch involving something or other that only he can look up or remember. This week, for instance, he dug up an obscure LP catalog number I needed to track down some important tapes. Both of us came late to computers and his database remains in his head.

I miss Wade and his daily help and advice and I can't wait to see him next month when I go back to the big apple for the East Coast memorial to Bobby Fryer and various meetings.

Wade did all the research on the original birthday list. Almost daily I unhappily surprise him with a misspelled name. Melinda and I just don't have the time, knowledge and kind of resources Wade does for tracking down obscure spellings, not to mention my one finger typing that even screws up friends names.

THE DATA BASE I NEED DESPERATELY

What I do not have, other than on card files and in my head, is a Data Base covering all of my songs from the standpoint of copyright dates and numbers, artists who've recorded them, co-authors if any, original, foreign and subsequent publishers and a few other items that go toward maintaining a business-like catalog of my compositions. This is becoming more and more important because I want to sell the entire catalog soon and the details have to be on paper.

Once I have the data-base, it has to be in Filemaker for Mac, I'd take great delight in entering all the information myself. Song titles and 'stuff' surrounding them help bring back wonderful memories. As formidable as the task of entering information on 2000 plus songs is, doing it myself will even help with the autobiography (yes, that's finally in the works.) 

Leland would be the obvious guy to approach for this, but so far I haven't had the guts to do so.

Finally, Paula, thanks to my handy Hagan Compendium I can report to you that "Rose" is available on the LaserLight CD "Early Harvest" from Stanyan By Mail. Incidentally, of all the songs I've written, "Rose" was my mom's favorite. Warmly, Rod

LITTLE GUYS?

I know there must have been a lot of little guys helping you along the way. You mention the celebrities as your friends. I can only picture you as a loving friend to the ordinary people along the way. I had a friend once that packed up and moved from Cincinnati to work for you. Rose Adkins. Haven't heard from her since. A little guy? Joan

Dear Joan, You must be new to the Flight Plan or you'd know that there are not, nor have there ever been, any "little guys helping (me) along the way." I only walk with giants. And, any one who has offered a hand, bought a book or record, given advice that worked, attended a concert, taught me a lesson, shared an idea or themselves with me is a giant in my lexicon.

It's not my fault that you only recognize the "celebrity names" I drop. You just haven't had the privilege of knowing the unfamiliar names I speak about more frequently than those you're familiar with.

We certainly do have at least one person in common, a great friend and love of mine, the very talented Rose Adkins. I'm glad you brought up her name because I had a letter from her last week and I owe her an answer.

Rose did come to work for me for a while. She did a great job and helped me a lot. Alas, as a secretary to Rod McKuen she was far below her station. She is a fine writer and teacher of writing in her own right. She has a newsletter of her own and lectures and teaches at writer's workshops all over the country. 

As an aside, she also did what many consider the finest, most informative and frank interview with me of any journalist. It became a cover story for Writer's Digest and was good enough to wind up in a major hard cover collection of interviews with nearly all of America's most important living writers. It wasn't included in that anthology (Writers on Writing) because of me or who I am, but because of Rose Adkins ability to pull the best out of the subject she's interviewing. Trust me on that, because I'm not exactly the darling of the literary establishment. If you'd like to read it for yourself you'll find it elsewhere on this site.

Rose put up with me longer than any assistant I've ever had, with the exception of Gerry Robinson who retired after being my secretary for over a dozen years. I'm not an easy guy to work for, since I keep very much to myself and it's a testament to Rose that though I still need one desperately, I haven't had another assistant since she left. 

Based on her most recent letter, she's doing just fine. I'll send her your E-mail address when I write her. If I were you I wouldn't rate Rose as "a little guy" in your life, she's big in every way that counts. Losing track of her again will be your loss. Kindest regards, Rod 

If you live in the USA, don't forget to watch the first presidential debates tonight. Be informed. Only five weeks till Election Day! You gotta vote, if only because it entitles you to bitch for the next four years. Later, while you're twisting the night away celebrating Chubby Checker's birthday, don't forget tomorrow is Webmaster Ken's day for taking over this space with his "This One Does It For Me." I'm sure you enjoy it as much as I always do. 

I'll be back on Thursday, unless I decide to take the day off. That's a good idea but one I better not dwell on, I'm too far behind on mail as it is. "Keep those answers shorter, Rod." "OK, Rod, I'll try." "Yeah, sure." Jeez, now he's having conversations with himself. No days off this week, I promise, see you on Thursday.

                        RM 10/1/2000 Previously unpublished.

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