20th & 21st December, 2007

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rod at Dos Vidas. Photo by Thomas Kist from the 2006 Arjan Vlakveld film “Rod McKuen: A Man Alone” for Netherlands Public Television. Photo ©2006, 2007 by Stanyan Audio Video Archives. All Rights Reserved.

A Thought for Today

Keep the smiles coming, even as the year runs out.

 

FROM the¨BOOKS

THE WORD BEFORE GOOD-BYE

What is the springtime after all ?
Only the other side of fall.
Oh, if I could have
I'd have made you a sunny sky.
Hello's the word before good-bye.
Sometimes it rains, sometimes it shines
yet the things I want are seldom mine.

How much of Summer can we hold
before we turn and find we're old ?
The things our mirrors tell us are all lies
Hello's the word before good-bye.
Sometimes it's dark, sometimes it's fair
yet when I go home at night
nobody's there.

Perhaps the next wind that blows in
will bring you back to me again.
Till then remembering just makes me what to cry,
Hello's the word before good-bye.
Sometimes you loose, sometimes you win
yet I can't forget what might have been.

- from the album "Seasons in the Sun" Vol. 1, 1967

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notable birthdays

Thursday 20 December

Jenny Agutter o Anita Baker o Billy Bragg o Hortense Calisher o Charlie Callas o Gigliola Cinquetti o Irene Dunne o Harvey Firestone o Uri Geller o Gordon Getty o Nadine Gordimer o Charlie Grapewin o George Roy Hill o John Hillerman o Max Lerner o Mala Powers o Janet Reed o Branch Rickey o Chris Robinson o Patti Smith o Angel Tompkins o Audrey Totter o Kim Weston

Friday 21 December

Alicia Alonso o Andy Dick o Benjamin Disraeli o Phil Donahue o Chris Evert o Jane Fonda o Samuel L. Jackson o Florence Griffith Joyner o Chris Evert Lloyd o Ed Nelson o Jean Racine o Ray Romano o Joseph Stalin o Kiefer Sutherland o Kurt Waldheim o Paul Winchell o Frank Zappa

Rod's random thoughts Even in the face of “no,” move ahead.

The only way to know the lightning is to touch the thunder on home ground.

Grumblers ought to be made to form a circle open only to themselves.

SWEET SEASON

Here in
the California winter
a mile away from snow
we hike down through
the holidays happily
but not so hurriedly
that we forget
our friends who celebrate
this same sweet season
beneath the southern sun.

And may we never
               once forget
the birthday of God’s Son.

Good God give us more
than just our daily bread.
Pride in what we do for you,
hope for every new tomorrow,
love for all things living.
And as we forage in the New Year
let our foraging be done
                        in your name only.

Make the songs we sing
songs of praise
                   and not of glory
God of our fathers
Be the one our singing turns to
As this Christmas passes into history.

-from Rod McKuen’s "Folio", 1975 and "An Outstretched Hand," 1980

 
     
 
© 1970, 1986, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007 by Stanyan Music Group & Rod McKuen. All Rights Reserved
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