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A Thought for Today
Though the gift be small and simple, if the wish is wide, just the simple gift of giving makes you warm inside.
This letter from Ann arrived
before the excitement of the concerts earlier this month.
Hi Ken,
I've been spending a lot of time thinking about the upcoming Thousand Oaks concert, (well, actually, I spend ALL my time thinking about it but who's counting). Been thinking about the songs I'd like to hear again and
"Through European Windows" is near the top of the list (well, actually, so are about a hundred more but who's counting). The album of the same name also includes another favorite,
"Song Without Words".
The liner notes on the 1967 album have this quote from Morgan Ames, High Fidelity:
"Rod McKuen, who sings and writes all his material, is a strange and powerful talent. His songs have grown in quality till one might say that he's now in full stride. McKuen's voice, rough edged around a soft
center, has grown more relaxed and free..."
It was true in 1967 and it's true today.
Ann
Thanks for
your contribution, Ann, and here's your first choice.
THROUGH EUROPEAN WINDOWS
You might have seen me down in Spain
running down the Spanish plains
or beside the seas of Barcelona.
Living like the seagulls do
summer to summer, dune to dune
watching as the tide went rolling over.
Through European windows you might have
seen me.
Down in the park where the sun shines Sunday
and no wind rattles the trees till Monday.
Where statues stand alone and forlorn
in memory of Generals forgotten and gone.
A riderless horse trots home in the dawn.
It's lucky yesterday's hero fell on the lawn.
I was a soldier then and played at soldier's games.
You should have seen me then the General knew
my name.
You might have seen me down in France
Fourteenth of July in the dance
or along the hills of the Camargue.
Living like the cowboys do
roundup to roundup, smile to smile.
Riding herd then lying in the clover.
Through European windows you might have
seen me.
Oh how it was to be driving all day
through the mud of December and the dust of May.
With the smell of the cattle and the taste of the rain
and the sound of the scythe as it tore through
the grain
the feel of your horse moving under your groin.
To sweat in the summer and freeze when winter came.
I was a cowboy then, playing cowboy games.
You should have seen me then, riding down
the plain.
You might have seen me anywhere.
Name a country, I was there.
Wasting time and only growing older.
Living like the nomads do
day to day but each day through.
Now the days are gone, the time is over.
Through European windows you might have
seen me.
I was a cowboy then.
Through European windows you might have
seen me.
- from the album "Through European Windows", 1967
I loved the
quote from Morgan Ames! The other liner quote which I really like is the
one from R.B Read of the San Francisco Examiner:
"The
best thing about Rod McKuen's growing U.S. success as a performer is what
it proves about us: good things like this don't happen to us until we
deserve them ...."
Most of the
songs on this particular album were collaborations between Rod and two of
my personal musical heroes, Jacques Brel and Gilbert Becaud. Here's a
question Rod posed of Becaud:
"I
once commented to Becaud, that since he was France's most admired popular
composer and as Brel wrote the best lyrics in that country, how was it
that the two had never collaborated."
"We
tried it," he replied. "When we met it was Versailles, when we
parted it was Berlin."
Great choice,
Ann!
As usual the
address for your contributions to this column is ken@mckuen.com
. Hope to hear from you soon.
-
Ken, Johannesburg, March 21
Details of Rod's upcoming concerts
and appearances can be obtained via the link below:
Rod
McKuen Concerts & Appearances
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