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Rod McKuen

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Poet

The Resume

    (April 29, 1933-January 29, 2015)
    Born in Oakland, California
    Poetry collections include 'And Autumn Came' (1954), 'Stanyan Street and Other Sorrows' (1966), 'Listen to the Warm' (1967), 'Lonesome Cities' (1968), 'In Someone's Shadow' (1969), 'Caught in the Quiet' (1970), 'Moment to Moment' (1972), 'We Touch the Sky' (1979), 'Intervals' (1986) and 'Rusting in the Rain' (2004)
    Albums include 'Alone after Dark,' 'The Loner,' 'Seasons in the Sun,' 'Rod McKuen Sings Jacques Brel' and 'Rod McKuen Sings Rod McKuen'
    Sold 65 million volumes of poetry
    Best-selling poet of the copyright era

Why he might be annoying:

    Before being discovered, he made ends meet by selling his blood and by crashing cocktail parties for the free food.
    He developed his distinctively scratchy voice when he blew out his vocal cords as an aspiring rock singer.
    As half of McFadden and Dor, he recorded the Halloween novelty record 'Songs Our Mummy Taught Us.'
    One critic explained his popularity by noting, 'There is always a vast market for the banal.'
    His translation helped turn Jacques Brel's blackly comedic 'Le Moribund' into Terry Jack's sappy 'Seasons in the Sun.'

Why he might not be annoying:

    His biological father left his mother before his birth and his stepfather was an abusive alcoholic.
    Frank Sinatra recorded an entire album of his songs, 'A Man Alone' (1969).
    He served as president of the National Committee for the Prevention of Child Abuse.
    He said, 'Tennyson had his share of detractors. The more famous he became in his own lifetime, the more his poetry was savaged by many of his contemporaries.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 6 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 15 Votes: 80.0% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 9 Votes: 55.56% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 10 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 169 Votes: 60.95% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 16 Votes: 56.25% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 22 Votes: 63.64% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 16 Votes: 68.75% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 5 Votes: 80.0% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 20 Votes: 70.0% Annoying
    In 2009, Out of 41 Votes: 41.46% Annoying
    In 2008, Out of 28 Votes: 60.71% Annoying
    In 2007, Out of 31 Votes: 61.29% Annoying