Song of the Day 11/17: Bob McFadden and Dor (Rod McKuen), “The Beat Generation”
The French apparently have a weird idea of American music, at least if what they play in the local supermarché is any guide. This 1959 novelty single, for example, written by Rod McKuen — yes, that Rod McKuen; that’s him adding the “beatnik” asides.
To portray the square-sounding hipster, McKuen recruited Bob McFadden, a radio announcer who years later became a vocal actor in cartoons like Milton the Monster (he was Milton) and Thundercats. He was also the voice of Frankenberry in cereal ads for years. As strange as it was to hear the tune in the Franprix, though, the most puzzling part was that it immediately followed Funkadelic’s “Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker).” You would never hear that at the Acme.
Rod McKuen, for those young enough to have missed his heyday, was a sort of poet, singer and all-around gentle soul who espoused a hippie-era philosophy that appealed to teenagers’ moms. He’s rarely encountered anymore unless you count his best-selling LPs and books of poetry, which still turn up in yard sales and Goodwill stores.
He’s better regarded in France, where he’s known as the guy who helped bring Jacques Brel into the mass English-speaking audience — his translation of “Seasons in the Sun” became an American hit for Terry Jacks in 1974, a decade after McKuen recorded it.
“The Beat Generation,” originally the B-side of another McKuen novelty tune called “The Mummy,” also voiced by McFadden, was recorded at a time when McKuen was breaking into music after a time as a Hollywood bit player in Sal Mineo movies. The song appeared the same year as the one McKuen LP that’s a bona fide collector’s item, “Beatsville,” a spoken-word album that gently mocks the same West Coast scene that “Beat Generation” skewers.
Though “The Beat Generation” is seldom heard these days, its legacy remains, hewn into the living rock of Richard Hell’s “Blank Generation” — fittingly, a parody of McKuen’s record, even if most punk fans don’t realize it.
From Rod McKuen to Richard Hell, courtesy of a French supermarket — ain’t the world of music wonderful!
Ol’ Rod didn’t have much of a singing voice, but “Like” is kind of clever. He popped up on an episode of “The Best of the Ed Sullivan Show” on a cable channel a couple of weeks ago; he recited one of his poems with that dreamy affect of his.
“Breaking into music after a time as a Hollywood bit player in Sal Mineo movies.” Clearly, Rod McKuen had nowhere to go but up.
McKuen had the right instincts in many of his poems and songs, but his sentimental and simplified presentations of new flower-power ideas came off as square to hipsters of the day. He was no Jacques Brel, but his image might deserve some rehab.
Another great version, this time from the Beat Farmers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dG6zxDDtf3Q