LISTEN TO THE WARM…

LOVE’S BEEN GOOD TO ME – The Poetry of Rod McKuen

Featuring Bukola K. Tijani, Lilan Mardini and Joerg Witzsch

Original Music & Lyrics by the duo SPRIAL RUNNING – Aneta Sikorska & Michael Prib

Rod McKuen was an American poet, singer-songwriter, and actor. He was one of the best-selling poets in the United States during the late 1960s. His books sold over 1 million copies in 1968 alone and 60 million copies of his books of poetry have been sold to date. Also, in 1968, his audio recording of Lonesome Cities earned him a Grammy award for Best Spoken Word Recording, two Academy Award nominations and a Pulitzer nomination for his music compositions.

McKuen was not professionally trained or formally educated in music or English composition; in fact he never even finished high school. He ran away from home at the age of 11, after finding that he could no longer tolerate his alcoholic step-father’s violent outbursts and found work as a ranch hand, surveyor, rodeo rider, railroad worker, lumberjack, and radio disc jockey. On his journeys, he kept a journal in which he recorded poetry and lyrics for songs he was writing.

Rod McKuen has received the Carl Sandburg Award and the Walt Whitman Award for his outstanding achievements in poetry. His works have since been translated into over 11 different languages, and is now frequently taught in universities throughout the world.

McKuen’s poetry deals with themes of love, the natural world and spirituality. W. H. Auden has been cited as saying that “Rod McKuen’s poems are love letters to the world and I am happy that many of them came to me and found me out.”

SPRIRAL RUNNING is a highly original Musical Duo consisting of Michael Prib on Acoustic Guitar and Aneta Sikorska on Vocals. The lyrics of their compositions are thematically related to Rod McKuen’s and therefore a wonderful complement to this production.