VARÈSE SARABANDE TO RELEASE
ROD MCKUEN “A BOY NAMED CHARLIE BROWN”
Album Includes Selections from The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Me Natalie and Joanna
Varèse Sarabande will release Rod McKuen Performs and Conducts All His Songs From A BOY NAMED CHARLIE BROWN And Selections From THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE, ME NATALIE And JOANNA digitally and on CD June 23, 2015. The album includes liner notes written by McKuen shortly before he passed away earlier this year.
“Writing music for films is hard work but an all-together lovely occupation,” said McKuen. “Some of my most cherished moments have been spent in screening rooms timing scenes for cues and on Russian, British and Hollywood sound stages making music with many of the world’s best musicians.”
The statistics involving Rod McKuen’s career and work are staggering. He recorded over two hundred albums and is the recipient of 63 gold and platinum records worldwide. His three-dozen books of poetry have been published in eleven languages, sold 65 million copies and made him the most widely read poet of his time. The songs he wrote and composed have accounted for the sale of over 100 million records for such diverse artists as Frank Sinatra, Madonna, Johnny Cash, Petula Clark, Perry Como, Chet Baker, Andy Williams, The Kingston Trio, Dusty Springfield, Johnny Mathis and Barbra Streisand.
The more than 1,500 songs penned by McKuen include such standards as LOVE’S BEEN GOOD TO ME, JEAN, I THINK OF YOU, ROCK GENTLY, THE WORLD I USED TO KNOW and DOES ANYBODY KNOW MY NAME. His nearly 17-year collaboration and partnership with Jacques Brel resulted in evergreens such as SEASONS IN THE SUN and IF YOU GO AWAY.
“I was engaged to write words and music to several songs for the first theatrical movie based on the comic strip; A BOY NAMED CHARLIE BROWN,” said McKuen. “Lee had wisely hired Vince Guaraldi to provide the jazz-tinged score for the first and subsequently all of the TV specials that followed and he repeated that chore here.” The film earned the team an Oscar nomination in the Best Song Score category.
A BOY NAMED CHARLIE BROWN marked the feature film debut of the beloved Charles Schulz characters. Charlie Brown is selected to participate in a national spelling bee – but will he suffer from his bad-karma and be able to win? In addition to the songs from A BOY NAMED CHARLIE BROWN, the release includes songs from other McKuen film scores for the THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE, ME NATALIE and JOANNA.
TRACKLIST
1 Champion Charlie Brown (Vocal)
2 Something For Snoopy (Instrumental)
3 A Boy Named Charlie Brown (Vocal)
4 Failure Face (Instrumental)
5 Natalie (Vocal) – Rod McKuen/Henry Mancini
6 I’ll Catch The Sun (Instrumental)
7 Failure Face (Vocal)
8 We (Vocal) – Rod McKuen/Henry Mancini
9 Jean (Main Theme From Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie) (Instrumental)
10 Bend Down And Touch Me (Vocal
11 Joanna (Medley): (Instrumental)
Joanna/I’ll Catch The Sun/Saturday Night In Knightsbridge/Inside Of Me
12 Champion Charlie Brown (Vocal)
Instrumental Soloists: Sylvette Allart; Ondes Martenot, Terry Trotter, piano; Chet Baker; Trumpet.
*all tracks by Rod McKuen unless otherwise noted
