It took me around 40 years to discover Bob McFadden and Dor's "The Beat Generation," and my only interest in this particular novelty song is that Richard Hell based his "The Blank Generation" on it. Rod McKuen wrote the song and I guess he was sort of a 'Beatnik' for the masses in the late 1950s. Listening to the recording, I can hear McKuen's vocals, as well as McFadden, who was a voice-over actor for cartoons and commercials. In such a fashion, McKuen is one of the mainstream artists who hammered the nail into the Beat coffin, but still, this is a good tune. It's crap, but it has its charm. Hell's "The Blank Generation" is way better. Still, I think it's great that Hell got to this record and made his own take on it.
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