Rod McKuen was the Thomas Kinkade of poetry: an immensely successful, prolific artist whose work was almost universally dismissed by critics. In the late sixties and early seventies, McKuen started setting his lyrics to music, and his songs became hits as well—over the years, they were covered by Perry Como, Petula Clark, Johnny Mathis, and dozens of other artists. His most famous composition was a collaboration of sorts, a set of new lyrics for Jacques Brel’s “Le Moribond” that was retitled “Seasons in the Sun” and became a massive hit for the Canadian singer Terry Jacks. Now, Aaron Freeman, better known as Gene Ween of the alt-prankster band Ween, has made his solo début with “Marvelous Clouds” (Partisan), an album of McKuen covers. We are pleased to offer a stream of the full album:

Photograph by Paul R. Giunta/Corbis.