This is a pop song that doesn't have even the slightest hint of rock and roll in it. I didn't cringe when listening to it but I saw no need to finish it.
Rod Lauren, born Roger Lawrence Strunk (1939-2007), was an actor and singer in the 1960s. "If I Had A Girl" was his first single release; it reached #31 on the Billboard Hot 100. He continued releasing singles until 1963 without further success.
(There are plenty of trigger warnings for the rest of this entry.) Lauren continued his film career into the 1960s. While filming in the Philippines, he met Nida Blanca, who was a huge star there; the two finally married in 1979 and settled in Manila. In 2001, Ms. Blanca was stabbed to death and the Philippine authorities claimed that Strunk, as he was now known, had killed her when she threatened to divorce and disinherit him.
Strunk moved back to his home town of Tracy, California and refused to return to the Philippines. An attempt to extradite him failed when prosecutors were not able to prove enough of a case. In 2007, broke, diabetic, and despondent, he jumped from a second-story motel balcony and killed himself.
Biographical information on Lauren/Strunk can be found on the Way Back Attack website, the website for the Tracy Press newspaper, and the Internet Movie Database.
Created April 30, 2026.