Rodney Marvin "Rod" McKuen (April 29, 1933 - January 29, 2015) was a best-selling American poet, composer, and singer, instrumental in the revitalization of popular poetry that took place in the 1960s and early 1970s.

Born in Oakland, California, McKuen ran away from home at the age of eleven to escape an alcoholic stepfather and to send what money he could to his mother. After a series of jobs, from lumberjack, ranch hand, railroad worker to rodeo cowboy