I've been on a John Denver kick recently. Don't know what really sparked me to want to listen to him again. His music was popular when John and I were dating and first married. I can remember being with John and listening to his music, and it brings back very good memories of those times. So many of the songs were what most people called "vanilla", but I just thought they were good. Good songs that made you happy and resonated inside me somehow.
Guess my John Denver favorite is Annie's Song. That was the song John and I first danced to. Still gives me chill bumps when I hear it on the radio. Said he wrote it in 15 minutes on a ski lift in Aspen. Maybe my daughter Lauren will dance to it when she gets married too.
Annie's Song
I remember reading about the separation from his wife, Annie. Seems he got so mad he took a chain saw and in a fit of rage cut their bed in half. He always seemed so mild mannered that it is hard to imagine him doing that. Lover's pain I guess. To have written such a beautiful song about her, there must have been a lot of love in his heart. And a lot of pain, too.
Then there's Country Roads Take Me Home. Can't think of West Virginia without chiming in on that song too.
Country Roads West VA
The link below has him singing Back Home Again at Farm Aid in 1985 with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. This one always gets me in the chorus..."fire softly burning, supper on the stove, and the light in your eyes that makes me warm". Wow, he was a great American song writer ranking just after Elvis, Michael Jackson, and Frank Sinatra for songs sold. Amazing, bet you didn't know that.
Back Home Again with Nitty Gritty Dirt Band at Farm Aid 1985
Rocky Mountain High....I've seen it raining fire in the sky. Never hear that without remembering a night years ago when my John and I got a blanket and lay out by the pond on a dark August night and watched the Perseids meteor shower. We saw it rain fire in the sky that night, just like John Denver. Sure brings those images back when I hear him sing.
Rocky Mountain High
Never got to see him in concert and was sure sad when I heard he was killed in a plane crash off the California coast near Monterey in 1997. He was testing out a new plane he had just bought doing touch and goes, and apparently ran out of gas and while trying to switch gas tanks, inadvertently hit the rudder and could't recover before crashing. Pilot error. What a shame.
John and I went to California some years afterwards and we drove down from San Jose to Santa Cruz then down the coast to Monterey Bay where he died. Couldn't help but be overcome with sadness when I looked out over the ocean. Wonder what songs he still had in him. He was only 53 when he died.
But I guess he really should have perished before then. He was supposed to be the first civilian in space on the Challenger, but got knocked out of that spot by Christa McCauliffe.
There are so many of his songs that have become standards for all of us. "Leaving on a Jet Plane", which he wrote and was made popular by Peter, Paul and Mary, seems to have a new meaning after he died in a crash.
And this is for Lauren. Love it...hope she does too.
Peace
Calypso, Fly High, Sunshine on my Shoulders, I'm Sorry, Grandma's Feather Bed, This Old Guitar, so many wonderful songs. You did us good John Denver. I can't complain about a single one of those songs. They made my life richer all around.
PCQ...
Guess my John Denver favorite is Annie's Song. That was the song John and I first danced to. Still gives me chill bumps when I hear it on the radio. Said he wrote it in 15 minutes on a ski lift in Aspen. Maybe my daughter Lauren will dance to it when she gets married too.
Annie's Song
I remember reading about the separation from his wife, Annie. Seems he got so mad he took a chain saw and in a fit of rage cut their bed in half. He always seemed so mild mannered that it is hard to imagine him doing that. Lover's pain I guess. To have written such a beautiful song about her, there must have been a lot of love in his heart. And a lot of pain, too.
Then there's Country Roads Take Me Home. Can't think of West Virginia without chiming in on that song too.
Country Roads West VA
The link below has him singing Back Home Again at Farm Aid in 1985 with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. This one always gets me in the chorus..."fire softly burning, supper on the stove, and the light in your eyes that makes me warm". Wow, he was a great American song writer ranking just after Elvis, Michael Jackson, and Frank Sinatra for songs sold. Amazing, bet you didn't know that.
Back Home Again with Nitty Gritty Dirt Band at Farm Aid 1985
Rocky Mountain High....I've seen it raining fire in the sky. Never hear that without remembering a night years ago when my John and I got a blanket and lay out by the pond on a dark August night and watched the Perseids meteor shower. We saw it rain fire in the sky that night, just like John Denver. Sure brings those images back when I hear him sing.
Rocky Mountain High
Never got to see him in concert and was sure sad when I heard he was killed in a plane crash off the California coast near Monterey in 1997. He was testing out a new plane he had just bought doing touch and goes, and apparently ran out of gas and while trying to switch gas tanks, inadvertently hit the rudder and could't recover before crashing. Pilot error. What a shame.
John and I went to California some years afterwards and we drove down from San Jose to Santa Cruz then down the coast to Monterey Bay where he died. Couldn't help but be overcome with sadness when I looked out over the ocean. Wonder what songs he still had in him. He was only 53 when he died.
But I guess he really should have perished before then. He was supposed to be the first civilian in space on the Challenger, but got knocked out of that spot by Christa McCauliffe.
There are so many of his songs that have become standards for all of us. "Leaving on a Jet Plane", which he wrote and was made popular by Peter, Paul and Mary, seems to have a new meaning after he died in a crash.
And this is for Lauren. Love it...hope she does too.
Peace
Calypso, Fly High, Sunshine on my Shoulders, I'm Sorry, Grandma's Feather Bed, This Old Guitar, so many wonderful songs. You did us good John Denver. I can't complain about a single one of those songs. They made my life richer all around.
PCQ...
4 comments:
Didn't realize he wrote "Leaving on a Jet Plane." It's always been one of my favs.
Glad you're back! W
Missed you on the blog and you came back in full glory. Thanks for some memories of time past. Love you. Susan
I need more pork chop queen! keep posting!
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