Favorite John Denver Song.....

[aquaman]

Don't lie, you know you like John Denver. Don't be ashamed, it's okay.

[leftofthedial]

1. It was the one that went . . .

Oh fuck, this plane has no w-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-ngs!

[aquaman]

2. Damn,

that was mean.

[leftofthedial]

3. yeah it was

but so was he


now I feel guilty.

Rocky Mountain High is a great song. One I also always liked was his version of Mother Nature's Son.

[aquaman]

4. How so??

I'm interested.

[leftofthedial]

5. had occasion to meet him

it wasn't pleasant.

[aquaman]

6. Please do tell......

I would be intersted to know of that experience. Go ahead, destroy the picture I have of what he might have been like.

[leftofthedial]

7. he was wonderful and talented and kind

I'm sick of bursting bubbles.

[aquaman]

8. Thank you.....

My image of him is protected.

[leftofthedial]

9. and did I mention cute?

he was also very cute.

[aquaman]

10. So is your mother,

Cute like a country road in the springtime.

[leftofthedial]

11. man, everybody's dumping on my mother tonight

[Gato Moteado]

35. i heard he could be nasty as well.....

....i know that when he recorded steve goodman's "city of new orleans" he changed the line:

freight yards full of old black men

to

freight yards full of old grey men

and took half the songwriting credit on the album and screwed goodman out of the royalties.

[yeti]

15. I heard cocaine

destroyed his personality in his later years.

[supernova]

19. Perhaps he was having a bad day.

He didn't strike me as any better/worse than the rest of us. Famous people aren't perfect either.

[regnaD kciN]

12. Other...

I couldn't choose between Isabel and Follow Me (the second and third cuts on his fantastic second album, Take Me To Tomorrow -- he later re-recorded both, but not as well, IMHO).

Seriously, that album was great. Unfortunately, celebrity took a toll on him, and he was never the same, artistically, once Rocky Mountain High made him a music-industry star. But his early records (if you can find them in used-LP stores) were as good as anything coming out of the "folk singer-songwriter" movement of the time.

[hlthe2b]

25. I agree...

I really loved his early albums--worth checking out (and you can find them on CD, although you might have to order them)...

[regnaD kciN]

38. His early albums...

(specifically Rhymes and Reasons, Take Me To Tomorrow, Whose Garden Was This?, and Aerie) are listed on Amazon as having been available on import CDs, but being currently out-of-print. Used copies are available, but they start at $79 in most cases...

[LosinIt]

13. Rhymes and Reasons (check out my Sig Line)

This song always moved me, but check out the line about the towers. Eerie.

So you speak to me of sadness and the coming of the winter,
The fear that is within you now that seems to never end,
and the dreams that have escaped you and the hope that you've forgotten,
and you tell me that you need me now and you want to be my friend,
and you wonder where we're going, where's the rhyme and where's the reason?
And it's you cannot accept: it is here we must begin to seek the wisdom of the children
and the graceful way of flowers in the wind.
For the children and the flowers are my sisters and my brothers,
their laughter and their loveliness would clear a cloudy day.
Like the music of the mountains and the colors of the rainbow,
they're a promise of the future and a blessing for today.

Though the cities start to crumble and the towers fall around us,
the sun is slowly fading and it's colder than the sea.
It is written: From the desert to the mountains they shall lead us,
by the hand and by the heart, they will comfort you and me.
In their innocence and trusting they will teach us to be free.
For the children and the flowers are my sisters and my brothers,
their laughter and their loveliness would clear a cloudy day.
And the song that I am singing is a prayer to non-believers,
come and stand beside us we can find a better way.

[yeti]

14. Sunshine

in my eyes can make me cry.

[Maccagirl]

16. He did a song called "Friends"

that was sung at my high school graduation. Still chokes me up.

[wyldwolf]

17. You Fill Up My Senses...

...was that the title?

[LosinIt]

23. Annie's Song

[supernova]

18. Poems, Prayers, and Promises

is one of my favs. I voted Rocky Mountain High, though. Not a better 12-string guitar song in the singer/songwriter category.

POEMS, Prayers, and Promises

I've been lately thinking about my life's time
Days they pass so quickly now, the nights are seldom long

all the things I've done and how it's been,
time around me whispers when it's cold.

and I can't help believin' in my own mind
The changes somehow frightens me, still I have to smile

I know I'm gonna hate to see it end.
it turns me on to think of growing old.

I've seen a lot of sunshine slept out in the rain
It's tho' my life's been good to me there's still so much to do

spent a night or two all on my own
so many things my mind has never known

I've known my lady's pleasures had myself some friends
I'd like to raise a fam'ly I'd like to sail away

spent a time or two in my own home.
dance across the mountains on the moon.

Ref.) I have to say it now it's been good life all in all,
it's really fine to have a chance to hang around.
and lie there by the fire and watch the evening tire,
while all my friends and my old lady sit and pass a pipe around
and talk of poems and prayers and promises
and things that we believe in, how sweet it is to love someone,
how right it is to care, how long it's been since yesterday
what about tomorrow and what about our dreams
and all the memories we share,

[arwalden]

20. Thank God I'm A Country Boy

[leftofthedial]

30. my old cowpunk band used to do "Thank God I'm a Millionaire"

really rocked

[Skittles]

21. Almost heaven, West Virginia . . . . . . .

ooh that song gives me goosebumps.

yeah, yeah I know the name of the song. :)

[LWolf]

22. Matthews Song

I've loved John Denver since childhood. First love = Rocky Mt. High. 2nd love = Country roads.

Then there's this one; I thought I'd add it since it isn't as well known; he wrote it for a relative (uncle? cousin?) who died as a young man:

Had an uncle named matthew
Was his father’s only boy
Born just south of colby, kansas
Was his mother’s pride and joy

Yes, and joy was just the thing that he was raised on
Love was just the way to live and die
Gold was just a windy kansas wheatfield
Blue, just a kansas summer sky

All the stories that he told me
Back when I was just a lad
All the memories that he gave me
All the good times that he had

Growin’ up a kansas farmboy
Life was mostly havin’ fun
Ridin’ on his daddy’s shoulders
Behind a view beneath the sun

Yes, and joy was just the thing that he was raised on
Love was just the way to live and die
Gold was just a windy kansas wheatfield
Blue is just a kansas summer sky

Well, I guess there were some hard times
And I’m told some years were lean
They had a storm in forty-seven
A twister came and stripped them clean

He lost the farm and lost his family
He lost the wheat and lost his home
But he found a family bible
Faith as solid as a stone

Yes, and joy was just the thing that he was raised on
Love was just the way to live and die
Gold was just a windy kansas wheatfield
Blue, just a kansas summer sky

So he came to live at our house
And he came to work the land
He came to ease my daddy’s burden
And he came to be my friend

So, I wrote this down for matthew
And it’s for him the song is sung
Ridin’ on his daddy’s shoulders
Behind a mule beneath the sun

Yes, and joy was just the thing that he was raised on
Love was just the way to live and die
Gold was just a windy kansas wheatfield
Blue, just a kansas summer sky

Yes, and joy was just the thing that he was raised on
Love was just the way to live and die
Gold was just a windy kansas wheatfield
Blue, just a kansas summer sky

[hlthe2b]

26. Matthew was his uncle...

and yes, that was a very good song...

[oregonjen]

24. For You

John Denver wrote songs up until his death. "For You" is a wonderful and touching love song. I had a chance to meet him in the late 80's and he was very kind. I am a huge fan of his and there is no truth to the cocaine use. He had trouble with alcohol and depression. Not cocaine. His death was a great loss for us all. After the Exxon Valdez accident, he sang the truth in one of his songs "Raven's Child"

Excerpt from "Raven's Child"

The oil king sits on his arrogant throne
away and above and apart
lawyers have warned him he mustn't speak
and greed has made silent what once was a heart

[hlthe2b]

27. Denver was a humanitarian, ecologist, environmentalist...

before any of these things were considered "cool."

I remember reading about how hurt he was that he was not asked to sing on the recording for "we are the world," since he had been doing humanitarian work re: to hunger for many years. Guess, Hollywood (like many of us) are pretty fickle... You're either in or "out" and by that time Denver just wasn't "cool."

While I was also guilty of stepping away when he became so commercial, I do think that his talent and contributions to so many of the ideals we all share has been underestimated.

[oregonjen]

28. I agree

The same year he died, Jacques Cousteau, George Burns, Princess Diana and Mother Theresa died too. It was a tough year. Since I am a huge fan of John Denver's, I often wonder what kind of songs he would have written about the troubles of today. What a loss.

[LosinIt]

39. He already wrote something about today's troubles Rhymes & Reasons

'Though the cities start to crumble,
and the towers fall around us
the sun is slowly fading
and it's colder than the sea'

Yikes!

[Ramsey]

29. Calypso!

That is such a great song, about Jacques Cousteau's voyages.

[Cheswick2.0]

37. that is my favorite too

I also loved "Grandma's Feather Bed".

[Raenelle]

31. I admit I'm a little ashamed of it, but I do like John Denver

:hippie:

[LWolf]

34. I've always loved him.

And was so sorry to lose him off the coast of my state. No shame here!

[opiate69]

32. The Eagle and the Hawk..

Great song... made me want to leave New England and explore the great western expanse.

[LeftPeopleFinishFirst]

33. Annie's Song

:)

[Piperay]

36. Calypso

BEAUTIFUL...I picture the ocean whenever I hear it. :-)