John Denver's "Leaving on a Jet Plane" Just Played...

[Yollam]

...and for a minute there, I was 8 years old again, hearing his greatest hits LP playing on my parents' huge, beautiful console hi-fi in the living room. It was 1978, America was the greatest, Star Wars ruled, and I could still go watch all the movies all day at the theatre for $1.50.

It sounded poignant then - I didn't know I wasn't supposed to like him because he was cheesy. I didn't even know there was such a thing as a cheesy song. It sounded earnest and heartfelt to me then.

And it sounded that way to me just now.

R.I.P. John Denver.






Wow. Now The Commodores' "Nightshift" is starting...

:cry:

[Oeditpus Rex]

1. He wasn't cheesy, really

Humans just like to call stuff from their earlier years "cheesy" because... I dunno. Maybe because it's passed so far out of favor they're afraid to admit they liked it.

Just a guess.

[Yollam]

2. Oh, I don't think so either.

But a lot of people are either so damn hip, or so damn crusty and cynical, that anything sweet, earnest and melodic is automatically derided as cheesy, treacly crap. From the Carpenters to Christopher Cross, none escape the derision of the überhip.

As for me, Radiohead and Gorillaz can bite me. I want some sweetness and sentimentality and beauty. There's enough misery in the news in the world. Then I have to listen to it on my iPod? I don't think so.

[lizziegrace]

3. I've got 10 years on you

John Denver's "Greatest Hits" was the first LP I ever bought. That and Three Dog Night "Harmony". Like you, I think there's enough anger and sadness in the world. Give me some honest, kind emotion any day.

[datasuspect]

4. this one nowadays make me want to cry a mixture of happy

and sad tears . . . it has a strange emotional effect on me.

they played it on the radio a lot when i was 4 in 1974 i think.




Almost heaven, West Virginia
Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River
Life is old there, older than the trees
Younger than the mountains growin' like a breeze.

Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West Virginia, mountain mama
Take me home, country roads.

All my mem'ries gather 'round her
Miner's lady, stranger to blue water
Dark and dusty, painted on the sky
Misty taste of moonshine, teardrop in my eye.

Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West Virginia, mountain mama
Take me home, country roads.

I hear her voice in the mornin' hours, she calls me
The radio reminds me of my home far away
And drivin' down the road I get a feelin'
That I should have been home yesterday, yesterday.

Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West Virginia, mountain mama
Take me home, country roads.

Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West Virginia, mountain mama
Take me home, country roads
Take me home (down) country roads
Take me home (down) country roads.

[ET Awful]

5. Sentimental does NOT always mean cheesy . . .

You fill up my senses like a night in the forest,
like the mountains in springtime, like a walk in the rain,
like a storm in the desert, like a sleepy blue ocean.
You fill up my senses, come fill me again.

Come let me love you, let me give my life to you,
let me drown in your laughter, let me die in your arms,
let me lay down beside you, let me always be with you.
Come let me love you, come love me again.

You fill up my senses like a night in the forest,
like the mountains in springtime, like a walk in the rain,
like a storm in the desert, like a sleepy blue ocean.
You fill up my senses, come fill me again.


and, of course . . .


Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy, sunshine in my eyes can make me cry.
Sunshine on the water looks so lovely, sunshine almost always makes me high.
If I had a day that I could give you, I'd give to you the day just like today.
If I had a song that I could sing for you, I'd sing a song to make you feel this way.

Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy, sunshine in my eyes can make me cry.
Sunshine on the water looks so lovely, sunshine almost always makes me high.
If I had a tale that I could tell you, I'd tell a tale sure to make you smile.
If I had a wish that I could wish for you, I'd make a wish for sunshine for all the while.

Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy, sunshine in my eyes can make me cry.
Sunshine on the water looks so lovely, sunshine almost always makes me high.
Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy, sunshine in my eyes can make me cry.
Sunshine on the water looks so lovely, sunshine almost always makes me high.
Sunshine almost all the time makes me high. Sunshine almost always…

[MissMillie]

6. Annie's song

is one of those songs that makes you wish someone felt that way about you.

People who can write like that today are few and far between.

[ET Awful]

7. I've always been very partial to Paul Simon's Kathy's Song as well

I hear the drizzle of the rain
Like a memory it falls
Soft and warm continuing
Tapping on my roof and walls

And from the shelter of my mind
Through the window of my eyes
I gaze beyond the rain-drenched streets
To England where my heart lies

My mind's distracted and confused
My thoughts are many miles away
They lie with you when you're asleep
And kiss you when you start your day

And this song I was writing is left undone
I don't know why I spend my time
Writing songs I can't believe
With words that tear and strain to rhyme

And so you see I have come to doubt
All that I once held as true
I stand alone without beliefs
The only truth I know is you

And as I watch the drops of rain
Weave their weary paths and die
I know that I am like the rain
There but for the grace of you go I

[Patiod]

8. I feel that way about the Carpenters

Even the "happy" songs sound sweet and melancholy, and they did so even back before Karen died.