John Denver was one of the most popular and successful American recording artists and live performers of the 70s, but has largely been forgotten. Oldies radio stations have trouble categorizing him, so most of them don’t play his music at all. He does not easily fit into any one genre, which was a growing problem for him towards the end of his career. I have seen CD stores try to sell his albums in pop, country, and easy listening sections. His roots were in folk music, and my personal favorites from his work are the folk songs that he wrote in the early 70s. The US country music establishment hated and rejected him because they perceived his image as being too folksy, and because he was a stoner and a nonconformist. If you ignore all that and simply listen to the music, especially the early material, it still speaks for itself. There is no one who has a more positive earth-friendly message, or a purer voice. He wrote love songs to the earth and everything in it that is natural and beautiful and spiritual, and sang them with all the passion of a new lover. The last time I saw him was in the twilight of his career, performing without a band, only his voice and his guitar. He was one of those rare talents who needed nothing else to entertain a crowd of thousands for two hours. He needed no backup singers that night because everyone there knew every word to every song. I cried the day he died in a plane crash, something I have never done before or since for any celebrity. His music and his gentle spirit will always be a part of me. Young folk music fans who don’t know him are missing out on something special. I don’t expect many replies in this thread since John has been so widely forgotten. I just felt that he deserved his own thread.
The reason I never liked John Denver that much was because he radiated this country boy squeaky clean type of persona . The people that I knew who liked him kinda lost interest in him after he installed a 20,000 gallon gas tank on his property in the Rocky Mountains. Because of the oil embargo - gas was hard to come by - but good ol'rich John Denver had all the gas he needed. This did not make people very happy, especially the ecologically aware ones. PAX
I think i remember people talking about that gas tank. I guess i was still riding a bicycle at the time, so i didn't pay attention. One of my first albums was 'Back Home Again'. My Grandma bought it for me. I loved almost every song on it.
He said many times that he liked to smoke grass. It was all through his lyrics. My parents didn't think that was squeaky clean at all. I hadn't heard that story until today. Honestly, I paid more attention to his music than to his personal life. When you are as popular as he used to be, people are always going to be looking hard for flaws; for a way to tear you down. Nobody ever lives up to all that pressure. When it came out that he mowed his lawn in the nude, people said he was a pervert. When he went to a weekend seminar on est, people said he was a freak and a cultist. When he and his first wife got a divorce, people said "Annie's Song" had been discredited as a classic love song. It was always something. I thought he was human. People back then were used to fake celebrities. You didn't know anything about them except what a publicist wanted you to know. What I did pay attention to was a growing influence of Eastern thinking in his songwriting . His attitude toward nature was increasingly similar to the teachings of Taoism and other classic Eastern philosophies. That attitude is now very mainstream among environmentalists and hippies. If my parents had understood what Taoism was, they would have really freaked out. Nothing that he ever did or failed to do changes his music. It belongs to the world now.
Are you trying to make me into a John Denver fan? I'm sorry but it's just not going to happen. In your post you said that your parents thought he was rather radical. Am I right in suspecting that your parents are conservative? The country back then was just as split as it is now. So if your parents were on the conservative side they obviously didn't like John Denver but if they leaned to the left they probably didn't like him either. People with radical thinking were not happy with his gas tank. If you know anyone in their 50's ask him about the gas shortage in the 70's. It really tore the country apart. The fact that he went out and got a big tank just pissed everybody off. Celebrities did not make the news the same way they do now but his behaviour was on tv for at least 3 or 4 days which was really unusual at that time. I myself didn't hate him: it's just that I wasn't fond of him. Most people on the radical side of the spectrum saw him just as an all american country boy who was always smiling . The two movies that he was in didn't help his image very much. I wish you the best of success in finding or starting his fan club. No joke intended. PAX
I don't have a problem with John Denver... and when I was a kid I liked him in those movies where George Burns plays God.
I don't care. You aren't the only person who is ever going to read this thread. I'm going to defend my point of view, no matter what. I did a search and found that only three threads in the Music forum have ever mentioned John's name, and none of them were in the last three years. Love him or hate him, it's strange to act as if he never lived or had no accomplishments. He got tens of millions of young people much more interested in environmental issues than they otherwise would have been. That isn't a bad legacy to leave behind. Many of us have grown up and maintained our interest into adulthood, supporting some of the same causes that John contributed to. I grew up in a small Southern town. It wasn't divided at all. ALL of the adults were conservative. Every free thinker I knew was under the age of 20. Music was like our main link to the real world, for me and my sister. FM radio was like our church. Songwriters from the 60s and 70s taught us how to think for ourselves. I vaguely remember it. I was in elementary school. I guess the gas tank was not a good idea. It doesn't cancel out the rest of his life and career. Have you ever done anything that you now consider to be a bad idea? I have a long list. I could really get off on the topic of how Americans relate to celebrities, but I won't. I'll just say that if you give somebody millions of dollars in a short time and then look at their life under a microscope, you will find some problems, no matter who they are. For some reason, that continues to be a surprise to a lot of people. I don't read much about the personal lives of any musicians that I like. I don't want to know all the dirt because it might prevent me from enjoying their music as much. Musicians are very human. Yes, compared to typical environmentalists, who are constantly angry and depressed. Most people are not drawn to that. You might be one of those people who applauded Charlie Rich for burning that paper on stage to protest, when John won an award on TV. If so, you have every right to have that opinion. I just hope we can agree that it isn't legitimate to act as if there was never a time when John Denver had a HUGE impact on the American music world, or that he didn't sell more folk music and country-folk than anyone in history, or he didn't routinely sell out 20,000 seat arenas for many years. All those are facts of music history.
I had a unique John Denver experience. I was on one of my first business trips after graduating school, and was visiting the University of Washington in Seattle where my company was sponsoring some research. Since I still identified with the college scene, I went for a walk around campus in the evening and ended up by the basketball arena. As I approached, one of the doors was ajar and I heard music and talking from inside, so I poked my head in. The cavernous arena was empty except for a man on the floor playing guitar and singing to a group of about 20 kids. There were a few adults scattered about, but that was it. The man was John Denver! John and all the kids were running around in their socks so as not to damage the floor. He'd play a song, then they'd play some games, then he'd tell a story, and then more music. I crawled up into the stands near the court and just watched. John really had a way with the kids and was fun to watch. To this day I have no idea what the event was, but I'll never forget it. That was John Denver as himself - no band, no crowd, no pretense of being anything but himself - and he still had me mesmerized!
One thing I find difficult about writing responses on this or any other forum is that there is alot of misinterpretation. The comment about you making me into a Denver fan was said in jest more than anything else. Correct me if I'm wrong but weren't you trying to figure out why he wasn't very popular? I'm sure he has accomplished alot of great things in his life but the one thing I remember that he did that caused so much negativity was the buying of that gas tank. When the oil embargo was happening there was a lot of hatred that was going around. When [a rich] celebrity doesn't have to deal with that- he isn't an ordinary person anymore. That act could and did cause a lot of resentment on both sides. That hatred has remained even though most people had forgotten why. I guess me not being a fan and in fact neutral towards him - that is the only thing I can remember about him. I hope this has cleared things up and we can still say hi with a smile on our faces. PAX
I completely forgot about the gas tank thing. Nonetheless, we've all done things that are questionable by society's standards. When evaluating an individual I believe it's important to look at the breadth of their actions and contributions, positive and negative, and evaluate them as a whole. Personally, I've done a few things that would make people shudder, but as a whole, I think I'm a good person and I believe society would agree with that - no arrests, no collection agencies after me, good job, etc. John Denver and the gas tank? That's a footnote to his life story - something most of us forgot about long ago. John Denver made great music that I still enjoy. He wasn't perfect, but who of us is?
I know. Sometimes I read back my own posts and think, that doesn't sound like me. In print, everything seems more harsh. I'm not like that in person. If John taught me anything, it's the importance of peace, love, and harmony with nature. Making an effort to get along with people is the starting point for all of it. Yes, and having a bit of a debate about it has brought out more interesting points on both sides. Country music is doing the same thing to the Dixie Chicks. Nashville is tired of hating them, and is ready to move on and forget that they ever existed. Someday, people online will be having a similar conversation about why nobody remembers what they did. When you think liberal and sound country, you can't be on radio in America anymore. Too much success can be a curse for a songwriter. Money changes their lives, and they stop having ordinary life experiences to write about. They eventually lose touch with their audience. It isn't anybody's fault. It just happens. It didn't happen as quickly to John because wealthy people can still study, enjoy, and care about natural things. Definitely. :cheers2: My copy was a Christmas present. Some of its best tracks were never released as singles: Grandma's Feather Bed Matthew Eclipse This Old Guitar The last time I saw him perform, he closed the show with 'This Old Guitar'. I don't think there was a dry eye in the place.
This is one of his songs that I really did like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vl7aM3nCqC0"]YouTube- Calypso PAX
I remember hearing people saying his song "Rocky Mountain High" was a drug song! heeheheh maybe it was but not in the way they thought it was...I really like his music even if he wasn't perfect... peace Delfynasa
Thanks for sharing that! At the end of the video, there are quick links at the bottom to a bunch of other John Denver videos, including multiple versions of Annie's Song, and Rhymes and Reasons. I just watched most of them. The greatest thing about the studio version of Annie's Song is Lee Holdrich's soaring string arrangement, especially magnificent in the bridge. John once called Rhymes and Reasons his favorite of the songs he had written. The melody is kind of basic, but the lyrics are probably the most profound that he ever wrote, quite relevant even today. It really sounds like it was written in 2001. YouTube has a rare, early version, which has him singing in the more traditional style of a 60s folk singer. He went back in the studio and softened it up a bit for his Greatest Hits (vol.1) album. Well yeah, and a good one! :sifone: Maybe he should have stuck to watching flying squirrels.
experimental planes can be as dangerous as experimental drugs, but someone has to try them or we'll never know how much fun they can be..
My boyfriend knows a lot about small airplanes, and here's what he told me about John's crash: That model has a fuel selector knob with nonstandard positions, completely different from a typical small plane. The knob is located behind the pilot, over his shoulder, so he can't see it while he's flying. He has to remember the positions. It's likely that John turned it to the "off" position, thinking he was just switching tanks. He was flying very low and fast, so he had no time to figure out what he did wrong. I didn't even know that little planes had more than one tank. All that sounds scary as hell! I'm sure the Pacific coast scenery was spectacular the way that he was seeing it that day. If you know him at all, you know he had to love it. In the "Wrangell Mountain Song" (Autograph album), John wrote about flying low along the shoreline in Alaska. There are definitely worse ways to go. I guess he died happy. I can't really imagine him as an elderly man. Here is John's complete album list: http://www.johndenver.com/music/music.html
I saw an interview with John Denver's ex-wife Annie on PBS. She said that the song came to him while they were camping and I believe doing coke (might have been smoking pot, but I recollect it was coke). She was pretty politically correct in her statement and careful about her word choice, LOL. As she explained, the song was not about doing drugs, rather it was written about the beauty of nature and the drugs only enhanced the experience and assisted in the creative process. If you've ever messed with attitude-altering substances, I'm sure you can relate. Many successful groups of the 60's, 70's, and even today found that drugs enhanced their creativity - and also helped them deal with the boredom of life on the road.
I remember going to his show way back when in Xavier near Rome, ItaLY WHERE jd DID SOME OF HIS GREATEST HITS with his wife.....unforgettable gig.....RIP John
My parents had the opposite reaction to him. They were completely fooled by his appearance - the big, genuine smile and lack of facial hair - and his positive general outlook. They never listened closely enough to his lyrics - especially the early folk material - to realize that his message was often every bit as radical and subversive as anything you would find on a progressive rock station on FM at that time. His career, his legacy, and folk music in general all became victims of the politics of FM radio. The big money players in FM didn't like the sound or the image, so folk music more or less died when all music left the AM band. It had nothing to do with John's talent or personal behavior. He understood this, and he found it intensely frustrating. Had he lived, the internet could have given him another chance. In the unlikely event that you are ever in Princeton, WV, you can head east on WV route 20 toward Athens and drive on the country road that inspired the song "Country Roads". He was on his way to do a concert at tiny Concord College when the song came to him. The local people are very proud of that. It's a good song, but his geography was quite confused. The Shenandoah River is in Virginia, not West Virginia, and the Blue Ridge Mountains pass through six states, but WV is not one of them.
