Post by erik on Jul 2, 2022 12:26:28 GMT -5
A song that became a state anthem for the place contained in its lyrics, and one that established its co-writer as a hugely successful artist of the 1970's is in this week's Pop Music Hits Spotlight.
TAKE ME HOME, COUNTRY ROADS (John Denver; RCA; 1971)—Far too often thought of as a clean-cut, all-American “boy”, bland and inoffensive, John Denver was in fact one of the most prominent singer/songwriters of his day, often writing in a philosophical style related to rural and Western living that borrowed elements of folk, country, and even bluegrass at times. Born in New Mexico, though he eventually moved to his famous Rocky Mountain abode in Aspen, Colorado, Denver started out in the Greenwich Village folk music scene of the 1960’s as a member of the Chad Mitchell Trio. In 1967, he got one of his songs, “Leaving On A Jet Plane”, recorded by Peter, Paul, and Mary for their album Album 1700; but it wasn’t until the fall of 1969 that it became a hit for all concerned (peaking at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on December 20, 1969). In the meantime, Denver signed with RCA in 1969 and proceeded to make three initially mild-selling albums, Rhymes And Reasons in 1969; and Take Me To Tomorrow and Whose Garden Was This in 1970. But it was with his fourth album, 1971’s Poems, Prayers, And Promises, that Denver made his breakthrough. Denver and his close friends Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert had written a song about West Virginia called “Take Me Home, Country Roads”; and it was included on the album. Although it climbed up the charts during the spring of 1971 at such a slow pace that RCA almost gave up on it, Denver urged the label to keep going with it because he was sure its acoustic folk/country sound was going to put it way up there. Denver’s prophecy did indeed come true, as “Take Me Home Country Roads” managed to hit #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week ending August 28, 1971 (it was kept out of #1 only by the Bee Gees’ first #1 hit “How Can You Mend A Broken Heart?”); and it also crossed over to #50 on the C&W chart as well. Ironically, Denver’s crossover appeal made him quite the target for so-called country music “purists” in Nashville later on in the 1970’s. And even after his appeal faded at the end of the 1970’s, and prior to his untimely death in a plane crash in 1997, he remained a huge activist in areas involving the environment, the space program, and being against the censorship of allegedly “offensive” lyrics in American popular music.
TAKE ME HOME, COUNTRY ROADS (John Denver; RCA; 1971)—Far too often thought of as a clean-cut, all-American “boy”, bland and inoffensive, John Denver was in fact one of the most prominent singer/songwriters of his day, often writing in a philosophical style related to rural and Western living that borrowed elements of folk, country, and even bluegrass at times. Born in New Mexico, though he eventually moved to his famous Rocky Mountain abode in Aspen, Colorado, Denver started out in the Greenwich Village folk music scene of the 1960’s as a member of the Chad Mitchell Trio. In 1967, he got one of his songs, “Leaving On A Jet Plane”, recorded by Peter, Paul, and Mary for their album Album 1700; but it wasn’t until the fall of 1969 that it became a hit for all concerned (peaking at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on December 20, 1969). In the meantime, Denver signed with RCA in 1969 and proceeded to make three initially mild-selling albums, Rhymes And Reasons in 1969; and Take Me To Tomorrow and Whose Garden Was This in 1970. But it was with his fourth album, 1971’s Poems, Prayers, And Promises, that Denver made his breakthrough. Denver and his close friends Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert had written a song about West Virginia called “Take Me Home, Country Roads”; and it was included on the album. Although it climbed up the charts during the spring of 1971 at such a slow pace that RCA almost gave up on it, Denver urged the label to keep going with it because he was sure its acoustic folk/country sound was going to put it way up there. Denver’s prophecy did indeed come true, as “Take Me Home Country Roads” managed to hit #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week ending August 28, 1971 (it was kept out of #1 only by the Bee Gees’ first #1 hit “How Can You Mend A Broken Heart?”); and it also crossed over to #50 on the C&W chart as well. Ironically, Denver’s crossover appeal made him quite the target for so-called country music “purists” in Nashville later on in the 1970’s. And even after his appeal faded at the end of the 1970’s, and prior to his untimely death in a plane crash in 1997, he remained a huge activist in areas involving the environment, the space program, and being against the censorship of allegedly “offensive” lyrics in American popular music.