Healing Time on Earth (John Denver)

Healing Time on Earth (Let the River Run), was one of the last songs Denver was working on. This was recorded live at his Windstar Symposium in 1995. The song was never recorded in a studio for distribution, there is only this live, perhaps incomplete version.  We are honoring Mr. Denver, his music, and his vision with this post on the anniversary of his birth.

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Monday Music: Rocky Mountain High (John Denver)

Fifty years ago yesterday (October 30, 1972) John Denver's Rocky Mountain High was released.

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Monday Music: She Loves You (The Chad Mitchell Trio)

Before he was John Denver the singer/songwriter sensation of the seventies, he was getting his start in folk music with the Chad Mitchell Trio (he replaced Chad Mitchell but the group kept the name). I happened upon the Trio's rendition of "She Loves You," by The Beatles. I must say, I gained a new appreciation for the song when I heard this folk version. Denver does guitar and vocal on this live version.

 

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Monday Music: Fly Away (John Denver and Olivia Newton-John)

One of my favorites from the '70s. John Denver with Olivia Newton-John singing "Fly Away" from the 1976 John Denver Christmas Special. 

 

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The global appeal of "Take Me Home, Country Roads" (CBS Sunday Morning)

"Take Me Home, Country Roads," a song about a longing for home (co-written by a songwriter who had never even been in West Virginia), has been embraced by the Mountain State in a big way, and has since been appropriated by singers around the world looking for their very own "place I belong."

 

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Monday Music: The Blizzard

 Here is another piece that happily came across my YouTube feed: a previously unreleased song recorded by John Denver. "The Blizzard" was written by singer/songwriter Judy Collins. Since a historic winter snow and ice event has just swathed a good portion of the country, perhaps this is a good time to listen again to the late John Denver.

 

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Monday Music: Sweet Surrender (John Denver)

"Sweet Surender" was one of the songs I listened to while making a cross-country trek in the late 1970s.

"Lost and alone on some forgotten highway,
Traveled by many, remembered by few.
Lookin' for somethin' that I can believe in,
Lookin' for something that I'd like to do

(with my life)"

 

"There's a spirit that guides me, a light that shines for me,

My life is worth the livin' I don't need to see the end..."

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Monday Music: Eclipse (John Denver)

Here's one of my favorite John Denver songs. I learned to play it on the guitar many years ago. Today's solar eclipse that will cast a swath across the U.S. brought it to mind.

"I think it's kind of interesting the way things get to be,

The way that people work with their machines..."

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Monday Music: Gospel Changes

The Gospel reading in yesterday's lectionary was one of the best-known parables of Jesus -- the story of The Prodigal Son. It is a story that has touched the core of our being down through the ages. The reading reminded me of a song that John Denver recorded early in his career that was based upon that timeless story. Here is "Gospel Changes," written by J. Williams, recorded by John Denver.

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Perhaps Love 3

The memory of love will bring you home

Today is the 72^nd anniversary of John Denver’s birth. Though he tragically died in a light aircraft accident on October 12, 1997 at the age of  53, he left a legacy, not only in music but in environmental and humanitarian endeavors. (For a remembrance of John Denver by Denver Post Theater Critic, John Moore, go here).

Denver fans will take delight in the following clip featuring a brief interview in 1982 on Pebble Mill at One, followed by his performance of "Perhaps Love," which had just been released on his album, Seasons of the Heart.

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Perhaps Love 2

While music critics often dismissed John Denver's recordings, his fans loved his music. His legacy was defended by country singer Kathy Mattea who said, "A lot of people write him off as lightweight, but he articulated a kind of optimism, and he brought acoustic music to the forefront, bridging folk, pop, and country in a fresh way…. People forget how huge he was worldwide." Read more at http://www.notablebiographies.com/supp/Supplement-Ca-Fi/Denver-John.html#ixzz3slzhrBzY

Placido Domingo apparently did not consider Denver a "lightweight." He has performed "Perhaps Love" on a number of occasions. Here he is singing the song in a beautiful duet with John Denver, recorded in 1981 and placed now with this video of some stunning photos from the life journey.

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Perhaps Love

John Denver, whose music topped the charts in the 1970s, achieved great popularity, with the songs of optimism that he wrote and performed. Perhaps one of the keys to his success was his crossover appeal. His music began with the folk revival of the 1960's (which also introduced such artists as Peter, Paul & Mary, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Phil Ochs, and Arlo Guthrie, among others). As a singer/songwriter, Denver's music spanned musical genres that included folk, country, and pop. He found popularity among the young and the old. This week I am featuring his song, "Perhaps Love" in three different settings in celebration of what would have been his 72nd birthday on December 31st.

"Perhaps Love" was first recorded on Denver's Seasons of the Heart album (1982). The following recording of the song is a duet by Denver and Lene Siel recorded in 1996, which would have been a year before his untimely death.

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Monday Music: Boy from the Country

I first heard this one on the vinyl LP soundtrack, "An Evening with John Denver." Many thanks to Scott Wright for photographing and producing the visuals for the music.





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Monday Music: Sweet Surrender

Singer/songwriter John Denver was 53 years old when he died on October 12, 1997 while piloting an experimental light aircraft. Sweet Surrender was one of his early hits and is featured here along with scenes from nature and images from John Denver's life and career.

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Monday Music: Eclipse (John Denver)

Tomorrow, December 31, 2013,  John Denver would have been 70 years old. "Eclipse" is one of those songs with an environmental theme that appeared on Denver's Back Home Again album released in 1974. That same album included a number of other songs that became signature hits including "Annie's Song," "Thank God, I'm a Country Boy," "This Old Guitar," "Back Home Again," and "Sweet Surrender."

Monday Music: Leaving on a Jet Plane

Look who is singing his song with Peter, Paul & Mary back in the day! I must admit, I was excited when I first found this grainy video on You Tube. In the early days John Denver was on the folk music scene, playing in local venues and relatively unknown. "Leaving on a Jet Plane" was one of the first songs he wrote. Peter Paul and Mary liked the song and began performing it. It became one of their signature songs and reached number 1 on the Billboard charts. When they picked up the song, it also helped to launch Denver's career in the music industry.

Here they all are singing that song that PP&M made famous for John Denver.

Monday Music: Windsong

Last Friday marked a tragic anniversary. John Denver departed this life on October 12, 1997 at the age of 53, when his experimental homebuilt aircraft crashed. A complex man, Denver accomplished much in his 53 years. Not only was he a popular recording artist, he become an advocate for environmental and humanitarian causes.

Enjoy one of Denver's most beautiful songs while watching some magnificent scenes from nature.