Posted on 01/13/2018 9:46:22 AM PST by SamAdams76
Most likely people under age 40 have no idea who John Denver was. He had a string of pop hits. Then he died in a airplane crash in some sort of experimental plane? He might have been a goofy granola-eating liberal but he did write some pretty good songs in the "folk-rock" style back in the 1970s.
His first big success was writing a song called "Leaving On A Jet Plane" which was a big hit for Peter, Paul & Mary, another group of granola eating liberals.
His real life name was Henry John Deutschendorf Jr.
Yikes, that's a mouthful.
I remember him in a movie with George Burns. I think it was called "Oh God" or something like that. Back in the late 1970s. Not a bad film.
It's just weird that he dropped off the face of the earth. Nobody remembers him.
"Annie's Song" is my favorite song from him. I remember hearing that song on the radio the day that Richard Nixon resigned the presidency. I will always associate that song with Richard Nixon resigning.
‘He touted the natural beauty of Aspen in his songs, but in reality, his fame and fortune brought “more sorrows upon the land.”’
The actual lyric is a little worse than that:
‘Why they try to tear the mountains down to bring in a couple more
More people, more scars upon the land’
Colorado Rocky Mountain hiiiiigh
And Country Roads...
Great songs. American classics. A bunch of country artists just did a medley with Country Roads and a Dolly Parton song, can’t remember. It’s very well done.
I wish the gullible cnn believers had any love for the natural countryside in this great land.
“That’s a glider”
The word you want is sailplane. Gliders show up in WWII pictures and probably had an l/d of about 8. The one in the picture is likely 40+.
He did make quite a splash...
I wish he could have stayed with Annie. They were so cute together. He could not resist all the women throwing themselves at him on tour. Sad. I have his autobiography called “Take Me Home”. I am sorry he did not stick to taking himself home to Annie. Great book. Recommend for any fan.
I love “Today” and play it on my baby grand often.
In June 1996 I golfed in a group right behind him at Spyglass Hill (https://www.pebblebeach.com/golf/spyglass-hill-golf-course/) on the Monterey Peninsula. Myself and 3 buddies drove down from San Francisco to play at Spyglass. When we arrived inside the clubhouse Denver was meandering around and we were signing in. Then over the PA came the announcement for the Denver party to tee off. One of my buddies goes up to him and says, “Denver, like John Denver”. And he smiled and said yes.” He was easily recognizable.
If you have ever played golf at Spyglass or Pebble Beach you know how crazy it is with the overcapacity due to the tourists. The pace of play can be sooo long.
So they were always waiting to play and we arrived to the next tee box on almost every hole. We had the opportunity to constantly chat with him and his much younger girlfriend, an Aussie or Brit I can’t seem to recall which. But she was a very good golfer, having played collegiately at the University of Texas. And we learned that he had just arrived back from a concert tour in Japan and South Korea where he was still very popular.
The last 3 holes we all played together as one big group since it was getting dark. I think I have a group photo somewhere. In any event he was a down to earth kind of guy just enjoying himself and life.
John Denver: ‘My dark night of the soul’
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/4707943/John-Denver-My-dark-night-of-the-soul.html
How refreshing!
I thought he went down over Macho Grande.
I noticed that too. In that song he laments building in the mountains, yet did it himself. I still forgive him, for all the music I’ve enjoyed that he made.
How many times did he crash?
The aussie he was with was most likely his second wife, with whom he had a daughter, about 10 years old when he died.
Thanks to you, I learned something new today.
Some say that today's country music really is more like hip hop or pop. There are a lot of people who think that George Strait may be the last true country musician.
But others go back even further, even suggesting that it was Patsy Cline who was the first that sent country music off the rails and into pop territory.
We had a record at our home in the 60's called "Countrypolitan Hits" which suggests that even back then some country musicians were trying to be more "relevant".
True believers seem to think that anything that came after blue grass ain't country.
Denver was one of those crossover musicians that some people welcomed into the country fold and others rejected.
To my mind Charlie Rich was no more country than anyone else at the time. A lot of the music from his era could be described as pop music with southern accents and steel guitars.
Until I looked it up, I thought Denver was saying, ‘More people, more stars upon the land.’ I really loved that; it seemed so unique and amazing for a star to view fellow humans not as a blight but as fellow stars.
Then I saw the actual lyric. It was a big letdown.
Oh well.
After he crashed onto the ocean he had a sky burial. The seagulls were there picking up pieces of him.
I liked Tom Petty's definition, "Bad rock with a fiddle."
I guess I didn’t recall exactly correctly. I knew there was a fuel issue. I had forgotten about the tank switching.
Only if it weighs less than 254 pounds, which puts it in the ultralight category. Otherwise you need at least a sport pilot license (less than 1320 lbs gross) or private pilot license. At the time Denver crashed there was no sport pilot category so he would have needed a current private pilot license.
Nowadays they probably confuse him with David Hasselhoff.
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