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.
I don’t now anything about him personally and probably it is best that I don’t but he sure could sing.
Yes I remember him. I was 10 when his hits were on the radio. Bought his concert album “An Evening With John Denver” way back then and that was it, I am a life-long fan and have most of his albums (LP and CD of the favorites).
In the late 1980’s I got to see him in concert.
His “Wildlife Concert” album is very good, and his last recording, as far as I know. Great stuff for any fan.
His best music is not even the hits people know. The really great stuff is in the lesser known albums.
The album Windsong is my favorite. I know nearly all his songs. Have piano sheet music to some albums. A talented composer and a voice I never get tired of hearing.
He died on my birthday. I hate that. Too bad he did not fully fuel his experimental plane, as the man at the airport asked. He’d still be making music today. He could also still be a dad to his young daughter and his adopted son and daughter.
He gets a pass on being an old fashioned liberal from me. I love his music, and he gets credit for that.
Far Out
RIP John.
“Henry John Deutschendorf Junior; that’s my name too!”
Nope; never heard of him.
I had not seen the plane/snow picture before. Very nice.
Same thing, regarding Gordon Lightfoot- kept it under my hat until I heard Mr. Tony Rice perform some of Gordon’s better songs... like this one: “Bitter Green”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3H0SpHihdA
That’s a good one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bohTOHvz1G8
And sort of its mate:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSY_sitExdQ
Such a sweet harmony part, probably the same girl who sang harmony on the classic Country Roads:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vrEljMfXYo
I do remember that Burns played his role “without makeup”.
A friend of mine was in the Coast Guard Station at Monterey station and they were picking up the pieces of the Denver crash he said it was one of the worst fragmented plane wreck scene ever witnessed they couldn’t find a solid piece of anything.
Saw him at Notre Dame.
Flying fast and low. I mostly have heard it called scudrunning. But that may be for those that are flying below a very low overcast sky.
Back in the early 80s a couple of fellows were scudrunning in a Cessna 210, about 100’ AGL over I-74 with bad visibility even then, between Bloomington,IL and Peoria. The vertical stabilizer struck a high tension line, which rammed the elevator down. They crashed into the back of a semi trailer full of tires. The shocked trucker managed to stop, unhook, and pull away from the inferno.
The guys in the plane probably didn’t feel the burn. There were teeth wedged in the cooling fins on one of the engine cylinders.
He was asked about that many times. He was well aware of the map, but "Western Virginia" doesn't work very well in the tune so he decided to take liberties with the geography.
Today he'd have to recenter the song on I-81 and heavy truck traffic.
I remember he became an activist for environmental/other causes(wasn't he one of those activists/celeb's who got upset when he got snubbed on the "we are the world" song/video?...should have considered himself fortunate).
Still, good musician, writer, not that bad of an actor(Oh God)...though probably(among his peers)considered(like the Carpenters)too "square" for the times(that were'a chang'n...for the worse).
As an aviation enthusiast myself, I appreciated that he(like Kurt Russell)promoted general aviation...that he died doing one of the things that took him away from the dregs of celebrity, and that brought him peace(even if, perhaps prematurely...eternal).
One of those celeb's that I'll always remember where I was, what I was doing when I heard the news of his passing...sad day.
Yeah, he had his personal issues like a lot of celeb's, and(like a lot of celebs)I probably would have hated a lot of his politics...but his talents brought joy to many around the world.
His song "Looking for Space"(featured in a Magnum PI episode)is a song my brother and I will always associate as a remembrance piece associated with the passing of our dad.
Blue Skies and Tailwinds...may he RIP.
“Matthew”. Is one of the best songs he ever did.
He is pretty well known. I am in my late 50s but I know who Glenn Miller was. There is no reason why a 20 something wouldn’t know Denver.
Actually I find my kids know a much more diverse world of music than I ever did at their age.
“his head came off and they never found it.”
That fact could come in handy if you are ever a contestant on Jeapordy.
He may have been an environmentalist, but maybe more so than when he was posing, smiling with thumbs up, in front of the Lear 35 that was being fossil fueled up.
His music kinda sucked but people at the airport FBO in Denver who knew him said you’d never meet a nicer guy.
He also loved horses.
Check out “Eagles and Horses” song and also horse pictures in some of his albums and piano sheet music books.
Eagles and Horses
Horses are creatures who worship the Earth
They fly on feet of ivory
Constrained to this living by dying and birth
The horses still run they are free
I had a vision of Eagles and Horses
High on a hill in a race with the wind
Going higher and higher
Faster and faster
On Eagles and Horses I’m flying again
Flying Again
Flying Again
( more lyrics about eagles)
Another favorite “Fall”
Reflections in the water
Like shadows in my mind
Speak to me of passing days and nights
and passing time
Falling leaves are whispering
Winter’s on its way
I close my eyes remembering the warmth of yesterday
Seems a shame to see September
Swallowed by the wind
More than that it seems a shame to see the summer end
‘Though the changing colors are a lovely sight to see
If it were mine to make the change
I think I’d let it be....
But I don’t remember hearing anybody askin’ me.
RIP John
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