Does anybody remember John Denver?

[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.

[Windflier]

October 1997

One of the busiest months of my life.

My wife was seven months pregnant with our second child, we were busy renovating our first house, and we'd just started our business.

No wonder I only vaguely remember his passing.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXaOUTKa0wU

[JimRed]

If those granola-eating liberals would just stick to eating granola, and leave the rest of us alone...

[Reily]

yeah I hate driving I81 because of that.

[phormer phrog phlyer]

They play Country Roads after a WVU victory, needless to say people in WV are pretty fond of it.

[Moonman62]

Here’s another fatal crash that involved the fuel selector.

https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=40973

[Axenolith]

As a kid we drove across the country with 8 track tapes of his music playing, moving from Idaho to Kansas and from there to Virginia.

[Axenolith]

Don’t forget Stevie Ray Vaughn and Bill Graham, helicopters, but stupidity involved with respect to conditions and level. Pops always said wires and lines were as bad if not worse than ground fire for pucker factor.

[OldMissileer]

When he crashed he was in an experimental class aircraft, was either high or drunk, and his license had been suspended.

[Agamemnon]

During the 1970s, he was always portrayed as a gentle granola eating hippie "flower child" but that was probably not the case in real life.

I was very much a fan of his music until around the "Calypso" era. Then his stuff became more hypocritically Enviro-cheesy.

Reason I say hypocritically is because for all his protestation about environmentalism and air-pollution he tried to install huge gasoline fuel storage tanks on his mountaintop Colorado property during Carter's so-called "Energy crisis" for the purpose of stockpiling gasoline for himself and his own personal transportation purposes.

Guess he just didn't want to get caught in the gas lines we proletarian's and his album buyers had to put up with.

You'll likely recall how The Kinks memorialized this situation back then: "A Gallon of Gas" (1979)

FReegards!

[Fiji Hill]

John Denver—could he be related to Jim Denver, the Mexican War and Civil War veteran and politician for whom a city was named?

[huldah1776]

I always loved his work and when mom passed I inherited her collection. (Yanni, too, but pfft. LOL)

[DiogenesLamp]

It was theorized that he lost control while switching fuel tanks in one of Burt Rutan’s death traps.

I do not know if it is true, but someone told me that the handle for the fuel valve for the second tank had fallen off, and that he had been using a pair of vise grips to turn the valve. Apparently when he reached back to turn the valve, the vise grips popped off and fell, and after that it was impossible to turn the valve. He may have been trying to get at them or something.

[mjp]

He was on a tv show with Frank Sinatra. He was about to sing a Sinatra song and Frank said to him “don’t hurt yourself”.

[Two Kids' Dad]

I have Grandma's Feather Bed in my music playlist on my phone.

John Denver had some good tunes.

[Nuc 1.1]

Yes, I believe it was a Rutan EZ. Saw an EZ retract I believe come in to the Buckeye airport. Beautiful, fast, and seemingly effortless in flight. Wish I had the money for one.

[PLMerite]

I saw him in concert in 1984. I just uncovered the t-shirt a few days ago, still wearable (it fits again).

[V K Lee]

John Denver:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35x_rwyBh-8

The song was well liked here, also.

[Pelham]

Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert prolly deserve the most credit for composing Country Roads. Friends of Denver’s.

[kjam22]

Yes... that’s correct. And she is the one who sang the harmony part on recording.