So I’m driving to Rochester last Friday for the PBL basketball game, and one of the benefits of driving on the New York State Thruway is that I can pick up several Canadian AM radio stations on my journey. One of them is CFZM, AM740 in Toronto; as “Zoomer Radio,” they play classic oldies of the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s, a nice easy listening driving mix.
As I’m driving, AM740 is playing their “10 at 10” run, where they play the ten most popular songs by an artist or group. By the time I picked up the signal, they were playing the first of ten songs, John Denver’s “Sweet Surrender.” Apparently December 31st was John Denver’s birthday, and AM740 was going to play Denver’s ten most popular songs, with “Sweet Surrender” being the tenth most popular song in the list.
While AM740 went to a commercial, I tried to remember as many John Denver songs as I could – “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” “Rocky Mountain High,” “Thank God I’m a Country Boy,” and then I remembered some of his more obscure hits that were actually chart-toppers – “I’m Sorry,” “Calypso,” and that song he did with Olivia Newton-John, “Fly Away.”
But that wasn’t a total of ten songs. And I was still wracking my brain, trying to remember the rest of his songs, knowing that songs like “Shanghai Breezes” and “Looking for Space” weren’t among his most popular tracks. And I eliminated his original version of “Leaving on a Jet Plane,” because this was the best of John Denver, not the best of Peter Paul & Mary.
But I was still having trouble trying to remember those other three songs.
And by the time they reached song #6, one of the missing sons aired – “Back Home Again.” Yeah, that was not one of my favorite songs, it usually caused me to change the radio station. I almost did that again today.
Four songs left in the countdown. Two of them – “Take Me Home, Country Roads” and “Thank God I’m a Country Boy” – hadn’t been played yet, so I was still drawing a blank on the final two songs. Why can’t I remember them? Grr this is driving me nuts.
But I had to figure it out – come on, if this was a quadruple bonus question on a trivia night, it could cost me some serious points not knowing – wait – wait a minute – you fill up my senses – that’s it, “Annie’s Song!” I knew it, I knew it, why it wasn’t coming to me in the car was completely beyond me.
And then, once I figured out “Annie’s Song,” the other track – “Sunshine on My Shoulders” – popped into my brain a few scant seconds later. Of course, it didn’t show up with its original lyrics. It showed up with the snarky lyrics us kids sang when we heard the song one too many times – “Sunshine on my shoulders / gives me sunburn / Sunshine in my eyes / can make me blind / Sunshine on the water / makes it evaporate / Sunshine and some reefer / gets me high.”
Wow. And the thing is, you don’t hear too many of John Denver’s songs on oldies radio – tracks like “Sweet Surrender” or “Fly Away,” which were top ten hits, are almost forgotten today. And unless someone does a John Denver theme night on Glee, it’s unlikely that we’ll hear these songs on any sort of regular rotation any time soon.
Unless you’re driving on the New York State Thruway, and your radio is tuned to AM740, picking up “Zoomer Radio” in Toronto.
Chuck The Writer 
I was (and am) a big John Denver fan, and I attended several of his concerts at SPAC. I also was lucky enough to do a couple of phone interviews with him for his television projects, and from my view, he was just who he represented himself to be.
Public television often runs a wonderful special on him (“A Song’s Best Friend: John Denver Remembered”) that combines performance sequences and biographical material. Well worth catching, for those with even the slightest affection for the man and/or his music.
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I “discovered” John Denver for myself in 1965 when he joined the Mitchell Trio. He was a huge talent who, like Glen Campbell and Gordon Lightfoot, was over exposed in a few intense years. As a result, he got marginalized, same as those other guys.
But going back to “Take Me to Tomorrow,” his first solo album, his songs are on the soundtrack of my life. Thanks, Chuck
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Or who could forget Grandma’s Feather Bed?
It was nine feet high and six feet wide, soft as a downy chick
It was made from the feathers of forty ‘leven geese, took a whole bolt of cloth for the tick
It’d hold eight kids ‘n’ four hound dogs and a piggy we stole from the shed
Didn’t get much sleep but we had a lot of fun on Grandma’s feather bed
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Annie’s song, Rocky Mountain High, I still get a little melancholy hearing these songs, funny the the things you remember, part of the reason he loved the Rockies was that he could mow his lawn in the nude.
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A twenty something here. John Denver is wonderful, and I hope he isn’t forgotten as the years pass.
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Just this morning I was getting out my old John Denver albums for my brother to burn to CDs. I have 11 of his albums and I don’t know if that is close to the total he put out, but the size of my old collection surprised me! And like ML Cullen, I too get melancholy and pensive whenever his music is played and the problems of day to day existence seem to go away for that brief moment in time.
Oh, but I had never heard about the nude lawn mowing activity-sounds like it would be fun!
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His music brings me back to some very special memories during my college years. And many years later, travelling with my husband through Colorado and the majestic Rockies- his music resonates with me still. He is missed.
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My parents took me to a John Denver concert when I was around 6 years old (back in the very early 80’s – I want to say it was at SPAC). I grew up listening to his music. My father/daughter dance was to Sunshine on My Shoulders – my dad used to dance me on his feet to it when I was little. My favorite Christmas record is STILL John Denver and the Muppets. I have it on an LP that my parents bought when I was a child.
Many people tend to chuckle at me because I know all of his songs, but they are often fun to sing and, generally, express beautiful sentiments.
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John Denver visited my college in 1969 at the start of his solo career. He had just left the Mitchell Trio and trying to make it on his own. He spent a week at the Coffee House and stayed on campus. You couldn’t have asked for a nicer more genuine guy. By the end of his week there kids were hanging off the rafters trying to squeeze into the Coffee House to hear a set. While he was there, he received word that he got a contract with RCA for a solo album. He was so excited.
I’m still a fan and really love a lot of the lesser known songs – For You, Ponies, Matthew, A Song for All Lovers, etc. There’s a tribute week dedicated to his music every October in Aspen – people come from all over the world.
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