John Denver

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bvb

Social climber

flagstaff arizona

Jan 25, 2012 - 01:23am PT

The sign on the security gate of his spendy little aspen crib read "Please Go Away, You Are Not Welcome Here."

The day he augered his experimental airplane, the ex and I were driving 50 across Nevada. We could get like one radio staion and it was this talk show host who kept going on and on about how tragic it was that Bob Denver had died, what a great show "Gilligan's Island" was and how depressing it was that any last chance of a Gilligan's Island reunion was now long gone.

Then he'd take callers. Legions of wailing, shocked, infuriated John Denver fans would call in to angrily correct him, and he'd just play dumb and say stuff like "Wow! I didn't know Gilligan was a musician, too! And the callers just kept getting more and more pissed. Best radio talk show Punking ever of a bunch of clueless heartbroken JD fans. Absoulutely hilarously disrespectful black humor at it's best.

I loved "Rocky Mountain High" when I was, like, 14. Outgrew that phase in about 20 minutes.

He was a great songwriter, but just too f*#king sappy and overproduced when you got right down to it. PP&M's cover of "Leaving On A Jet Plane" is the bomb.

Jim Clipper

climber

from: forests to tree farms

Jan 25, 2012 - 01:42am PT

[Click to View YouTube Video]

johntp

Trad climber

socal

Topic Author's Reply - Jan 25, 2012 - 05:40am PT

Interesting that someone would revive this thread for the sole purpose of bagging on John Denver.

I think JD was over marketed and that came back on him. Yeah, he made a lot of money, but it diluted the quality of his songs from a perception stand point. Never had much of a fondness for pop music. I wrote previously that I found his songs sappy when I first heard them. But there is a lot of heart and thought in them.

There were definitely some sucky songs; "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" comes to mind. But he had some quality stuff if you can get past the marketing BS..

wahr

climber

Jan 25, 2012 - 06:00am PT

all true,
excepting of course that a staggering electoral base thinks hes sh#t is gospel

neebee

Social climber

calif/texas

Jan 25, 2012 - 06:17am PT

hey there say, johntp... i somehow missed this when it was first posted...

say--i was listening to the old soul bands, back then... little by little, i started to hear other music...

in our home, my dad had classical...
my mom had piano folk songs...

me, i keep gravitating towards the flamenco i saw in movies and the hawaian music, and later middle east music... the whole world was open!
found tejano in south texas where i lived and cumbias! and then country
music, by way of that... *took a long time, 'til i dicovered it...
BUT:
i found that there is music for each purpose 'under the sun' so to speak...

i remember hearing john denver, back then, too... a good friend of mine loved it... i enjoyed hearing it off and on, but somehow it didnt click...
but that was due to the fact that i was into DANCE and drums at the time...

when i was done LEARNING that... i was more open to see how to use and enjoy other music....

i think that is why sometimes folks have certain aversions to music:
it does NOT match what the brain or spirit is doing, at said time in
a person's life...

when i was settled with what i wanted to learn, i enjoy just listening to
singers more and how songs moved the heart in less physical ways...

now, i have a few of his songs that i really enjoy a lot!
and i saw that show about him, too, had never seen him perform before that... i remember being sad when he died--i always wish folks had more chances in life...

well, now... last note as to all this:

you knowwwwwwwwwwww.... why, even songs like 'thank god i'm a country boy' have a place... i can feel that song everytime i'd go out on my twin buddies' ranch... not a farm, but near enough! made my day, :)

had to have my book character refer to it once, too... :)
it sure does make you want to kick up your heels and hold your spirits high, with the beat...

*also, the high calypso song's yodel was inspiring, too...

was fun and interesting to read all these share...
thanks johntp for sharing this john dever thread...
:)

well, back to what i said... i think there is music for each moment that we need it for... such a vast sea of it, we've only got to pick port, and drop anchor, and savor whichever suits our days journey... :)

*think i need a lullabye and good night right now.. got up too early...
morning now, but "night all!"
:)

johntp

Trad climber

socal

Topic Author's Reply - Jan 25, 2012 - 08:36am PT

Hankster-

My mistake. I misunderstood the intent of your post.

Tony Bird

climber

Northridge, CA

Jan 25, 2012 - 09:43am PT

ha--great to see this baby revived. let's roll up the sleeves here.

i had a discussion with a buddy recently about alan sherman. you know, "hello muddah, hello faddah". my friend is jewish, an artist of some prominence, and growing up in the culture sherman was coming from, he always felt the songs were "banal'. he even pronounced it "buh-NAHL", which led to another, and not unrelated, discussion. i told him i thought sherman was the greatest parodist in the history of music and literature. parody often descends to slavish mimicry and mean-spiritedness. sherman knew how to push buttons lightly. i don't think "hello muddah" was his best, and i'm afraid that, like denver, he is often judged by his hits and not his whole work.

john sang well of the mountains. there aren't many who can do that. i like "country boy" too, but for a different reason. you have to remember how john was snubbed at the country music awards.

denver fans tend to forget his sad side. it broke his heart that his marriage didn't work out. he could sing of nature, but he could sing of death too, as in "fly away". his songs came from the heart, as did hank williams's, and i think it's fair to compare the two.

btw, it's "aye, calypso". sailor talk.

Steve Grossman

Trad climber

Seattle, WA

Jan 25, 2012 - 10:38am PT

John Deutschendorf Jr. supposedly went to Mansfield Junior High in Tucson same as me. Must have had a dad in the military...

GuapoVino

Trad climber

All Up In Here

Jan 25, 2012 - 01:05pm PT

His dad was a pilot in the Air Force. When I was in college, in Lawton OK, there was a guy in one of my classes who was his nephew or something like that. His last name was Deutschendorf, same as Denver's. He looked just like John Denver. He even wore the same round glasses which made the resemblance even closer. There were several Deutschendorfs in the area.

bvb

Social climber

flagstaff arizona

Jan 25, 2012 - 01:19pm PT

John Deutschendorf

C'mon Steve let's not be dragging Duecy into this...although you gotta wonder about that Kilt...

Gene

climber

Jan 25, 2012 - 06:44pm PT

Did he do Leaving on a Jet plane? Wasn't that another band...?

John Denver wrote the song. Peter, Paul and Mary made a very fine cover of it.

Cheers,
g

CrackAddict

Trad climber

Canoga Park, CA

Jan 25, 2012 - 06:54pm PT

There was an interesting story on NPR about the 40th anniversary of "Country Roads". John Denver was supposed to visit a couple friends who wrote music and almost did not make it due to a car accident. They sang "Country Roads" to him and he bought it. It was originally about Massachusetts, not West Virginia, but the guy who wrote it did not really like Mass, and switched the name to WV, even though he had never been there.

I think if you go to npr.org and search you can listen to the story.

kennyt

climber

California

Jan 25, 2012 - 10:24pm PT

Are you f*#king kidding me. Blaaaaahhhh

Jim Clipper

climber

from: forests to tree farms

Jan 25, 2012 - 10:55pm PT

[Click to View YouTube Video]

Got kind of heavy this afternoon at work. Two women in halfway homes, trying to find a way up... One, her mom used drugs when she was carrying her. History of multiple brain surgeries, reduced vision (possible legal blindness), but brain cancer in remission. A craniotomy I could see. Sometimes, the history is too hard to believe.

The second, another poor history, but still the best (but certainly not perfect) care I could provide.

Finally, a non-verbal 5 y.o., with congenital deafness, parents not really connected to the system. Dad gave me a business card that said he has a rare genetic disorder. The boy was kind of terrified, like many kids. Tried to make him comfortable, did what little he would allow, and asked his parents to come back so that I could learn more about his condition. Later, I read that's he's at risk of death from cardiac arrest if he takes certain medications or is startled.

Thanks for reading! Vote! (that means you). Gotta do some pullups, and soak with the wife.

Lynne Leichtfuss

Trad climber

Will know soon

Jan 25, 2012 - 11:03pm PT

Perhaps Love

"The memories of love will bring you home"

"and the memories of love will bring you through."

Played this at Dan's Memorial Service. Summed up much of my heart and helped me express it to my family, loved ones and friends.

Ballads play a big part in the music arena and express life when it gets way hard. It may seem trite to some but life is what it is and I personally enjoy the ballads of many American artists. Ciao, lynne

TGT

Social climber

So Cal

Jan 25, 2012 - 11:09pm PT

Did he do Leaving on a Jet plane? Wasn't that another band...?

John Denver got the credit for it, but it was written by a guy named Jimmy from a Kansas band. I think his last name was Ebs or something like that.

Jimmy was morbidly obese with a host of medical issues and probably didn't make it past thirty. He looked an awful lot like an overweight David Crosby, with a similar high tenor voice and had one hell of a sense of humor. There was an abortive legal fight over the rights, but Denver's label backed him and a poor boy from Kansas couldn't even get a day in court.

He and his band were playing coffee houses in Chicago for meals in 1969.
A bitter bunch!

One time we cooked up a big batch of chilli ans being a Californio with a roommate that grew up in India it was a bit on the hot side. It was a bit much for the harmonica player in particular.

johntp

Trad climber

socal

Topic Author's Reply - Jan 25, 2012 - 11:18pm PT

Guess I need to revisit the words of "Country Boy" I think when I first saw him perform it, it was on the Sonny and Cher show. It just seemed cheesey. Like I said, the machine twisted his image.

I think the guy had a lot more in his heart than his marketing people let out.

Someone posted earlier his sense of loss with losing Annie. I can idetify with that.

Lynne Leichtfuss

Trad climber

Will know soon

Jan 25, 2012 - 11:20pm PT

Also love the one that starts out, " You fill up my senses like a night in the forest, like the mountains in spring time, like a walk in the rain..."

What person that has ever been in (real)love can not feel these words in their heart and soul.

Except maybe a gladiator or an accountant .......with only a sword or calculator.