Things I never knew about John Denver

[m&m's mom]

I work at home now which means I can listen to whatever I want, as loud as I want. I love that!
It is dreary and misty here in Dallas area so I decided I was in a John Denver mood.
I have always had a major love of his music.
In the insert it talks about his life. I knew he and I had the same birthplace of Roswell, NM (he left as a baby - I stuck around for 18 years).
I did not realize we also went to college at the same place - Texas Tech University. But again, I stuck around through graduate school and he only stayed through his junior year.
That is so strange to feel so strongly about his music and also have that connection.
May he rest in peace.

 

[Shere_Khan]

After he died they made a TV movie about him that I watched years ago.
At first I was surprised to see that he had cheated on his wife while on the road, but watching the movie I felt bad for him. I mean there is no excuse for that but I believe he was a good man at heart. I also love his music, it would say that he would write her a song when he would get back to apologize. I don't know how I would resist songs like those but she somehow did. His life was much too short, he was an incredible musician.

 

[Galahad]

I work at home now which means I can listen to whatever I want, as loud as I want. I love that!
It is dreary and misty here in Dallas area so I decided I was in a John Denver mood.
I have always had a major love of his music.
In the insert it talks about his life. I knew he and I had the same birthplace of Roswell, NM (he left as a baby - I stuck around for 18 years).
I did not realize we also went to college at the same place - Texas Tech University. But again, I stuck around through graduate school and he only stayed through his junior year.
That is so strange to feel so strongly about his music and also have that connection.
May he rest in peace.

I love John Denver's music too. I went to grad school in Boulder and lived in a suburb of Denver then. I was at a Christmas party one year in the late 70s at a friends house. Many of us didn't know that the friends house (actually her parents') was next door to John Denver's parents House (the Deutchendorfs). So that evening, guess who showed up to bring over a bottle of wine and say Merry Christmas?! It was very cool! Saw him twice at Red Rocks and they are very special memories for us.

 

[Mackey Mouse]

Right now in my car I have his CD with him and the Muppets, I believe it is called Christmas with the muppets and John Denver...when he sings it brings tear to my eyes.. Annie's song was a beautiful tribute to his wife... and Merry Christmas Zachary on the Muppet special... wow.

For years I have been searching for the VHS or DVD of this special he did with the Muppets to no avail.. I love this special from when my children were little..

I wonder why they do not release it again.. it was terrific.

 

[m&m's mom]

I love John Denver's music too. I went to grad school in Boulder and lived in a suburb of Denver then. I was at a Christmas party one year in the late 70s at a friends house. Many of us didn't know that the friends house (actually her parents') was next door to John Denver's parents House (the Deutchendorfs). So that evening, guess who showed up to bring over a bottle of wine and say Merry Christmas?! It was very cool! Saw him twice at Red Rocks and they are very special memories for us.

How cool is that?

I know it really was so much easier to think of him as his songs and not the person that had faults. I was very sad when he and Annie finally got divorced. He was over 20 years older than me but I just always related to him.

 

[missypie]

I wish he was still around. I wish Lady Di was still around. I wish Steve Irwin was still around. Erma Bombeck, too. Some people are just so full to the brim with life that you can't believe they're gone, even when time has passed.

 

[m&m's mom]

I wish he was still around. I wish Lady Di was still around. I wish Steve Irwin was still around. Erma Bombeck, too. Some people are just so full to the brim with life that you can't believe they're gone, even when time has passed.

Must be the weather around us today, huh? Gets ya in kind of a meloncholy mood. I really was hit hard by Steve Irwin's death.
I was in the era of Princess Diana. In High School we all got up at 3:00am for her wedding. She was truly a "princess" in every meaning of the word. I remember her death so well. It was 8/31. It was my DH's birthday. We had just gotten back from dinner and saw the newsbreak about it. I know when they took her to the hospital but did not release any information for a very long time that it was not good news.
I also have all my Jim Croce CD's out. Love him too but all I know is he died in a plane crash. I think he died before I was born.

 

[Sleeping~Beauty]

I always loved John Denver. Great musician. And I loved him as a kid with the Muppets. He had such a reassuring persona.

They ran a story about his life on either an E show or a Behind the Music, and it was really interesting. The depression he suffered, his personal life a turmoil, his friends, his family, his kids, his marriages.

At first I was surprised to see that he had cheated on his wife while on the road, but watching the movie I felt bad for him.

From that came one Annie's Song, which is just absolutely beautiful.

 

[klmall]

Why did you have to bring up such a melancholy (sp.?) topic today? John Denver was and is one of my all time favorites. I got to hear him sing and play at a concert in the 70's and when I hiked in the Rockies during that decade his words just symbolized the beauty of those mountains. And "Annie's Song" was played at many a wedding I been to over the years. All this really dates me I guess...

He and Annie were going through some of the painful things DH and I were at about the same time but we survived unscathed and ended up with a beautiful son while he and Annie adopted children. He was unfaithful; he lost his way but I don't think less of him.

I think I'll have to go find my cd and play it tonight......

 

[nannerbadnanner]

I love John Denver! I think he was an amazing songwriter....he was able to capture moods and places so well. I graduated from college in 1997 (well after the John Denver era), but I had two friends who loved him too. We used to ride in the car and sing to John Denver and The Carpenters all the time.

 

[Sheree Bobbins]

"Far out" as John would exclaim. I love this thread and I loved John Denver. What musician can go out on the road and stay faithful? This is a very cynical point of view but I really wonder about that. Anyway, I loved "Calypso," "Your heart to mine," "Rocky Mountain High" and almost anything he wrote.

 

[TheOtherVillainess]

My parents loved John Denver and I never really cared for him. Until I saw "Take Me Home", the TV movie about his life. I felt so sorry for him, for the way his life turned out. I remember hearing in HS about the day he died and I was like "Wow..that's so unfair.". I have a greatest hits cd we bought at WalMart shortly after DH and I watched "Take Me Home" when I was preggers with DS. It's one of my favorites and DS loves to hear me sing "Take Me Home, Country Roads".

TOV

 

[joshsmom]

He and I share the same Birthday (12/31), albeit he was quite a few years older than me!

 

[Towncrier]

Right now in my car I have his CD with him and the Muppets, I believe it is called Christmas with the muppets and John Denver...when he sings it brings tear to my eyes.. Annie's song was a beautiful tribute to his wife... and Merry Christmas Zachary on the Muppet special... wow.

For years I have been searching for the VHS or DVD of this special he did with the Muppets to no avail.. I love this special from when my children were little..

I wonder why they do not release it again.. it was terrific.

Here's one that I found on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/John-Denver-Muppets-Mountain-Holiday/dp/B0000A2ZU9

 

[JunieJay]

John Denver's is one of those celebrity deaths that I have never quite gotten over, almost like he was a family member. Weird, I know. I too felt a connection to him....although why, I'm not sure. I certainly had little in common with him, I'm a city girl and he was a country boy and probably at least 10/15 years older than me. But his music, particularly the album Back Home Again, takes me back to my youth. I can't hear some of his songs without tears welling up in my eyes. He had a beautiful voice...he had that sort of talent combined with presence that you just know there will never be another one like him. After he died, people just can't help but feel what a true loss it was to the music world.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I'm a John Denver fan, too. Liked the movie as well.

I saw him in concert here in MA a month or so before he died (I was very pregnant with twins). I couldn't believe it when I heard the news. Kind of scary because I have a track record of seeing people in concert just before they die: Bob Hope, Harry Chapin, Roy Oribison and John Denver, to name some that I can think of right now, there may be others. (Don't ask me to be Maid of Honor at your wedding, either: bad track record there, too.)

 

[Deb in IA]

Reading this thread reminds me of John Denver's movie "Oh God", with George Burns. I really liked that movie. I think I'll go and see if I can rent that again.

 

[missypie]

Harry Chapin and Jim Croce were both big when I was in high school and college. I was going to see them in concert "some day." Never did.

It's interesting to speculate what the departed musicians would be doing now. I can see John Denver being very active in the environmental/anti-global warming movement.

 

[AuntieM03]

I wish he was still around. I wish Lady Di was still around. I wish Steve Irwin was still around. Erma Bombeck, too. Some people are just so full to the brim with life that you can't believe they're gone, even when time has passed.

I just saw The Queen this weekend, they show clips of her throughout the movie. It is hard to believe it has been almost 10 years. I also find myself wondering about JFK Jr. and what his life might have been.

 

[m&m's mom]

I credit "Rocky Mountain High" with me never doing drugs.
I remember so well when my DM and us kids would sit on a mountain at our summer/weekend place (think place w/ no running water or electricity) and take a deep breath and say "There is no better high than this". She always had us listening to John Denver.
Ironically he probably kept me off drugs and who knows what kind of Rock Mountain High he was getting.