John Denver

[Salsa]

These past couple days I've been listening to a CD set of mine, "John Denver's Greatest Hits." I love listening to him. When I was a teenager I learned a lot of his songs on my guitar and one of my favorites was "Looking for Space" where what he sings describes bipolar disorder so well, even though I knew nothing about it at the time.

I was just reading this today:
http://www.lariat.org/AtTheMovies/essays/denverhits.html
More than just a musician and singer, though, Denver, was most of all a songwriter. His best songs have intensely personal lyrics with universal appeal. From time to time his inner demons come to the surface, as in “Looking For Space” when he sings, “Sometimes I fly like an eagle/ Sometimes I'm deep in despair.” This lyric sums up his bipolar disorder very well. “Like a Sad Song” also reveals Denver's times of despair. Denver was also an alcoholic, a condition which haunted him to the very end. Yet, some of his songs are incredibly joyful and soulful, like “Sunshine on My Shoulders,” “Rocky Mountain High” and the raucous “Thank God I'm a Country Boy.” Perhaps Denver's greatest gift to the world was that he shared his joy with us much more than he shared his pain. He suffered a lot in his life, but his music is overwhelmingly positive, loving and soulful.
I guess that I would add that I appreciated his sad songs about as much as the happy ones. I could/can relate to both.

Sandy

[waves]

Wow. I listened to him as a teenager too...

The very first song I learned to play on my guitar was Leaving on a Jet Plane, and just found out from your article/link that it was his first hit :D. I can also play You Filled up my Senses and, not very well, Calypso. I think Calypso is one of my favourites because it reminds me of the islands... something intangible. I love tons of other songs i haven't learned. The happy and the sad, yes.

I cried the day he passed on. That never happened to me before, not even with John Lennon. I admired him as a person from what I knew of documentaries. He never seemed to have lost an honest humility, the more admirable.

Now, Sunshine on my Shoulder... talk about sadness and joy... i can't get to the second line before the tears start flowing... but they arent' tears of sadness... just touching. He was such a human writer, if that makes any sense... beyond, i guess... I never knew he was bipolar.

I also did not know John Denver's birthday was on the 31st December. I will celebrate that rather than the number counter this year! All we have (embarrassed to admit) is a live CD set of a concert he did for world charity. It is good though, recording and all.

I think he was deeply enlightened somehow, to be able to channel his energy into all the simple but deep joy beauty of his music... despite, as you say, his suffering.

Enjoy your new Greatest Hits, Sandy! (was that for Christmas?)

~ waves ~ from across the ocean

[Salsa]

No, I've had it for a while. I just haven't played it in a long time.

I love to play his songs on my guitar. My favorite to play is "My Sweet Lady." The song starts way up on the neck of the guitar and gradually the notes (to the chords not the melody) go down in pitch. I have the song book from "An Evening with John Denver," (I used to have that LP/Album). It gives/shows all the chords. I have the song with its tablature on my computer if you ever want me to email it to you.

Sandy

[waves]

ok. that would be great, thanks! :) i'll pm you my email. i think it will be very soothing for me now. i need soothingness even though that is not a word.

[room42]

I'm another who listened to John Denver in my teens, and played his songs on my guitar. I even once shook his hand following an outdoor concert, when I was 18. Bipolar? Yes, he sang about Bipolar.

From Rocky Mountain High:
And they say that he got crazy once and he tried to touch the sun
And he lost a friend but kept his memory

From Ponies:
And he says ponies
Now ponies don't you worry
I have not come to steal your fire away
I want to fly with you across the sunrise
Discover what begins each shining day

I've picked up my guitar after leaving it sit for 30 years, and Rocky Mountain High, and Leaving on a Jet Plane are two of his songs I play.

My favorites were/are Poems, Prayers and Promises, and Ryhmes and Reasons.

Oh, I had the privledge to hear John Denver live, under the Colorado setting sun, at 9,000 feet - sing Rocky Mountain High. I almost melted with joy.

On a bad day, when my head is full of bad thoughts, I think about how lucky he was to die, doing something he loved (flying). But I am way sorry, he left us too soon.

Linda

[waves]

Hi Linda... :) welcome back :)

I remember your id but ... :o ... i am not sure if i'm confusing you with someone else. did you post about a bipolar roommate at one time? sorry to ask do not feel obliged to answer - it is a personal question.

Oh, I had the privledge to hear John Denver live, under the Colorado setting sun, at 9,000 feet - sing Rocky Mountain High. I almost melted with joy.WOWWW.

On a bad day, when my head is full of bad thoughts, I think about how lucky he was to die, doing something he loved (flying). But I am way sorry, he left us too soon.I know what you mean.

~ waves ~

[wwebby]

I remember John Denver from when I was a kid and he was on the muppets all the time! In fact, my first album was the muppets' christmas on which John Denver makes an appearance. Ahhh...the memories.

[Salsa]

I was listening to "Looking for Space" on YouTube this evening. Made me remember this thread.

Song: Looking for Space (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWfxuzJYNgY&feature=related)

[0357]

I was listening to "Looking for Space" on YouTube this evening. Made me remember this thread.

Song: Looking for Space (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWfxuzJYNgY&feature=related)

Thanks for sharing that link. I remember eating pizza with my grandparents when I was ten always listening to Rocky Mountain High. I realized some of John Denver's problems but didn't realize he was bipolar. His songs say it all...

[Bdix30]

John Denver is one of my favorite artists!
His songs are real. They give the total perspective on life - the beauty and the pain.
I'd forgotten the muppets christmas!
Wonder if its possible to buy it online somewhere!

[houghchrst]

It is strange but I never have considered say buying a John Denver CD or anything like that and I don't know why because I know the words to most of his songs and love them and I always find myself singing along no matter where I am when I hear them. For me they just have that kind of pull.

[waves]

does the library lend CDs? if you could get some of his stuff it might be real soothing about now...

Sunshine... on my shoulder... makes me happeeeeeee
Sunshine... in my eyes... can make me cryyyyy

what are your favorites, Christina?

I looooove Calypso... was learning to play it but it's hard.
You filled up my senses is another one... the second verse is so... rich... for the senses :)

and the enchanted and enchanting Rocky Mountain High

((( for the room )))

~ waves ~ in a weird way myself

[Salsa]

John Denver is one of my favorite artists!
His songs are real. They give the total perspective on life - the beauty and the pain.
I'd forgotten the muppets christmas!
Wonder if its possible to buy it online somewhere!
Check Links Below at AMAZON.COM (http://www.amazon.com)
John Denver & Muppets CD (http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Together-John-Denver-Muppets/dp/B000001VD4/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1221451518&sr=8-4)
John Denver & Muppets DVD (http://www.amazon.com/John-Denver-Muppets-Mountain-Holiday/dp/B0000A2ZU9/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1221451617&sr=8-1)

[Bdix30]

Thanks Salsa! I'm going to order the DVD! :)

[joy]

Well I certainly did think of John Denver while on vacation this year.

But now I'm really jealous. I have a guitar that I bought way back when I wanted to wear my long dresses, all folksy and sit on a stool and play my guitar. I practiced in the bathroom while my hubby and mother laughed at me. The job I had at the time wouldn’t allow me to have sores on my finger tips.

I sure wished that I was not to old and confused most of the time to learn to play it now. I realized in a hurry while standing between the mountains in Colorado and watching a paper lift higher and higher and just being free as could be that I’d never get to hang glide.

Hard giving up dreams but now I’ll be listening to his songs more too.

[houghchrst]

Oh yes library has a large selection of CD. Listening to Take me Home, Country Roads....another favorite is LEaving on A Jet Plane. And yes one of his very best YOu fill up my senses

Last.fm has greatest hits