The John Denver Story

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Tom

Tom

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Watching the 'John Denver Story' movie, I realized I have only one of his great songs in my library, so off to fix that. While transposing key and attempting to play Annie's Song, I realized for the first time it's in 3/4 (waltz) time  :-[ . One online source claimed it was in 6/8 time, and I had to listen and watch his fingers thumb picking the notes to confirm that was incorrect. Mystery solved ... an instrumental intro to the song gets played in 6/8 time, then switches to 3/4 time.

The movie filled in some gaps in the story and how/why some of his songs were written.

Singer song writers like John Denver really blow my mind. I wish I had the talent to compose/write new songs.

 
I know nothing technical about music but do enjoy it.

Some folks were prolific in their songwriting.  I saw a bit of a show about Neil Sedaka and he made it look easy.

Also interesting is how some songs written by these guys, who could sing them themselves, go to someone obscure. 

 
Aye Jackie, Neil Sedaka was a legend in his own right.
 
I Love playing John Denver music...

Just a little note on time...

Years ago my DW bought me a very nice watch....And it's good thing she did...When I'm playing guitar and singing...I always know that watch is keeping perfect time....Which is a good thing...Because I'm NOT...LOL..

But I'm getting better ;D ;D
 
I love John and his music. My forever memory of him (and my current earworm) is the phrase 'Thank God I'm a Country Boy'. During the 70s I was working in construction and for some reason that became the catch phase, the answer to every question, "Do you think you can do that?"-- "Thank God I'm A Country Boy!".
 
John Denver was special. He had a way of painting pictures with words that, though not completely unique in itself, worked so well for the wilderness and wild country that he so loved, and he had a contagious enthusiasm about nature. "I've seen it raining fire in the sky, You can talk to God and listen to the casual reply" -- Wow! He was a joy to watch and listen to.
 
Aye Larry, something he repeated several times in the movie was "I have so much more I want to say" i.e. "more songs I need to write".
 
[quote author=SeilerBird]My forever memory of him ... is the phrase 'Thank God I'm a Country Boy'.
[/quote]
Aye Tom. In the movie, something he was criticized for was his repeated use of the term "that's far out", which he uttered without realizing he was doing it.
 
I'm a huge John Denver fan, even if it wasn't "cool" when I was younger. His talent was amazing. I'm also a Barry Manalow and Neil Diamond fan!
 
Another Paul Simon fan here.  But that didn't happen until his Graceland album.  If you've never seen the story of how the album was made, it's worth watching.  Imagine local musicians involved in the production needing to leave at the end of the day because they would have been arrested if they weren't home before dark.  You can just call me Al.  ;)
 
Simon, Denver, Diamond & Dylan are world-class poets who are also talented musicians. They tell stories with word-pictures and put that story to music as well, immensely expanding its audience as well as making it far more memorable for them.
 
All great comments and I will add one more name from a lyrical view - Kris Kristofferson. 

Ken Burns has a great documentary series on Country Music (he is a great story teller).  He has a good section on John Denver.
 
Heil Diamond, Bob Dylan, Harry Chapin, Paul Simon and Kris Kristofferson would be my top 5 S/S list. 
Not necessarily in that order.  Never got into Denver except for a couple of songs.
 
This is why we still love music festivals and there are several that we attend most years.  We still try to catch Tom Paxtom when he performs locally, but he doesn't do that much anymore.  We still like to hear from Gordon Bok he was a great story music creator as was the late Stan Rogers.  All three of these wrote things you would recognize when performed by others.  There are some new ones coming along, but they have a tougher path these days because the world does not seem to like to listen any more.
Matt
 
Carole King is a prolific songwriter and a great singer.
 
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