Mar 28: John Denver

Everyone has musicians they listened to a lot some years back, but not quite as much now... and then when they listen to them again they remember how good they were.

One of my (many and varied) guilty musical pleasures is the music of John Denver: the stage name of Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr.

He was a fascinating person with a great many interests, including the development of aircraft, which ultimately led to his early death.

When I was younger I had a certain look of John Denver with my long blonde hair and round glasses. 

You will have seen my picture in Year 7 if you came to any of my lectures in the last ten years or so as part of my Everyday Geographies series of lectures leading up to and after my GA Presidency.

John was a superb live performer who my dad got to see play live - at Sheffield City Hall - but I never had the chance. I played the live album recorded around that time hundreds of times over the years.

He has written some classic tunes which have hundreds of millions of Spotify streams, and many of them will be familiar to people. 

Many of them link to his interests in environmental conservation.

Calypso was inspired by the work of French adventurer Jacques Cousteau, who invented the 'aqualung' and travelled the world making films.

His work was the inspiration for Wes Anderson's film 'The Life Aquatic with Steve Zizou'.

Here are some of the lyrics:

To sail on a dream, on a crystal clear ocean

To ride on the crest of a wild raging storm

To work in the service of life and the living

In search of the answers to questions unknown

Next up is Rocky Mountain High.

This one is about his own move to Colorado.

Lyrics:

He was born in the summer of his 27th year 

Comin' home to a place he'd never been before 

He left yesterday behind him, you might say he was born again 

You might say he found a key for every door 

When he first came to the mountains his life was far away 

On the road and hangin' by a song 

But the string's already broken and he doesn't really care 

It keeps changin' fast and it don't last for long 

But the Colorado rocky mountain high 

I've seen it rainin' fire in the sky 

The shadow from the starlight is softer than a lullabye 

Rocky mountain high

John Denver performed at a special Wildlife Concert.

The seventh stanza describes the despoilation of the mountains:

Now his life is full of wonder but his heart still knows some fear 

Of a simple thing he cannot comprehend 

Why they try to tear the mountains down to bring in a couple more 

More people, more scars upon the land

I recommend that you check it out.... and this is just a tiny sample of many more songs whose lyrics speak to a desire to protect the Earth and its wild places.

You will of course have heard Annie's Song too....