JOHN DENVER - Take Me Home, Country Roads | FIRST TIME HEARING REACTION

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Welcome to my channel! This is a music reaction channel. For the longest time, I've loved creating content on the internet. I started off with a gaming channel right here on KZbin, which eventually turned into a Twitch gaming channel, but as time has gone on I've evolved into doing other things on KZbin. For years now I've wanted to create a music channel on KZbin, and recently just figured "why not?", so it’s time to give this a go! Give me any suggestion you have for music reactions, and I will do my best to get around to them. As music has fallen further out of my life, I figured this would be a great time to get reintroduced to music.
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This is a reaction video used to educate and give my feedback on the song and artists.
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[@wpl8275]

In reality, none of the writers of the song came from West Virginia but they started on a song about country roads taking them home and ended up using West Virginia as the state because it sounded right. Thank goodness for West Virginia because it became the state's official song.

[@user-gb5bl1bl4z]

Great song even though the Shenandoah River and Blue Ridge Mountains are not in West Virginia.

[@lauraallen55]

@@user-gb5bl1bl4z I'm pretty sure that the blue ridge mountains cross a portion of the state, and that part of the Shenandoah river is within WV (near to the blue ridge mountains that are there).

[@MrRondonmon]

John got a credit for changing a word or two but the two singing with him wrote it. But of course they made lots of money because he sang it and made it famous.

[@jeffsummers1894]

Yeah that dude's wrong@@lauraallen55

[@lauraallen55]

@@jeffsummers1894 Thanks, I thought I was misremembering or something lol!

[@judydubiel]

John Denver was so special …

[@custardflan]

Back in the early '70s I hitchhiked around the northwest US for a year or two. A couple days before Christmas, I got a ride to a Des moines truck stop and found a trucker willing to take me to my parents about an hour north. Driving north across the snow-covered fields, stars and a full moon shining this song came on the radio and all I could do was lean my forehead on the icy window. The trucker took me to the front door.

[@dlewis5631]

My wife is from West Virginia. I had never been there before, but now I absolutely love the state and the people! They are so proud and so family oriented!!! The state has become such a part of my soul.

[@blitztim6416]

I was watching the NFL game in Germany last season. The crowd was singing this song.

[@floorticket]

'Like a warm blanket' or perhaps a 'down sleeping bag.' The man provided the soundtrack of the backpacking/camping revival of the 70s. Unwittingly helping sell boots, tents, skis, backpacks and down vests. Check out Denver's acting chops in 'Oh, God!" (1977).

[@bgallagher8129]

John singing "Grandmas Feather Bed" on the Muppet show is priceless.

[@stevedahlberg8680]

Rubbing my hands together in glee looking forward to this.

[@daveenberg9075]

This song was released in 1971 and when I first heard it I just thought of the boys coming home from the war in Vietnam

[@mikecaetano]

John Denver was huge in the 70's. His music was inescapable back then and hearing it today takes me back to being a kid listening to the radio with my parents -- "Take Me Home, Country Roads", "Rocky Mountain High", "Sunshine on My Shoulders", "Annie's Song", "Thank God I'm a Country Boy", "Calypso" -- It's easy for me to get nostalgic listening to those songs today. "Take Me Home, Country Roads" comes with the nostalgia baked in. Even when I was a kid I thought the song was already a hundred years old.

[@albertscanlon2005]

Your so right Shawn with the "warm blanket" analogy.John Denver one of the best singer song-writers there has ever been.

[@djt8518]

This song is known all around the world

[@jamesdignanmusic2765]

"ROE-duh-DEN-drun" :) According to legend, John was on the same bill as Danoff and Nivert. They played him what they'd worked out of a new song and John instantly said "we need to finish this song now!" and the three of them spent all night rewriting and polishing it. The duo are the backing vocalists on the recording. As for "warm blanket" I alway think of these songs as warm bath songs - you just let the music flow over you like warm water. Another artist of the same era with a similar sound worth checking out is Glen Campbell.

[@subwaygoddess1]

John Denver left this world way too soon. I'd love to hear a reaction to "Sunshine On My Shoulders."

[@rk41gator]

Ol' John Denver can really take us home, can't he?

[@jefferyshute6641]

I saw John Denver in concert in Houston, in 1973. There were only 3 people on stsge, John Denver, a second guitar player, and an upright bass player. Such a great show! What a voice!

[@kdavis9943]

Song from my childhood. I love it so much. ❤️

[@LarchmontLady]

I have been on the “Country Roads” of West Virginia, playing John Denver’s song 🎶 on CD.

[@KJ-4321]

Beautiful song, beautiful reaction! You need to hear “Thank God I’m a country boy” & “Calypso!” 😀

[@singluna888]

He was/is a national treasure.

[@tuffymoon3702]

His songs are like a hug if you need one! Great song and reaction, thank you!

[@papercup2517]

In the early 70s I was living in a shared house in a seaside town on the south coast of England. At that time there was a loose kind of worldwide community of 'freaks' (formerly hippies) and any stranger with long hair, a backpack and smile could turn up at any time on your doorstep, from anywhere in the world, and you'd gladly welcome them in to stay as long as they desired, contributing whatever they had to offer to the community. Which might be just their lovely smiles, or it could be their recipes, or their stories, or their songs... One day two tall Americans turned up. Someone they'd met somewhere (in Amsterdam, maybe?) had given them our address. They stayed for a few weeks or a few months, immediately becoming temporary members of our little community. Travelling the world, they'd met in Amsterdam and discovered a mutual love of music, practised a few songs together on their guitars (an essential travelling companion in those days, for many). Everyone could play a few Dylan songs and maybe some old rock n roll numbers; maybe something in the traditional folk revival vein, or a song or two from the currently popular folk/rock genre. When we all sat around after dinner on the tall Americans' first night with us, 'Country Roads' was the first song they played. It was magical. One of them got a faraway look in his eye as he described his home town, Denver, Colorado, nestled in the Rockie Mountains, as 'the most beautiful place on Earth'.... the other was a great bear of a bearded folksinger from Washington State who'd once had a top twenty hit record.... it was a magical evening as our imaginations took us travelling, through our new friends' reminiscences and this John Denver song, to places unknown... an evening of dreams shared... So that's my story. How I first heard 'Country Roads' by John Denver. Not much of a story, really, I suppose, but a sweet memory. Thanks for reading...

[@jodyjackson5475]

great story thanks. ❤Brings back fond memories for me

[@TangoEliott]

The perfect sing along song.

[@user-mk5xc4ye9t]

I wasn't a JD fan back then, I thought he was too squeaky clean. But my girlfriend at the time played this over and over and it began to grow on me and I realized I liked it. It was impossible not to. Then I realized it was impossible not to like his other stuff too. So I guess I was a John Denver fan but I didn't realize it

[@bzGNR]

Great reaction to a perfect song.

[@stevedahlberg8680]

This is such an important part of the music of my junior high years. And it was on the radio all the time and everybody knew it and we could all sing along with it and a lot of adults and even kids like me, literally memorized every word of it. Everything about this song is just brilliant but for me, the bridge is always what kills me. That is forever embedded in my brain, it's just so good. When I was in Boy Scouts and we went to the Philmont Scout camp in northeastern New Mexico, almost a rite of passage for that kind of thing, and it's usually pretty demanding compared to what you've experienced so far, therw were points where we were so tired and we were trudging along these trails, but you could look back and see how far you had come up the mountain, and occasionally through the trees you would stop and have this fantastic view, the valley below and the other mountain ranges in the distance, and so it wasn't uncommon at all to sing well-known songs that fit to the cadence of hiking along. For some reason, John Denver Take Me Home Country Roads was one of the group favorites, and no matter how tired we were, we would all all start singing this together and doing the harmonies and everything and it just picked everybody up. Put energy into you. I'm usually by about a third of the way into it everybody is singing at the top of their lungs. And you know some kids were kind of homesick and either way you're out there for a while and it's glorious and it's the most worthwhile experience in the world, but there's a lot of introspection and just thinking about what life is like normally versus what it's like out here and it's just amazing. But it's really emotional also. This was the group's favorite song to sing and step to.

[@MizCriz46]

The amazing thing is that this song was 1st written by 2 people who were not only not from W.Va. but, apparently they never even set foot in it. But they could definitely write a song & John sure could sing it.

[@kaychristensen4394]

I've loved this since I was a teenager 😎

[@GinMae]

Thanks, Shawn... beautiful and evocative song.. also, he does a LIVE version of this that is amazing... appreciate your listen & reaction... (the "re-makes" by others just don't stand up to it...)

[@jessieball6195]

Actually the original studio version (which this is) is by far the best because almost none of the live performances have Taffy Nivert providing the key background vocals that put this over the top.

[@GinMae]

@@jessieball6195 Good observation, Jessie... but I'm pretty sure I did see her in at least one... she was amazing!

[@pattymckitrick7436]

Thank you for doing this one. I lost my sister in law Gail back in 1993 from a car accident. She was from WV and this was her favorite song. My friend Russell and i do this duet at karaoke. ❤️

[@threekidzmom04]

❤

[@iraidaacevedo3723]

Beautiful song♥️Love John Denver 🌷💫

[@rubbersole79]

Sung by the crowds at University of West Virginia home games. Very cool.

[@blairphifer1554]

My son is in the Pride of WVU Marching Band. So much fun to hear the crowd sing this when they win! 2022 WVU beats Baylor at home. Tons of fun!!! kzbin.info/www/bejne/aaDbmJ6Qaqh_Z68

[@davidsweet9163]

I used to drive from Ohio thru West Virginia. This songs sounds like driving through there.

[@andrewcormier529]

The song always brings a tear to my eye and I'm from Maine LOL I think of my mom and dad next door at the neighbor's house on a warm summer night just having a few beers all the kids in the neighborhood playing having fun the grown uos are all gone now and some of the kids to, the song always takes me to that moment that night hearing it for the first time myself, good reaction brother I really enjoy your spirit and your reactions to music that I'm so familiar with it truly makes me appreciate the era that I was born and raised and the music that I was privileged to listen to keep spreading the music around🎉❤

[@lauraallen55]

John was born in NM and raised mostly in AZ, although they moved around a lot due to his father being stationed different places. Although this song is evocative of a specific place, and therefor its feel, he didn't have any particular connection to WV or the blue ridge mountains. I think Rocky Mountain High was the only song he may have written about a real place he was enamored of. It's hard to say, though because he wrote about 200 songs.

[@jeffreywolff329]

Fact the Blue Ridge mountains and the Shenandoah River meet in Harpers Ferry where John live back on a country Rd. I met him before he became famous. I remember his unusual real name

[@gpxo11]

People around the world in bars and taverns sing this song-it touches everyone who is far away from their home and long to be there or go back to visit wherever that may be-a universal song. another "warm blanket song"-Back Home again. BTW you pronounce the state flower as road-ah-den-drun.

[@jackndew2]

Cool backstory, thanks for sharing that bit of song history.

[@SpuzzyLargo]

The couple that wrote this song with Denver also had a smash hit as members of the Starland Vocal Band with "Afternoon Delight" in 1976.

[@mikemiller3069]

I learned to play this on guitar in 1973. It was the first real song I learned to play. I don't play it much anymore but I play other JD songs.

[@angelado3]

you have out done yourself today my friend !!

[@DannyD714]

i've live in the city all my life. a song like this makes me yearn for a simple life in the country.

[@rk41gator]

I too have acrophobia and some of those Blue Ridge curves and drop-offs are chilling. But to get out and hike is sublime. It is an area like none other and John brings it home (pardon the pun).

[@threekidzmom04]

West Virginia is beyond gorgeous! So beautiful! We drive through it to visit our son's family in Charlottesville VA

[@DrTramp-uu1hh]

I was a few months shy of getting out of the Marine Corps when this came out in 71. A Marine I was stationed with, who was from West Virginia and also waiting to get out, bought the album and played it, especially this track, until it was worn out and everybody in the barracks knew the lyrics whether they wanted to or not. 🙂 This guy had had a hard tour in Nam, feet all messed up from jungle rot, a couple Purple Hearts, nightmares, etc. I've often wondered what became of him and whether he found the peace and serenity promised by the song; I hope so........

[@markgallemore8856]

Best version of the song leaving on a jet plane written by John Denver, performed by Peter Paul and Mary also from Peter, Paul & Mary a song called too much of nothing. Studio versions are the best.

[@kpiperjr]

Been waiting for this one, Shawn. Is this a masterpiece of simplicity, or what?

[@FrankieLeeFrancis]

It's the Allegheny Mountains. That are in West Virginia.

[@jodyjackson5475]

This gives me tears and chillz❤

[@dcramblermusic317]

Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert co-wrote and perform on this song... They went on to form the Starland Vocal Band who had a hit with Afternoon Delight

[@sharonpate5481]

Sunshine On My Shoulder Rocky Mountain High Grandma’s Feather Bed Thank God I’m A Country Boy Calypso Just a few to check out. ✌🏼👵🏼💜🌻

[@garysunshine9643]

You will love Calypso for your next JD listen

[@jerryadkins5418]

I love this song. My family is from W. Va.

[@user-dq5xx9hi4q]

As far as I am concerned John's 2 greatest songs are Rocky Mountain High and Country Roads. The latter doesn't get nearly enough attention.

[@MongooseTales]

"Warm blanket" is the best description of John Denver's music I've ever heard.

[@bretkaiser7355]

Not my usual taste, but such a beautiful song. Thank you Shawn.

[@AnonymousServant513]

The song was written about the MD foothills. Google it. It was changed to WV...because md did not work in the lyrics as well.

[@laurengaudette7497]

Shawn, that was a great reaction! Taffy and Bill both were the vocal backups on the album version you just heard but that "Poem, Prayers, and Promises" album is great! Just bought the 50th anniversary vinyl recently of it! A couple Beatles covers, a James Taylor cover, and my favorite song "Poems, Prayers, and Promises" which started the album! I think it's one of John's most "soulful" songs that he ever wrote if you want to call it that. I prefer any live version of "Poems, Prayers, and Promises" either "The Wildlife Concert" or "An Evening with John Denver" concert album! John is my most favorite artist of all time!

[@JulieFreyHomeWebBiz]

Suggestions: "Aspenglow" "Windsong" "Looking for Space" "Autograph"

[@user-uh3nn9sm1j]

He can paint a picture......

[@famat161]

"Shanghai Breeze" is pretty good.

[@ericanderson8886]

This one and of course "Georgia on my Mind" by Ray Charles are two of the best state songs.

[@FrankMoscato-gq9jc]

John Denver is always fantastic I was watching we are the world documentary on Netflix and someone was telling a story that Paul Simon said if a bomb dropped on this building John Denver would be back on top

[@mattjohn4731]

I sing this at open mics, karaoke and on my YT channel ✌️🎸🎵

[@leticiaserna2924]

I'M SORRY is a great sad song by John Denver.

[@M.E.M.O.10-50]

Nice, like your insights. The flower is pronounced road-a-DEN-dron, emphasis on DEN.

[@TangoEliott]

Chris Sarandon, Susan Sarandon.....Sa ran don.

[@sandramiller6752]

👍👍💯

[@tedcole9936]

Shawn -the flower is pronounced Roe-doe-DEN-dron. Which could have replaced ‘West Virginia’ syllabically, but, nah. Wouldn’t have worked nearly as well. Interesting story on the development of the song. I always appreciate your dives into the back stories. Thanks..

[@lauraallen55]

I don't pronounce it like that... I pronounce it more like row-duh-*den*-druhn. Maybe I'm doing it wrong lol!

[@tedcole9936]

@@lauraallen55 thanks I agree with you, second syllable “duh” is good. This may a matter of regional dialect- and/or degree of.. formality?? I’m a born northerner, now living in the south for the last 14 years. My phoneticization wasn’t very careful, nor intended to be definitive.. just trying to get Shawn closer. Lol. 😃. Thanks.

[@lauraallen55]

@@tedcole9936 Makes sense that regional dialect may play a part in pronunciation. I'm from California, and lived here the majority of my live. I did hear some of my relatives (some from TX and some from the Midwest in general) pronounce some things very differently from what I heard everywhere else, and always have found these things interesting! I have a friend who pronounces 'lawyer' as loy-uhr, and I make fun of her for it regularly :D She just loves when I ask what a 'loy' is. >.

[@tedcole9936]

@@lauraallen55 Haha. Right, right! I once had a girlfriend from New York, and she insisted that the words “Mary”, “Merry”, and “Marry” were all pronounced differently, although I pronounced them all the same, and I couldn’t even HEAR the difference in her pronunciation of two of them! She also insisted that “orange” had 2 syllables, and laughed at my single syllable pronunciation which sounds like “ornge” Hers was more like “Ah-range”. I once stopped at a gas station deep in rural Mississippi, and I couldn’t understand the dialect spoken by the locals at all! It was English, but was as foreign to me as Old English. I could only catch about 20% of the words. BTW, I say “Loy-uhr” too. 😀

[@lauraallen55]

@@tedcole9936 That's funny about the various marry/merry/Mary pronunciations! As for 'orange' I pronounce it properly (haha!) regardless of how you and your ex do ('or-unge'). I have a pet peeve against 'ah-runge' to be honest as it doesn't begin with an 'a' lol! There is one that has three pronunciations that I've noticed a lot: 'ruined'. There's 'roond', 'roo-eend' and the (correct lol!) 'roo-ind'. It's understandable that you couldn't understand Southerners when down there. I've never been to the deep south, but grew up around my grandparents who were from there, so would probably fare better with that! I've heard 'Hawaii', pronounced with a 'yuh' at the end and 'yellow' and 'marshmallow' pronounced with 'uh' at the end my whole life lol! It was funny, but at a job I had once, my boss had a thick Scottish accent, and I worked closely with him so got to understanding it well, and had to translate after meetings for others :D That got me primed for Irish it seems as at another job, I found I was the only one who understood our new controller, and had to translate after the fact for him every time.

[@famat161]

"Shanghai Breezes" is my suggestion for the next one.

[@joannerichards1750]

roe-doe-DEN-drun

[@librarylady13]

[@chrisbaldwin5676]

I love this song as much as anyone, but 'Almost heaven/West Virginia' might be the biggest lie in music history.

[@user-zh9zz5ru6r]

great react Shawn - you should check out the version of this song done by Toots and the Maytals (Jamaica) - it's one of the best versions