Back in the mid 70's when my wife and I started dating, one of the things that we both loved was to listen to the music of the late John Denver. Although some critics poked fun at him, his pure and powerful voice and the great song lyrics attracted us both. In addition to writing many of the songs he sang, he had a great stage presence and a good sense of humor. We got to see him in concert at NY's Madison Square Garden on November 11, 1976.
Last night I got out one of his LP's from 1976 called "Spirit". The cover shows JD sitting on the ground with his legs crossed in a meadow I guess, wearing jeans and a fancy denim shirt and sunglasses. There is an 11" x 11" sheet with the lyrics on both sides that you can actually read without squinting and under the title of each song it tells you who wrote the words and who wrote the music. (For example, on "Come and Let Me Look in Your Eyes" the credits read "Words by John Denver & Joe Henry, Music by John Denver".) For those of you unfamiliar with the 33 1/3 rpm LP's, the diameter of the vinyl discs measured about 12". The disc was placed in a paper protective sleeve before being packaged in a cardboard jacket which was approximately 12 1/2" x 12 1/2". If you didn't already know, you can see why the cd with its 5" diameter is known as a "compact" disc.
When I was a kid, we had 78 rpm records. Many of the albums were somewhat like a photo album. You opened it up and there was maybe 8 sleeves, each holding a single record which had one song on each side. You played the song, flipped it over to play the other side, then replaced it in its sleeve and took out another. If it slipped from your hand, it usually broke. The records were much more rigid than the LP's and hence very fragile. Some of the artists I remember in our collection included Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, the Mills Brothers, Perry Como, Al Jolson, Gene Autry and the Ink Spots plus some classical stuff that I didn't care for.
Back to the "Spirit" album, some of the songs I honestly didn't remember before lowering the needle on the vinyl. "Eli's Song", "Wrangle Mountain Song", "Hitchhiker", "In the Grand Way" on side 1 and "Pegasus" and "The Wings That Fly Us Home" on side 2 are all good songs. The familiar tunes, in addition to "Come and Let Me Look Into Your Eyes" include "Polka Dots and Moonbeams", a Johnny Burke (words) and Jimmy Van Husen (music) song from 1940, a Bob Wills tune "San Antonio Rose", also from 1940, "It Makes Me Giggle" and "Like a Sad Song" both written by JD and an old favorite of mine (the real reason I picked this JD album to listen to first) "Baby You Look Good to Me Tonight" by songwriter Bill Danoff of Starland Vocal Band fame. Give the lyrics a google.
More on JD in a future post. I've got 10 more of his albums to get reacquainted with, one of which is a double live album, his "An Evening with John Denver".
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