A Song's Best Friend: John Denver Remembered

I watched this special on PBS and was surprised to see the segment where Annie tells what inspired John to write "seen it raining fire from the sky" in Rocky Mountain High. Coincidentally, with my friends John Randolph and Larry Adam, we were camped above Aspen on August 12, 1972 and watched the same Perseid meteor shower from literally the same place.

I have read that several people think this song is inspired by drugs but having been in Colorado in August 1972, I think everyone had a certain euphoria that was purely natural, as it was long before Colorado (and much of America) lost its rural and rugged magic. My first vacation in Colorado was in 1963 and I remember it as being touristy in a 60's way. When I returned in 1972, Colorado still retained a lot of its wild western heritage. Aspen itself was a quiet, laidback small town with a few hippies.

Just as John Mellencamp wrote so accurately about rural, small town America in the 80's, John Denver wrote of the same America only in the 60's and 70's.

John Denver lives on in our hearts memory.

I want to extend my deepest gratitude to Howard for the wonderful review of the PBS special documentary film I was SO sorry to miss! Now 54 years old, John Denver's music and amazing spirit have filled my life with brilliant light, love and hope since my early 20's---and many a time have helped bring me back up from the depths of deep clinical depression, severe OCD,complex PTSD--ALL of which are not ME, the "I AM", true eternal consciousness of me. I believe John held those types of beliefs himself, from what I have read and studied of Jerry Jampolsky,M.D. and his wife Diane Cirincione of the Center for Attitudinal Healing, as well as work I have done with "A Course in Miracles" in the past, and Eckhart Tolle now. Like John, I am most at home in the HIGH WILD places, in the mountains. His songs touched my heart like no others, and his voice- so beautiful, so clear- was a blessing. I have not yet seen this film, but am ordering it tonight. The night I came home from work from the hospital laboratory (little hospital in the mountains where I actually saw John once, visiting an injured ski pro from his yearly ski event), and learned from the newscast of his transition, I sat down and sobbed. At least my (now ex) husband had once taken me to see him sing, outdoors, in person once; I thank God for that opportunity. Sorry for the length of this, I tend to over explain...

As John himself sang..."Though the singer is silent, there still is the truth of the song."....And I believe he is eternally with us, spiritually.

But still, how we all miss him.

Louise

Originally broadcast as a PBS special, the documentary Song's Best Friend: John Denver Remembered is an inspiring tribute to one of the finest American singer/songwriters of the last fifty years. Directed and photographed by Greg Poschman and produced for Sony/BMG by Dirk Detweiler of Sedna Films, the film is a one-hour look at the life of John Denver and the songs that made him famous. John's pure lyrical voice is heard in rare concert footage spanning three decades and his narration is provided on tape talking about his life and music and the causes he cared about.

In the documentary, John's life is remembered by personal stories and affectionate anecdotes by his wife Annie, producer and arranger Milt Okun, manager Hal Thau, conductor and composer Lee Holdridge, and band members Pete Huttlinger and John Somers, each providing insight into the composition and meaning of his songs. Segments from 1970s television specials and concerts include Sing Australia (1984 and 1994) and Red Rocks (1973 and 1982) and feature thirteen songs including The Eagle and the Hawk, Leaving on a Jet Plane, Country Roads, Aspen Glow, Calypso, Sunshine on My Shoulders, Rocky Mountain High, Thank God I'm a Country Boy, and others.

In Song's Best Friend, John Denver's songs never sounded more beautiful or moving and the film, while only providing a brief sketch of his life, makes clear who he was and what gave his life its meaning and purpose. An enormously gifted entertainer, he stood up for what he believed in and dedicated his life to the environment and helping people to appreciate the beauty of the natural world. He was in touch with the world around him and his connection to it was clear in every song he wrote.

John worked with Jacques Cousteau in his explorations of our planetary space and with Werner Erhard in his explorations of inner space. He was in his own words, "part of the movement, and part of the growing, part of beginning to understand". It has been ten years since his death in a private plane crash. He was a very special person in my life and I miss him a lot. Joyful and loving and letting it be, he "lit up the darkness and showed us the way".