The "A Rocky Mountain High" Story

It was an ordinary day.  The "Final Jeopardy" clue had just been revealed.  Had something to do with Top 40 Songs and the answer was something like .....  the deceased singer/songwriter whose two songs from the 1970's are state songs.  Question was ..... who was John Denver.  John Denver, whose real name was John Deutschendorf Jr., has always been one of my favorite country and western singers.  May not fit perfectly into that category, but that's where I put him.  He died in a plane crash in 1997.  I have a few of his CDs and at times will listen to them as I'm typing a story or two.  Carol and I saw John live in concert twice. Once when he played at the old Hershey Park Arena in Hershey, Pennsylvania and again in Philadelphia at the old Flyers arena.  Our seats in Hershey were almost on the same level as John and we had a great view of him and his band.  Took quite a few photographs, but at the time I had a film camera and I can't locate the negatives anymore.  Loved his mellow voice and his catchy lyrics which made it easy to sing along.  His first song to be adopted as a state song was "Rocky Mountain High" which was adopted by the state of Colorado on March 12, 2007.  The song was released in 1973 with some controversy as some people thought it was encouraging drug use.  Twelve years later John spoke out saying that some people had obviously never experienced the beauty and wonder of the Rocky Mountains.   The song actually is the second state song that Colorado has, since in 1915 they adopted "Where the Columbines Grow."  


As for his second song to be named a state song, "Take Me Home, Country Roads" became the state song of West Virginia on March 7, 2014.  The song, which begins with the lyrics "Almost Heaven, West Virginia ..." was a hit for John and his co-writers Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert, who where husband and wife at the time.  John actually wrote the second of the three verses with the other two musicians writing the first and third verses.  Once again, some complain that the song only mentions landmarks that are in Virginia and that the state legislators are tying to confuse people even more about the two states.  Others say that Shakespeare had it right when he wrote this title for one of his plays:  "Much Ado About Nothing."  As for the Jeopardy contestants, only one of the three had the correct question and she will be going on in the competition.  As for me, I'm listening to his songs right now.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.