John Denver, Take Me Home, Country Roads | Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶

In the 22^nd edition of Throwback Vibez (2024), we recollect and reflect on “Take Me Home, Country Roads” by the late, great John Denver.  

The vibes, the vibes, those Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶! Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 is a column that celebrates awesome songs from the past.  The records that grace this column are older, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re ancient – no fossils 🦴! All genres of music are welcome. In the 22^nd edition of Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 (2024), we recollect and reflect on “Take Me Home, Country Roads”, performed by John Denver.

“Almost heaven, West Virginia / Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River.” The late, great John Denver, who has four number one hits to his name, is best known for one particular song: “Take Me Home, Country Roads”.  He continues singing, memorably in the first verse, “Life is old there, older than the trees / Younger than the mountains, growing like a breeze.” “Take Me Home, Country Roads” appears as the seventh track on the country/folk singer/songwriter’s 1971, platinum album, Poems, Prayers and Promises.  Lucky number seven indeed! His most popular song, however, failed to reach no. 1, settling for no. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 🤯.

Denver penned this beloved gem alongside Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert. The music and lyrics are perfect, period. A portrait of those country roads and the memories of home are perfectly captured. “Dark and dusty, painted on the sky,” Denver sings in the second verse, continuing, “Misty taste of moonshine, teardrop in my eye.” Stunning.  Of course, the crème de la crème is the glorious, singalong chorus: “Country roads, take me home / To the place I belong / West Virginia , mountain mama / Take me home, country roads.” This once in a lifetime song, sung with great authenticity and expression by Denver, was certified platinum by the RIAA, and added to The National Recording Registry of The Library of Congress. The instrumental – heavy on guitar – is rhythmic and lively, fueling the spiritedness of the track. All told, “Take Me Home, Country Roads” = one of the greatest songs of all time.

🎙 John Denver • 💿 Poems, Prayers and Promises • 🏷 RCA • 🗓 1971

John Denver, Take Me Home, Country Roads: Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 No. 22 (2024) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; RCA; OpenClipart-Vectors, Speedy McVroom via  Pixabay]