1 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:06,760 Speaker 1: It's a pretty big deal to read the lyrics of 2 00:00:06,800 --> 00:00:10,080 Speaker 1: a song with the person it was written about. It's 3 00:00:10,119 --> 00:00:13,039 Speaker 1: an even bigger deal when that song is a hugely 4 00:00:13,240 --> 00:00:17,880 Speaker 1: popular ballad Anie Song, and that person is Annie Denver, 5 00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:22,880 Speaker 1: the former wife of singer and activist John Denver. It's 6 00:00:22,920 --> 00:00:26,119 Speaker 1: such a beautiful song. He wrote it for me, But 7 00:00:26,320 --> 00:00:29,080 Speaker 1: it's about love, and it's about nature and how that 8 00:00:29,520 --> 00:00:38,800 Speaker 1: stirs those profound feelings up. You fill up myselfss like 9 00:00:39,200 --> 00:00:47,120 Speaker 1: night and aforest, like the mountains, and spreads like a 10 00:00:47,159 --> 00:00:50,559 Speaker 1: walk in the rain, like a storm in the desert, 11 00:00:51,520 --> 00:00:54,960 Speaker 1: like a sleepy blue ocean. You fill up my senses. 12 00:00:55,440 --> 00:00:59,840 Speaker 1: Come fill me again. Denver wrote those words in nineteen 13 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:04,200 Speaker 1: seventy four while riding a ski lift here in Aspen, Colorado, 14 00:01:04,600 --> 00:01:08,520 Speaker 1: after a spat with Annie, his then wife. Decades later, 15 00:01:08,840 --> 00:01:11,840 Speaker 1: the lyrics have been etched into a large river boulder 16 00:01:12,120 --> 00:01:17,160 Speaker 1: displayed here at Aspen's John Denver Sanctuary. This park, along 17 00:01:17,200 --> 00:01:22,120 Speaker 1: the Roaring Fork River is equal parts nature, preserve and memorial. 18 00:01:27,080 --> 00:01:32,080 Speaker 1: Annie song became a number one hit. Although John and 19 00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:36,399 Speaker 1: Annie ended up divorcing, the song is still staple at weddings, 20 00:01:37,040 --> 00:01:40,320 Speaker 1: and yet, like so much of his work, it's tinged 21 00:01:40,400 --> 00:01:49,080 Speaker 1: with melancholy. Let me come, let me love you, let 22 00:01:49,080 --> 00:01:51,200 Speaker 1: me give my life to you, let me drown in 23 00:01:51,240 --> 00:01:53,920 Speaker 1: your laughter, let me die in your arms. So there's 24 00:01:53,960 --> 00:01:58,720 Speaker 1: a kind of wistfulness about it, right, I mean, it 25 00:01:58,760 --> 00:02:01,880 Speaker 1: goes from a sense of wonder in romance. But then 26 00:02:01,960 --> 00:02:04,840 Speaker 1: let me die in your arms. Is that's the part 27 00:02:04,920 --> 00:02:09,920 Speaker 1: that makes me sad. It makes me sad. John Denver 28 00:02:10,080 --> 00:02:15,200 Speaker 1: died at fifty three while piloting an experimental home built aircraft. 29 00:02:15,760 --> 00:02:19,000 Speaker 1: He went out fast, kind of went out like a 30 00:02:19,040 --> 00:02:25,000 Speaker 1: shooting star, and sometimes I wonder, I hope that he 31 00:02:25,120 --> 00:02:29,919 Speaker 1: wasn't scared. That it all happened pretty quickly for him. 32 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:33,200 Speaker 1: One of the best selling artists of the nineteen seventies, 33 00:02:33,560 --> 00:02:36,120 Speaker 1: Denver also made his mark on the world as a 34 00:02:36,200 --> 00:02:41,360 Speaker 1: TV and movie star, a humanitarian and environmentalist, but not 35 00:02:41,520 --> 00:02:45,200 Speaker 1: everyone saw the depth in him. As Annie explained to 36 00:02:45,320 --> 00:02:49,920 Speaker 1: CBS days after he died, I think people tended to 37 00:02:49,960 --> 00:02:53,080 Speaker 1: simplify John because of the simplicity and eloquence of his 38 00:02:53,280 --> 00:02:57,280 Speaker 1: of his music, but that he was a very complex man. 39 00:02:57,280 --> 00:03:00,040 Speaker 1: There was a very sad, sad part in John, and 40 00:03:00,520 --> 00:03:04,160 Speaker 1: and it's really the part that the the music came 41 00:03:04,200 --> 00:03:13,280 Speaker 1: from the utter sincerity of John Denver's songs endeared him 42 00:03:13,320 --> 00:03:16,880 Speaker 1: to fans worldwide, but also made him an easy target 43 00:03:16,960 --> 00:03:21,160 Speaker 1: for critics who considered his music to earnest or even corny. 44 00:03:21,800 --> 00:03:25,399 Speaker 1: People would be embarrassed because it wasn't cool, but there 45 00:03:25,440 --> 00:03:30,520 Speaker 1: was a shining light with goodness and beauty and awe 46 00:03:31,280 --> 00:03:36,880 Speaker 1: wonder from CBS Sunday Morning and I heart I'm Morocca 47 00:03:37,240 --> 00:03:50,920 Speaker 1: and this is mobituaries this moment John Denver, October Death 48 00:03:51,240 --> 00:04:02,280 Speaker 1: of the Sunshine Boy. I love John Denver's voice. Listening 49 00:04:02,280 --> 00:04:05,720 Speaker 1: to his greatest hits brings me a sense of peace. 50 00:04:06,560 --> 00:04:10,960 Speaker 1: This sanctuary includes a different boulder for each of those hits. 51 00:04:11,800 --> 00:04:13,240 Speaker 1: You don't know where things are, and then all of 52 00:04:13,320 --> 00:04:15,200 Speaker 1: a sudden you look at a rock and there it 53 00:04:15,360 --> 00:04:19,440 Speaker 1: is Annie Denver and I left no stone on read 54 00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:33,799 Speaker 1: Down by the river bank, we found Rocky Mountain high. 55 00:04:34,279 --> 00:04:39,400 Speaker 1: I'm an eagle and hot guy and it's right over there. Yes, 56 00:04:44,200 --> 00:04:47,240 Speaker 1: higher up on the embankment, we found the eagle and 57 00:04:47,320 --> 00:05:00,560 Speaker 1: the hawk and he's really hitting those notes though he is. 58 00:05:02,320 --> 00:05:15,040 Speaker 1: It's amazing. Yes, don't you feel like you're flying? Where 59 00:05:15,080 --> 00:05:17,839 Speaker 1: is sunshine on my shoulder? So around the corner. Come on. 60 00:05:18,640 --> 00:05:34,960 Speaker 1: Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy. Sunshine in my 61 00:05:35,160 --> 00:05:46,080 Speaker 1: eyes can make me cry. It makes you just feel, 62 00:05:47,760 --> 00:05:51,839 Speaker 1: at least for me, connected with the goodness and people. 63 00:05:53,440 --> 00:05:56,960 Speaker 1: Eighteen year old Duncan Moore was feeling the connection to 64 00:05:57,080 --> 00:06:00,640 Speaker 1: John Denver the same day we were there. Seems like 65 00:06:00,640 --> 00:06:03,640 Speaker 1: he really enjoyed nature and just enjoyed all the little 66 00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:05,120 Speaker 1: things in life as you can, like see all the 67 00:06:05,120 --> 00:06:08,120 Speaker 1: flowers and of the nature park over there, and the 68 00:06:08,160 --> 00:06:11,719 Speaker 1: little streams, and all of the songs and all his poems. 69 00:06:12,320 --> 00:06:15,280 Speaker 1: Our friends said you must come to John Denver Sanctuary. 70 00:06:15,400 --> 00:06:18,279 Speaker 1: We did not know it was here. Big John Denver 71 00:06:18,400 --> 00:06:23,200 Speaker 1: fans Dan and Susan Stephen drove down from northern Colorado. 72 00:06:23,800 --> 00:06:29,680 Speaker 1: John's music and songs allays struck me as being sincere. 73 00:06:30,440 --> 00:06:34,160 Speaker 1: And when we moved here eight years ago, then all 74 00:06:34,200 --> 00:06:38,200 Speaker 1: of his songs became really real rocky mountain high. It 75 00:06:38,279 --> 00:06:40,600 Speaker 1: was like, oh my gosh, here we are in the 76 00:06:40,680 --> 00:06:44,720 Speaker 1: rocky mountains. So really it's just kind of like regenerated 77 00:06:44,720 --> 00:06:47,680 Speaker 1: our love for John Denver all over again. And it 78 00:06:47,760 --> 00:06:54,279 Speaker 1: had nothing to do with smoking weed. John Denver was 79 00:06:54,400 --> 00:06:58,960 Speaker 1: not from Colorado. He was born Henry John Dutchendorf Jr. 80 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:04,240 Speaker 1: In Roswell, New Mexico, near the Army Airfield where his 81 00:07:04,360 --> 00:07:07,960 Speaker 1: dad worked as a pilot and flight instructor. John grew 82 00:07:08,040 --> 00:07:11,560 Speaker 1: up moving from place to place, a shy and lonely 83 00:07:11,680 --> 00:07:17,720 Speaker 1: military brat. I think much of John's life was looking 84 00:07:17,840 --> 00:07:23,320 Speaker 1: for home connection. One of his earliest memories was having 85 00:07:23,320 --> 00:07:28,880 Speaker 1: a birthday party and maybe one person came. I know, 86 00:07:29,880 --> 00:07:33,880 Speaker 1: I know. John told a group of Aspen kids about 87 00:07:33,880 --> 00:07:38,640 Speaker 1: his childhood on a local TV show In so every 88 00:07:38,640 --> 00:07:41,240 Speaker 1: time we went someplace, it was difficult to get to 89 00:07:41,240 --> 00:07:42,920 Speaker 1: know people. And the thing that happened is that my 90 00:07:42,960 --> 00:07:47,080 Speaker 1: guitar helped me make friends, and so I always I 91 00:07:47,120 --> 00:07:49,000 Speaker 1: wanted to have a lot of friends. I want people 92 00:07:49,040 --> 00:07:52,920 Speaker 1: to like me. Things began to shift around age twelve, 93 00:07:53,000 --> 00:07:57,120 Speaker 1: when John's grandmother gave him her nineteen ten Gibson acoustic guitar. 94 00:07:57,720 --> 00:08:01,960 Speaker 1: He started carrying it everywhere he went. This old guitar 95 00:08:02,920 --> 00:08:10,840 Speaker 1: taught me to say, showed me the soul guitar. There's 96 00:08:10,880 --> 00:08:13,920 Speaker 1: a line about that in it. The soul guitar gave 97 00:08:13,960 --> 00:08:17,040 Speaker 1: me my life, my living, all the things I love 98 00:08:17,120 --> 00:08:20,480 Speaker 1: to do. That's where he felt most at home, hanging 99 00:08:20,520 --> 00:08:26,640 Speaker 1: onto that guitar. Help me make it without that old 100 00:08:26,720 --> 00:08:29,720 Speaker 1: guitar in hand, John wasn't comfortable, As he would later 101 00:08:29,760 --> 00:08:34,360 Speaker 1: explain in his autobiography Take Me Home. I feel things 102 00:08:34,440 --> 00:08:37,200 Speaker 1: very deeply, But for most of my life it has 103 00:08:37,240 --> 00:08:39,760 Speaker 1: been easier for me to talk casually to a thousand 104 00:08:39,760 --> 00:08:44,000 Speaker 1: people than to talk openly to just one one person. 105 00:08:44,080 --> 00:08:47,680 Speaker 1: He had trouble talking to his high achieving father, Dutch, 106 00:08:48,240 --> 00:08:51,560 Speaker 1: who said at least three speed records piloting a mock 107 00:08:51,679 --> 00:08:55,120 Speaker 1: to bomber for the Air Force. Dutch was skeptical of 108 00:08:55,200 --> 00:08:59,960 Speaker 1: John's musical aspirations, so John attended college at Texas Tech 109 00:09:00,040 --> 00:09:03,319 Speaker 1: in Lubbock, where he studied architecture and played in bands, 110 00:09:03,880 --> 00:09:06,000 Speaker 1: but he dropped that at twenty and moved to Los 111 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:08,800 Speaker 1: Angeles to try to make it in the city's swelling 112 00:09:08,920 --> 00:09:12,559 Speaker 1: folk revival scene. He made connections and got some experience 113 00:09:12,640 --> 00:09:16,440 Speaker 1: playing clubs, including a place owned by Randy Sparks, the 114 00:09:16,480 --> 00:09:20,839 Speaker 1: founder of a popular folk ensemble called the New Christie Minstrels. 115 00:09:23,720 --> 00:09:26,760 Speaker 1: It was Sparks who told him Dutchendorff wouldn't fit on 116 00:09:26,760 --> 00:09:33,480 Speaker 1: a marquee. The first suggestion was Summerville. John eventually agreed 117 00:09:33,520 --> 00:09:44,280 Speaker 1: to change it to Denver same. John Denver's first big 118 00:09:44,320 --> 00:09:47,760 Speaker 1: break came in nineteen five when he was asked to 119 00:09:47,920 --> 00:09:51,600 Speaker 1: join the Chad Mitchell Trio, taking the place of founder 120 00:09:51,760 --> 00:09:55,400 Speaker 1: Chad Mitchell, who had left to make his debut on Broadway. 121 00:09:56,520 --> 00:10:01,040 Speaker 1: Unlike John, the trio were political, doing mostly topical satire 122 00:10:01,360 --> 00:10:03,800 Speaker 1: like a send up of the extreme right wing John 123 00:10:03,840 --> 00:10:11,280 Speaker 1: Birch Society, Society, Society to save our country club in 124 00:10:11,360 --> 00:10:15,080 Speaker 1: this big block joined the John Birt's Society holding off 125 00:10:15,120 --> 00:10:17,600 Speaker 1: the reds. Will use our heads and hearts in him, 126 00:10:17,640 --> 00:10:21,600 Speaker 1: we must will use our heads. Here's John performing one 127 00:10:21,600 --> 00:10:24,839 Speaker 1: of the trio satirical hits which mocked the k K 128 00:10:25,080 --> 00:10:28,720 Speaker 1: K yep, since we got a lawyer and the public 129 00:10:28,760 --> 00:10:40,320 Speaker 1: relations man where your friendly liberal label? Did John have politics? Then? No? 130 00:10:40,600 --> 00:10:44,319 Speaker 1: And my Coblet, who was in the trio and interviewers 131 00:10:44,840 --> 00:10:47,760 Speaker 1: has said, well, how naive John was about so many 132 00:10:47,760 --> 00:10:49,240 Speaker 1: of these things. I think he said he didn't know 133 00:10:49,280 --> 00:10:51,680 Speaker 1: how to pronounce the word politics. He said politic or 134 00:10:51,760 --> 00:10:54,480 Speaker 1: something like that. Clearly it was the beginning of any 135 00:10:54,559 --> 00:10:58,120 Speaker 1: activism he had. Later on, I started to find out 136 00:10:58,120 --> 00:11:00,000 Speaker 1: that there is a lot more you can do with music. 137 00:11:00,120 --> 00:11:02,120 Speaker 1: On the stage and then just sing it. You can 138 00:11:02,160 --> 00:11:04,920 Speaker 1: make people think, you can make them laugh at things 139 00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:09,000 Speaker 1: going on in the world. That's John from his autobiography. Again, 140 00:11:09,640 --> 00:11:11,679 Speaker 1: it was a revelation to me when I could make 141 00:11:11,679 --> 00:11:14,880 Speaker 1: a ridge to an audience's psyche. At this point, John 142 00:11:14,960 --> 00:11:17,400 Speaker 1: wasn't yet the guy on TV with the Dutch boy 143 00:11:17,440 --> 00:11:21,360 Speaker 1: haircut and the granny glasses. So when you met him, 144 00:11:21,400 --> 00:11:27,000 Speaker 1: what was where was his collegiate looking part? And don't 145 00:11:27,040 --> 00:11:29,040 Speaker 1: forget he was with the Mitchell trio and they were 146 00:11:29,040 --> 00:11:32,920 Speaker 1: doing a lot of collegiate dates, Jack and tie. It 147 00:11:33,040 --> 00:11:36,559 Speaker 1: was at one such campus performance that John and Annie 148 00:11:36,559 --> 00:11:40,280 Speaker 1: first laid eyes on each other. At Gustavus Adolphus College 149 00:11:40,360 --> 00:11:43,560 Speaker 1: in St. Peter, Minnesota, the college that I was going 150 00:11:43,600 --> 00:11:45,920 Speaker 1: to was in the town that I grew up in, 151 00:11:46,520 --> 00:11:50,200 Speaker 1: and John was giving a concert with the Mitchell Trion, 152 00:11:50,400 --> 00:11:52,640 Speaker 1: and afterwards he was playing his guitar and there were 153 00:11:52,640 --> 00:11:55,360 Speaker 1: a group of people. They were doing a play and 154 00:11:55,480 --> 00:11:57,920 Speaker 1: kind of a silly little musical, and I was the 155 00:11:57,920 --> 00:12:01,120 Speaker 1: girl that carried the signs across the stage Act one, 156 00:12:01,240 --> 00:12:05,719 Speaker 1: Act two, and according to John, I had a pair 157 00:12:05,720 --> 00:12:09,000 Speaker 1: of blue jeans on and a flannel shirt and Penny 158 00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:13,760 Speaker 1: Loafers and I just paraded across the stage and then 159 00:12:13,840 --> 00:12:18,080 Speaker 1: he left and we didn't speak. Soon enough, John was 160 00:12:18,160 --> 00:12:21,400 Speaker 1: back for another college gig, and this time he invited 161 00:12:21,400 --> 00:12:24,560 Speaker 1: her on a date before he showed. That night, Amy 162 00:12:24,640 --> 00:12:27,760 Speaker 1: sat alone in the audience while John did his sound 163 00:12:27,840 --> 00:12:31,760 Speaker 1: check on stage. It was dark and there were lights 164 00:12:31,800 --> 00:12:35,400 Speaker 1: on the stage and it was just his voice and 165 00:12:35,480 --> 00:12:41,000 Speaker 1: this light was on him and he and it were 166 00:12:41,040 --> 00:12:44,480 Speaker 1: so beautiful, right, And then he came over to meet 167 00:12:44,520 --> 00:12:47,240 Speaker 1: my parents and they liked him a lot. I mean, 168 00:12:47,280 --> 00:12:52,960 Speaker 1: he was charming. He asked them questions, he listened, and 169 00:12:53,040 --> 00:12:56,640 Speaker 1: that's how it all started. How soon did he propose? 170 00:12:57,200 --> 00:12:59,680 Speaker 1: Nine months later? And then we got married within a 171 00:12:59,679 --> 00:13:02,280 Speaker 1: couple of months. And with all due respect, did you 172 00:13:02,360 --> 00:13:06,480 Speaker 1: know what the hell you were doing? Not at all. No, 173 00:13:09,720 --> 00:13:13,560 Speaker 1: you don't get to be as big a star as 174 00:13:13,679 --> 00:13:18,200 Speaker 1: John was by accident. I mean he was ambitious, yeah, 175 00:13:18,640 --> 00:13:23,280 Speaker 1: very and then John had this gift, really so I 176 00:13:23,320 --> 00:13:27,920 Speaker 1: don't think I looked at it as ambition until things 177 00:13:27,920 --> 00:13:32,800 Speaker 1: started happening. Things really started happening. When John left the trio, 178 00:13:33,040 --> 00:13:37,080 Speaker 1: it's popularity was waning fast. Then scored a record deal 179 00:13:37,160 --> 00:13:41,240 Speaker 1: with our c A pursuing a solo career drew John 180 00:13:41,360 --> 00:13:46,120 Speaker 1: out of himself but also away from Annie. In My Songs, 181 00:13:46,280 --> 00:13:49,040 Speaker 1: John wrote in his memoir, I was able to say 182 00:13:49,080 --> 00:13:52,840 Speaker 1: things I couldn't say directly to Annie. Case in point. 183 00:13:53,200 --> 00:13:55,640 Speaker 1: For Our ci A, he recorded a song he had 184 00:13:55,640 --> 00:13:59,360 Speaker 1: written a few years earlier called Babe, I Hate to 185 00:13:59,400 --> 00:14:04,839 Speaker 1: go kissed me a smile of me to tell me 186 00:14:05,120 --> 00:14:11,199 Speaker 1: that you wait for me. His producer, Milt Oaken, convinced 187 00:14:11,280 --> 00:14:21,880 Speaker 1: him to change the title. Oaken passed along what was 188 00:14:21,920 --> 00:14:25,600 Speaker 1: now titled Leaving on a Jet Plane to folk group 189 00:14:25,840 --> 00:14:31,680 Speaker 1: Peter Paul and Mary. There's so many times I've let 190 00:14:31,760 --> 00:14:37,080 Speaker 1: you down, so many times I've played. Bands thought it 191 00:14:37,160 --> 00:14:40,040 Speaker 1: was an anti war song about soldiers shipping out to 192 00:14:40,160 --> 00:14:48,200 Speaker 1: Vietnam every place, but John wrote it about his life 193 00:14:48,200 --> 00:14:53,440 Speaker 1: on the road and it's toll on his relationship with Annie. 194 00:14:54,720 --> 00:15:02,320 Speaker 1: It became Peter Paul and Mary's biggest hit. Annie Denver 195 00:15:02,440 --> 00:15:05,240 Speaker 1: remembers when John got his first check in the mail. 196 00:15:09,840 --> 00:15:12,720 Speaker 1: We would drive at night and we would go by 197 00:15:12,760 --> 00:15:16,120 Speaker 1: this furniture place that had antiques, and there was a 198 00:15:16,200 --> 00:15:20,040 Speaker 1: lit Tiffany and original Tiffany lamp in the window. And 199 00:15:20,080 --> 00:15:23,640 Speaker 1: so when we got the check. He wanted to buy 200 00:15:23,640 --> 00:15:26,760 Speaker 1: a Porsche, and we wanted to buy the Tiffany lamp. 201 00:15:27,320 --> 00:15:29,760 Speaker 1: And we did it. And I thought my father was 202 00:15:29,800 --> 00:15:32,000 Speaker 1: going to croak that that's what we did with that 203 00:15:32,080 --> 00:15:35,240 Speaker 1: money to make ends meet. Annie had been selling baby 204 00:15:35,280 --> 00:15:38,800 Speaker 1: clothes at a department store in Minneapolis, but after the 205 00:15:38,800 --> 00:15:42,400 Speaker 1: young couple traveled to Aspen with annie Ski club, they 206 00:15:42,440 --> 00:15:46,800 Speaker 1: decided to relocate there. Aspen back then was not the 207 00:15:46,920 --> 00:15:51,520 Speaker 1: sheshy place it is now. Was it a little hippy dippy? Yeah? 208 00:15:51,920 --> 00:15:56,000 Speaker 1: Waitresses wore their hiking boots, and people had long braids, 209 00:15:56,040 --> 00:16:00,360 Speaker 1: and everybody was doing macromay. I made so much macromay. 210 00:16:00,760 --> 00:16:09,920 Speaker 1: The Rocky Mountains became John's greatest muse. Funny then, that 211 00:16:10,120 --> 00:16:13,000 Speaker 1: his first big hit as a recording artist was about 212 00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:19,880 Speaker 1: a state in America's other great mountain range. John Denver 213 00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:24,160 Speaker 1: did not write the famous chorus to take Me Home, 214 00:16:24,280 --> 00:16:28,280 Speaker 1: Country Roads. The credit goes to his friend's husband and 215 00:16:28,320 --> 00:16:32,560 Speaker 1: wife songwriting duo Bill dan Off and Taffy Nivert. But 216 00:16:32,640 --> 00:16:36,239 Speaker 1: when he sang it, the song became a worldwide phenomenon. 217 00:16:40,040 --> 00:16:42,720 Speaker 1: The reason it was such a hit is people could 218 00:16:42,760 --> 00:16:46,560 Speaker 1: relate to being home, are coming home, or this, this 219 00:16:46,640 --> 00:16:51,480 Speaker 1: idea of connectedness and belonging. It's been translated into dozens 220 00:16:51,520 --> 00:17:09,439 Speaker 1: of languages, from Finnish which to Hindi and don't forget 221 00:17:09,440 --> 00:17:19,040 Speaker 1: a hugely popular Jamaican reggae version by Toots and the Maytals. 222 00:17:23,920 --> 00:17:28,080 Speaker 1: One year after Country Roads came John's love letter to 223 00:17:28,200 --> 00:17:33,720 Speaker 1: the first place he actually called home. He was born 224 00:17:34,080 --> 00:17:41,119 Speaker 1: in the suburbs Kenny. Seven year at home to place 225 00:17:41,560 --> 00:17:48,640 Speaker 1: never been before. Rocky Mountain High is not about drugs. 226 00:17:48,840 --> 00:17:51,760 Speaker 1: More about that later. John was inspired to write it 227 00:17:51,960 --> 00:17:55,720 Speaker 1: after witnessing a stunning meteor shower from ten thousand feet 228 00:17:55,800 --> 00:18:07,640 Speaker 1: up in the Rockies Shadow. You could travel in other 229 00:18:07,680 --> 00:18:10,159 Speaker 1: countries and they don't quite know the Rocky Mountains, but 230 00:18:10,200 --> 00:18:18,040 Speaker 1: they'll go oh, Rocky Mountain High. Fun fact. John Denver 231 00:18:18,160 --> 00:18:22,720 Speaker 1: is a writer of two official state songs, Colorado's and 232 00:18:22,920 --> 00:18:26,840 Speaker 1: West Virginia's. By the time he had released Country Roads, 233 00:18:27,160 --> 00:18:30,720 Speaker 1: John Denver had signed with a talent manager named Jerry 234 00:18:30,800 --> 00:18:34,600 Speaker 1: Wine Troube. A likely pair John Denver and Jerry Wintroub. 235 00:18:35,520 --> 00:18:40,439 Speaker 1: No allow me to translate for Annie. Jerry Wine Troub 236 00:18:40,600 --> 00:18:44,720 Speaker 1: was brash, bold, the ultimate go big or go home guy. 237 00:18:45,200 --> 00:18:48,960 Speaker 1: The same year he signed Denver nine. He also convinced 238 00:18:49,080 --> 00:18:52,359 Speaker 1: Elvis's manager to let him book and promote the King's 239 00:18:52,520 --> 00:18:56,920 Speaker 1: national comeback tour. Wine Troub later took Frank Sinatra back 240 00:18:56,920 --> 00:18:59,280 Speaker 1: on the road and helped bring in the era of 241 00:18:59,320 --> 00:19:03,080 Speaker 1: the arena concert tour. He would eventually become a major 242 00:19:03,160 --> 00:19:06,720 Speaker 1: movie producer, and he believed he could turn this easy 243 00:19:06,840 --> 00:19:11,439 Speaker 1: mannered mountaineer into the next big thing. Terry had a 244 00:19:11,560 --> 00:19:15,800 Speaker 1: vision and could see I think talent. He didn't create John, 245 00:19:15,840 --> 00:19:18,200 Speaker 1: but he took what he saw in John and really 246 00:19:18,280 --> 00:19:22,560 Speaker 1: developed it. One of the shrewdest moves engineered by wine 247 00:19:22,560 --> 00:19:28,680 Speaker 1: Traub was the release of a John Denver's Greatest Hits album. Now. 248 00:19:28,720 --> 00:19:33,320 Speaker 1: The album did include some genuine hits Country Roads, Rocky Mountain, High, 249 00:19:33,440 --> 00:19:36,600 Speaker 1: Sunshine on My Shoulders, but most of the songs on 250 00:19:36,600 --> 00:19:40,560 Speaker 1: it were new recordings of lesser known, earlier released tracks, 251 00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:44,920 Speaker 1: not hits, but songs that would help define Denver, like 252 00:19:45,240 --> 00:20:02,800 Speaker 1: follow Me and Rhymes and Reasons. The album went multi platinum, 253 00:20:02,840 --> 00:20:10,320 Speaker 1: selling more than ten million copies, but that was just 254 00:20:10,560 --> 00:20:13,720 Speaker 1: one piece of the puzzle. Wine Troup was convinced that 255 00:20:13,880 --> 00:20:17,200 Speaker 1: television was the key to turning John Denver into a 256 00:20:17,320 --> 00:20:22,680 Speaker 1: Superstar by controduced Mr John Denver. Denver's first TV appearance 257 00:20:22,960 --> 00:20:25,960 Speaker 1: was on The MERV Griffin Show. Once from the Fame 258 00:20:26,080 --> 00:20:29,560 Speaker 1: Chad Mitchell Trio and now composer of well the number 259 00:20:29,560 --> 00:20:32,960 Speaker 1: one hit songs of this season. After that, it seemed 260 00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:37,560 Speaker 1: like he was on TV all the time, Aren't you Denver? 261 00:20:38,000 --> 00:20:40,520 Speaker 1: On The Bob Hope Show, he and the host dressed 262 00:20:40,560 --> 00:20:47,600 Speaker 1: as doppelgangers. I'm your twin brother, Irving Idaho. Denver hosted 263 00:20:47,600 --> 00:20:51,399 Speaker 1: the Grammy Awards five times. Slid is Grammy nine the 264 00:20:51,440 --> 00:20:53,920 Speaker 1: biggest slide in music. And we're here live in Los 265 00:20:53,960 --> 00:20:56,160 Speaker 1: Angeles with the show That's so hot, it's gonna pop 266 00:20:56,200 --> 00:20:59,320 Speaker 1: if we don't get right into it. John Denver eventually 267 00:20:59,320 --> 00:21:02,600 Speaker 1: got the ult him at Show Business co sign. You know, Frank, 268 00:21:02,680 --> 00:21:07,040 Speaker 1: I was just thinking a TV special with Sinatra about 269 00:21:07,080 --> 00:21:12,800 Speaker 1: the time that song was first heard, so was I. 270 00:21:13,040 --> 00:21:18,399 Speaker 1: I don't know how to make a guy wearing his 271 00:21:18,480 --> 00:21:22,480 Speaker 1: now trademark wire rimmed glasses and sporting hair down to 272 00:21:22,520 --> 00:21:26,200 Speaker 1: his shoulders. John Denver was a made for TV hippie, 273 00:21:26,560 --> 00:21:29,560 Speaker 1: safe and fun for the whole family. Yeah, he kind 274 00:21:29,560 --> 00:21:32,800 Speaker 1: of looked like a muppet, don't you agree? And then 275 00:21:32,840 --> 00:21:35,399 Speaker 1: he performed with the Muppets. Have you seen him with 276 00:21:35,440 --> 00:21:43,520 Speaker 1: the Muppet I know he celebrated Christmas with the Muppets 277 00:21:43,520 --> 00:21:54,000 Speaker 1: in nine Shine Start Up. But to really get a 278 00:21:54,040 --> 00:21:57,679 Speaker 1: sense of John Denver and the nineteen seventies, there may 279 00:21:57,720 --> 00:22:02,080 Speaker 1: be no better document than his own Rocky Mountain Christmas Special. 280 00:22:02,320 --> 00:22:07,320 Speaker 1: In let me describe it, He performs for a live 281 00:22:07,359 --> 00:22:11,240 Speaker 1: audience from inside what looks like a giant snow globe, 282 00:22:11,800 --> 00:22:18,800 Speaker 1: but with snow on the outside. Well we did. What 283 00:22:18,960 --> 00:22:22,600 Speaker 1: we did is we built a transparent bubble and placed 284 00:22:22,640 --> 00:22:24,439 Speaker 1: it in the middle of a snow covered meadow in 285 00:22:24,440 --> 00:22:28,040 Speaker 1: the Rockies. And in here we've got flowers and grows 286 00:22:28,119 --> 00:22:31,960 Speaker 1: and greenies and little butterflies bloating around high there. Yes, 287 00:22:32,040 --> 00:22:35,479 Speaker 1: that's John saying hi to a butterfly that's landed on 288 00:22:35,560 --> 00:22:39,720 Speaker 1: his hand. The special is a weird blend of comedy 289 00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:44,000 Speaker 1: bits with stars like Valerie Harper and Steve Martin and 290 00:22:44,560 --> 00:22:48,560 Speaker 1: nature scenes. Some of us are trying to reintroduce the 291 00:22:48,680 --> 00:22:53,200 Speaker 1: grizzly bear into this part of the world. Oh and 292 00:22:53,400 --> 00:22:57,000 Speaker 1: this is our first experiment in that regard. John wrestles 293 00:22:57,000 --> 00:22:59,320 Speaker 1: with a grizzly cup at one point. It's a little 294 00:22:59,320 --> 00:23:03,520 Speaker 1: nerve racking. Watch this little lady is a here and 295 00:23:03,560 --> 00:23:08,800 Speaker 1: a half old grizzly come and he is a turkey. 296 00:23:09,240 --> 00:23:12,240 Speaker 1: There's a sequence about the life cycle of brook Trout 297 00:23:12,359 --> 00:23:16,080 Speaker 1: that looks like something you'd watch in fourth grade science. 298 00:23:17,040 --> 00:23:21,199 Speaker 1: Olivia Newton John is introduced singing on horseback. Later she 299 00:23:21,280 --> 00:23:25,879 Speaker 1: comes back for a genuinely lovely duet of fly Away. 300 00:23:28,440 --> 00:23:31,720 Speaker 1: It stars studied, for sure, but the pacing of the 301 00:23:31,760 --> 00:23:41,679 Speaker 1: special is lank, even listless. Kingle, I guess I'm just 302 00:23:41,920 --> 00:23:47,480 Speaker 1: used to a more upbeat jingle bells. It's like this 303 00:23:47,600 --> 00:23:53,400 Speaker 1: special predicted Jimmy Carter's infamous malaise speech later in the decade. Honestly, 304 00:23:53,480 --> 00:24:01,640 Speaker 1: this whole hour feels slathered in malaise. Towards the end, 305 00:24:01,720 --> 00:24:05,159 Speaker 1: during a sing along, we see Annie looking serene and 306 00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:08,680 Speaker 1: the audience their infant son, Zach, the first of their 307 00:24:08,680 --> 00:24:12,720 Speaker 1: two adopted children, at her side, But everyone else in 308 00:24:12,720 --> 00:24:16,800 Speaker 1: the audience looks a little dazed, a little glazed over, 309 00:24:17,680 --> 00:24:22,320 Speaker 1: like they're experiencing their own energy crisis. It's all supremely 310 00:24:22,440 --> 00:24:28,119 Speaker 1: strange and supremely seventies and guess what. More than sixty 311 00:24:28,359 --> 00:24:34,560 Speaker 1: million people tuned into John Denver's Rocky Mountain Christmas sixty million. 312 00:24:37,280 --> 00:24:40,160 Speaker 1: The boy who had grown up searching for home had 313 00:24:40,200 --> 00:24:44,720 Speaker 1: apparently found a place in homes everywhere. Jerry wine Troub 314 00:24:44,800 --> 00:24:47,960 Speaker 1: would later say, if you give Elvis the fifties and 315 00:24:48,040 --> 00:24:50,760 Speaker 1: the Beatles the sixties, I think you've got to give 316 00:24:50,880 --> 00:24:55,280 Speaker 1: John Denver the seventies. With wine Troub's help, the wholesome 317 00:24:55,359 --> 00:24:59,880 Speaker 1: hippie had become a mass commodity. The very next year, 318 00:25:01,600 --> 00:25:05,280 Speaker 1: John Denver made the cover of Newsweek, the magazine dubbing 319 00:25:05,359 --> 00:25:11,600 Speaker 1: him the Sunshine Boy, but the article itself wasn't exactly sunny. 320 00:25:11,720 --> 00:25:14,560 Speaker 1: He may have become a phenomenon with the public, but 321 00:25:14,640 --> 00:25:17,960 Speaker 1: he was far from critics choice how much did that 322 00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:20,479 Speaker 1: bother him? I actually think it bothered him more than 323 00:25:20,480 --> 00:25:22,440 Speaker 1: a hat lead on. I think it bothered him a lot. 324 00:25:26,840 --> 00:25:31,080 Speaker 1: You know, I met Julianne Moore the other day the 325 00:25:31,320 --> 00:25:35,600 Speaker 1: terrific Radiant Act. It's not because I'm not saying that 326 00:25:35,640 --> 00:25:39,160 Speaker 1: we're friends yet. And our our mutual friend who brought 327 00:25:39,240 --> 00:25:42,440 Speaker 1: us together, was talking to her about this podcast. Now 328 00:25:42,480 --> 00:25:45,040 Speaker 1: this is really turning into a plug and she said, 329 00:25:45,119 --> 00:25:47,720 Speaker 1: who do you have coming up next season? And I said, 330 00:25:48,320 --> 00:25:55,080 Speaker 1: John Denver, and she simultaneously melted and sighed and just 331 00:25:55,240 --> 00:26:01,119 Speaker 1: exhaled John Tenver and the way she said it, And 332 00:26:01,160 --> 00:26:03,879 Speaker 1: I couldn't tell if it was just that I took 333 00:26:03,920 --> 00:26:07,080 Speaker 1: her back to a time that at least seems like 334 00:26:07,160 --> 00:26:11,640 Speaker 1: it was a safer, kinder time. Well sure, I mean, 335 00:26:11,680 --> 00:26:14,960 Speaker 1: it seems reasonable that Julianne Moore when she was eleven 336 00:26:15,040 --> 00:26:17,280 Speaker 1: years old would have listened to John Denver and that 337 00:26:17,359 --> 00:26:20,080 Speaker 1: might have been her entry point for music. That's my pal, 338 00:26:20,280 --> 00:26:24,359 Speaker 1: music writer Bill flan Again. Unlike me and Julianne Moore, 339 00:26:24,560 --> 00:26:28,280 Speaker 1: when Bill first encountered John Denver's music, he was a 340 00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:31,679 Speaker 1: cool New York rock critic writing for an underground magazine, 341 00:26:32,160 --> 00:26:34,880 Speaker 1: and like most music critics at the time, he wasn't 342 00:26:34,920 --> 00:26:39,600 Speaker 1: filled with any childlike warmth. In fact, John's boyishness and 343 00:26:39,760 --> 00:26:43,360 Speaker 1: enthusiasm are part of what he was teased for. They 344 00:26:43,400 --> 00:26:46,119 Speaker 1: called him the Mickey Mouse of rock and roll, the 345 00:26:46,200 --> 00:26:49,760 Speaker 1: Jimmy Stewart of folk music, the Ronald Reagan of pop. 346 00:26:50,440 --> 00:26:53,680 Speaker 1: I mean, look, here's the thing. As a former recovering 347 00:26:53,880 --> 00:26:57,399 Speaker 1: rock critic, if if you're sent to review a show 348 00:26:57,680 --> 00:26:59,880 Speaker 1: and you think the person is insipid, then you've got 349 00:26:59,880 --> 00:27:03,679 Speaker 1: to say they're insipid. But John Denver was absolutely playing 350 00:27:03,800 --> 00:27:07,280 Speaker 1: for the whole family and playing a very kind of 351 00:27:07,600 --> 00:27:11,360 Speaker 1: Network TV version of pop music. And maybe what offended 352 00:27:11,400 --> 00:27:14,360 Speaker 1: some rock critics was that he looked like a hippie. 353 00:27:14,800 --> 00:27:18,160 Speaker 1: What he was doing was he was sort of taking 354 00:27:18,240 --> 00:27:24,280 Speaker 1: countercultural fashion and moving it into the mainstream, the Family Channel, 355 00:27:24,720 --> 00:27:28,680 Speaker 1: the Walt Disney World, and some people were very defensive 356 00:27:28,680 --> 00:27:32,440 Speaker 1: about that. The nine seventies were an especially rich period 357 00:27:32,560 --> 00:27:38,960 Speaker 1: for singer songwriters Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Carol King, Marvin Gay. 358 00:27:39,280 --> 00:27:42,359 Speaker 1: John Denver didn't fit in with any of them. John 359 00:27:42,400 --> 00:27:45,720 Speaker 1: Denver came out of a folk tradition that was not 360 00:27:46,200 --> 00:27:49,200 Speaker 1: exactly what James Taylor and Joni Mitchell and csn Y 361 00:27:49,240 --> 00:27:51,800 Speaker 1: and the Lourel Canyon people were doing. He came out 362 00:27:51,800 --> 00:27:54,480 Speaker 1: of that Chad Mitchell trio, Michael Rode, the Boat Ashore, 363 00:27:54,840 --> 00:27:58,720 Speaker 1: Peter Paul and Mary, very early sixties kind of harmony 364 00:27:58,760 --> 00:28:02,520 Speaker 1: folk singing that of everybody sing along that had its 365 00:28:02,560 --> 00:28:05,959 Speaker 1: roots in the Weavers and Pete Seeger and you know, 366 00:28:06,320 --> 00:28:09,720 Speaker 1: and kind of graduated into Christian rock, you know, kind 367 00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:12,960 Speaker 1: of graduated into music to be played at the folkmass 368 00:28:13,000 --> 00:28:16,240 Speaker 1: I think John Denver has said in interviews that that 369 00:28:16,400 --> 00:28:18,439 Speaker 1: is kind of what he He grew up singing in 370 00:28:18,480 --> 00:28:21,760 Speaker 1: the church choir and going to the football games in Texas. 371 00:28:21,800 --> 00:28:24,480 Speaker 1: You know, it was a very kind of mainstream America, 372 00:28:24,840 --> 00:28:28,080 Speaker 1: non counter cultural. He comes from a military family life, 373 00:28:28,440 --> 00:28:31,320 Speaker 1: and his version of the counter culture was more to 374 00:28:31,359 --> 00:28:35,200 Speaker 1: do with ecology, preserving the land, camping in the mountains, 375 00:28:35,200 --> 00:28:39,320 Speaker 1: getting away from the city, which is perfectly legitimate. How 376 00:28:39,360 --> 00:28:42,200 Speaker 1: big a deal was John Denver in the nineteen seventies. 377 00:28:42,320 --> 00:28:45,080 Speaker 1: Boy in the middle of the nineteen seventies, John Denver 378 00:28:45,440 --> 00:28:48,440 Speaker 1: had about two or three years when he was huge. 379 00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:52,320 Speaker 1: He was the acceptable face of the sort of hippie 380 00:28:52,320 --> 00:28:56,480 Speaker 1: songwriter to mainstream America. He was family entertainment, and you know, 381 00:28:56,600 --> 00:29:00,040 Speaker 1: that's a that's a difficult slot to fill, and you 382 00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:02,200 Speaker 1: you kind of have about one every decade, you know. 383 00:29:02,320 --> 00:29:06,320 Speaker 1: But the John Denver phenomenon specifically, could that have only 384 00:29:06,400 --> 00:29:09,480 Speaker 1: happened in the nineteen seventies, Well, I think it only 385 00:29:09,520 --> 00:29:12,120 Speaker 1: could have happened with a guy with the Beatles haircut 386 00:29:12,240 --> 00:29:16,680 Speaker 1: and you know, moccasins in the nineteen seventies. But I 387 00:29:16,680 --> 00:29:19,600 Speaker 1: think there's a version of it. Whatever is on FM radio, 388 00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:23,160 Speaker 1: and is being written about in Rolling Stone probably has 389 00:29:23,200 --> 00:29:27,400 Speaker 1: a translation for mom and dad going on on television. 390 00:29:27,800 --> 00:29:30,120 Speaker 1: And in the sixties it might have been Sunny and Share. 391 00:29:30,680 --> 00:29:33,600 Speaker 1: In the fifties it might have been Pat Boone. In 392 00:29:33,640 --> 00:29:36,800 Speaker 1: the eighties it might have been Olivia Newton John somebody 393 00:29:36,840 --> 00:29:41,000 Speaker 1: that Middle America and all generations can appreciate. Okay, well then, 394 00:29:41,880 --> 00:29:44,000 Speaker 1: and I hear what you're saying. So, so let's talk 395 00:29:44,680 --> 00:29:46,840 Speaker 1: about what I think you're really talking about, which is 396 00:29:47,120 --> 00:29:50,240 Speaker 1: so the criticism of him, the music criticism. I want 397 00:29:50,240 --> 00:29:53,479 Speaker 1: to just read a few things. Oh, there's gonna be painful, 398 00:29:53,520 --> 00:29:57,480 Speaker 1: isn't it? They are? Uh. Robert Christi Gal probably a 399 00:29:57,480 --> 00:30:00,760 Speaker 1: friend of yours, a dean of rock critics, the legendary 400 00:30:00,880 --> 00:30:04,400 Speaker 1: rock critic, wrote for The Village Voice for nearly four decades, 401 00:30:05,160 --> 00:30:09,440 Speaker 1: Denver is everything an acoustic singer songwriter might be pretty 402 00:30:09,720 --> 00:30:14,640 Speaker 1: vapid and commercial. This in nineteen seventy four, he described 403 00:30:14,720 --> 00:30:18,200 Speaker 1: Denver's music as simple minded escapism, and it compared him 404 00:30:18,240 --> 00:30:21,800 Speaker 1: unfavorably with James Taylor and Carly Sigman. He finally, nineteen 405 00:30:21,840 --> 00:30:26,120 Speaker 1: seventy seven called him the blandest pop singer in history. 406 00:30:26,520 --> 00:30:29,000 Speaker 1: Well clearly Robert had some angry issues. You know, you 407 00:30:29,080 --> 00:30:31,600 Speaker 1: got to consider he's writing for the Village Voice. He's 408 00:30:31,680 --> 00:30:33,800 Speaker 1: you know, very interested in what lou Reid is up to, 409 00:30:33,920 --> 00:30:36,880 Speaker 1: and you know he'd probably be just as tough on 410 00:30:36,920 --> 00:30:39,320 Speaker 1: Andy Williams and Andy Williams had had alongside burns and 411 00:30:39,320 --> 00:30:42,240 Speaker 1: wire room glasses. I love Andy Williams, by the way, 412 00:30:42,520 --> 00:30:45,400 Speaker 1: Well that's you know, John Denver is as much out 413 00:30:45,400 --> 00:30:48,760 Speaker 1: of the tradition of Andy Williams and Perry Como as 414 00:30:48,800 --> 00:30:52,080 Speaker 1: he is out of the tradition of John Pryan and 415 00:30:52,160 --> 00:30:56,280 Speaker 1: Leonard Cohen Boy. That nineteen seventy six cover story in Newsweek, 416 00:30:56,280 --> 00:31:00,480 Speaker 1: written by Maureen Orth, she says she described his music 417 00:31:00,520 --> 00:31:03,760 Speaker 1: as the n seventies favorite snake oil in the guise 418 00:31:04,000 --> 00:31:07,840 Speaker 1: of warm milk. That's assuming something that's unfair to assume, 419 00:31:07,880 --> 00:31:11,840 Speaker 1: which is that he's insincere or that he's manufacturing. And 420 00:31:12,280 --> 00:31:16,760 Speaker 1: you know, who's to say manufactured music is bad. I mean, listen, 421 00:31:17,040 --> 00:31:20,239 Speaker 1: my eleven year old favorite band was The Monkeys, and 422 00:31:20,280 --> 00:31:22,120 Speaker 1: I still love the Monkeys, and I will defend the 423 00:31:22,120 --> 00:31:27,200 Speaker 1: Monkeys as being a great entry point for people who 424 00:31:27,320 --> 00:31:31,040 Speaker 1: soon we're listening to more sophisticated stuff. The other thing 425 00:31:31,080 --> 00:31:36,000 Speaker 1: to remember is that reviews are written to be read 426 00:31:36,080 --> 00:31:39,880 Speaker 1: the day after and then thrown away, and they're not 427 00:31:40,080 --> 00:31:44,000 Speaker 1: meant to be pulled out as prosecution uh forty or 428 00:31:44,040 --> 00:31:46,280 Speaker 1: fifty years later. It's like, man, look at what Bob 429 00:31:46,320 --> 00:31:49,200 Speaker 1: Chris Gau said, What a nasty guy. Well, we actually 430 00:31:49,240 --> 00:31:52,840 Speaker 1: tried to subpoena Bob christ Gawen he to see if 431 00:31:52,840 --> 00:31:56,280 Speaker 1: he would recant on any of this, and he said no, thanks, 432 00:31:56,440 --> 00:31:58,640 Speaker 1: we can't blame him. You want to hear something really mean? 433 00:31:58,880 --> 00:32:01,000 Speaker 1: How can I stop you go? This is from British 434 00:32:01,120 --> 00:32:06,480 Speaker 1: rock critic Nick Kent in Vree wrote, John's the stereotype 435 00:32:06,480 --> 00:32:09,440 Speaker 1: of the neighborhood whimp who would get his head constantly 436 00:32:09,480 --> 00:32:12,360 Speaker 1: pushed down toilets in junior high school, who spent his 437 00:32:12,440 --> 00:32:14,720 Speaker 1: teenage years learning how to play old wood. He got 438 00:32:14,720 --> 00:32:17,400 Speaker 1: three songs in the TV room while the gang was 439 00:32:17,440 --> 00:32:19,880 Speaker 1: out on the streets stealing hub caps and cruising for 440 00:32:20,480 --> 00:32:22,600 Speaker 1: and who turn up at folk clubs and a denim 441 00:32:22,680 --> 00:32:25,440 Speaker 1: cap and promptly have beer cants thrown at him. Yep, 442 00:32:25,840 --> 00:32:29,360 Speaker 1: John Denver's sure paid his dues. As Steve Stills would say, 443 00:32:29,800 --> 00:32:31,880 Speaker 1: so far be it from me to lay the proverbial 444 00:32:31,960 --> 00:32:35,360 Speaker 1: mark of kine on him for producing this unadulterated piece 445 00:32:35,560 --> 00:32:40,200 Speaker 1: of organic draws. It doesn't seem impossible that Nick Kent 446 00:32:40,360 --> 00:32:43,880 Speaker 1: is projecting his own childhood or teenage years onto John 447 00:32:43,920 --> 00:32:46,200 Speaker 1: Denver in that piece. This is making me feel so 448 00:32:46,280 --> 00:32:50,280 Speaker 1: much better. Hashtag team Denver. Somehow, Mo, you have used 449 00:32:50,680 --> 00:32:53,640 Speaker 1: you have Perry Mason like wiles to turn me into 450 00:32:53,680 --> 00:32:57,400 Speaker 1: someone who is attacking my peers and defending John Denver. 451 00:32:57,640 --> 00:33:00,200 Speaker 1: I may never recover from this. Bill say is that 452 00:33:00,320 --> 00:33:03,920 Speaker 1: John Denver was intentionally middle of the road where you're 453 00:33:03,960 --> 00:33:06,960 Speaker 1: bound to get run over. At the end of the sixties, 454 00:33:07,520 --> 00:33:09,320 Speaker 1: it was a little bit like today, you know today 455 00:33:09,320 --> 00:33:11,440 Speaker 1: with the Red state Blue state divide. It was the 456 00:33:11,480 --> 00:33:14,320 Speaker 1: counterculture and the mainstream culture. It was a M and 457 00:33:14,400 --> 00:33:17,280 Speaker 1: F M. It was Rolling Stone or Time magazine, and 458 00:33:17,320 --> 00:33:20,160 Speaker 1: it felt like never the Twain would meet. But in fact, 459 00:33:20,160 --> 00:33:23,280 Speaker 1: the seventies was all about sort of people letting go 460 00:33:23,360 --> 00:33:27,240 Speaker 1: of that anger and coming together, and John Denver was 461 00:33:27,280 --> 00:33:29,600 Speaker 1: probably a symbol of that. But you know, again, he 462 00:33:29,680 --> 00:33:31,360 Speaker 1: was I'm not saying he wasn't kind of corny. He 463 00:33:31,480 --> 00:33:33,320 Speaker 1: was kind of corny, but that's what he set out 464 00:33:33,360 --> 00:33:38,080 Speaker 1: to be, and Not everybody has a thousand LPs in 465 00:33:38,120 --> 00:33:41,000 Speaker 1: their collection and reached the underground press. Some people just 466 00:33:41,040 --> 00:33:43,560 Speaker 1: want to hear a nice melody and a pleasant song, 467 00:33:44,040 --> 00:33:46,920 Speaker 1: and there's nothing wrong with that, nothing wrong with that 468 00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:51,320 Speaker 1: at all. As Bill witnessed firsthand, my younger brother and 469 00:33:51,360 --> 00:33:56,560 Speaker 1: sister absolutely adored John Denver. And when our mother died, 470 00:33:57,920 --> 00:33:59,640 Speaker 1: she was in My mother was in her forties. When 471 00:33:59,680 --> 00:34:02,160 Speaker 1: she died, she was she had five kids. I was 472 00:34:02,200 --> 00:34:06,920 Speaker 1: the oldest, I was nineteen. The youngest were nine and twelve. 473 00:34:07,840 --> 00:34:11,239 Speaker 1: And the day after her funeral, I took him to 474 00:34:11,239 --> 00:34:14,799 Speaker 1: see John Denver and it was the most joyous, life 475 00:34:14,800 --> 00:34:19,080 Speaker 1: affirming experience that we could have had. And I'll always 476 00:34:19,120 --> 00:34:21,280 Speaker 1: have a soft spot for John Denver for that, because, 477 00:34:22,000 --> 00:34:24,960 Speaker 1: you know, if you can imagine anything sadder than a 478 00:34:25,000 --> 00:34:28,560 Speaker 1: young mother dying and leaving five children than to watch 479 00:34:28,640 --> 00:34:31,839 Speaker 1: my little brother and sister just you know, who had 480 00:34:31,880 --> 00:34:34,759 Speaker 1: been were beyond grief stricken, who were who were just 481 00:34:34,800 --> 00:34:41,560 Speaker 1: stunned to watch them fall into delight listening to John 482 00:34:41,560 --> 00:34:46,200 Speaker 1: Denver saying was just a that that's the best thing 483 00:34:46,280 --> 00:34:50,240 Speaker 1: music can possibly do. And how well do you remember 484 00:34:50,280 --> 00:34:53,480 Speaker 1: that concert? First time I'd ever seen really big screens 485 00:34:53,960 --> 00:34:57,120 Speaker 1: at an arena concert and suddenly the screen split up 486 00:34:57,480 --> 00:35:00,200 Speaker 1: with film of a harvester going through the field, olds 487 00:35:00,280 --> 00:35:07,319 Speaker 1: and farmers gathering gathering. Hey, and it was magical, you know, 488 00:35:07,520 --> 00:35:11,160 Speaker 1: And listen, whether it's John Denver or whether it's Frank Sinatra, 489 00:35:11,560 --> 00:35:15,840 Speaker 1: or whether it's Frank's Appa, if music can lift somebody 490 00:35:15,880 --> 00:35:18,239 Speaker 1: out of the worst kind of grief at the most 491 00:35:18,320 --> 00:35:21,960 Speaker 1: vulnerable moment of their life and give them something to 492 00:35:21,960 --> 00:35:24,520 Speaker 1: look forward to and bring joy back into the life 493 00:35:24,560 --> 00:35:26,560 Speaker 1: of a grieving child. I mean, I don't mean to 494 00:35:26,560 --> 00:35:29,560 Speaker 1: get all Jerry Lewis tallethan here, but you know that's 495 00:35:29,560 --> 00:35:33,799 Speaker 1: a that's a very very powerful thing to accomplish. And 496 00:35:33,840 --> 00:35:36,279 Speaker 1: that's why, you know, I think if there's one thing 497 00:35:36,320 --> 00:35:39,400 Speaker 1: where we probably want to come back to and talking 498 00:35:39,400 --> 00:35:44,440 Speaker 1: about John Denver, it's that if music touches somebody, then great, 499 00:35:44,920 --> 00:35:47,200 Speaker 1: that's that's the best thing in the world. And if 500 00:35:47,239 --> 00:35:53,520 Speaker 1: it doesn't fit somebody else's framework or their aesthetic judgment, 501 00:35:54,239 --> 00:35:56,920 Speaker 1: you know, that's okay too, but it doesn't detract from 502 00:35:56,920 --> 00:35:58,400 Speaker 1: the power it has with someone who loves it. And 503 00:35:58,440 --> 00:36:02,040 Speaker 1: nobody should be told that they shouldn't love any kind 504 00:36:02,080 --> 00:36:05,239 Speaker 1: of art if it moves them. I've thought about who 505 00:36:05,360 --> 00:36:08,160 Speaker 1: John Denver would be in pop culture today had he 506 00:36:08,200 --> 00:36:11,880 Speaker 1: not died. My friend, the actress Pamela ad Lawn was 507 00:36:11,960 --> 00:36:15,600 Speaker 1: in a TV movie with him in and she's got 508 00:36:15,640 --> 00:36:19,440 Speaker 1: a really interesting theory which I floated by Bill. Pamela 509 00:36:19,480 --> 00:36:22,960 Speaker 1: ad Lawn said to me, if he had lived, he 510 00:36:23,080 --> 00:36:25,800 Speaker 1: might have been Dolly Parton. Big that kind of you. 511 00:36:26,120 --> 00:36:30,280 Speaker 1: That's a very very very interesting That's that's smart because 512 00:36:30,360 --> 00:36:33,440 Speaker 1: Dolly Parton probably got the same kind of criticism at 513 00:36:33,480 --> 00:36:38,439 Speaker 1: the same time as being manufactured fake, you know, a 514 00:36:38,480 --> 00:36:43,359 Speaker 1: big wig and extreme proportions and tons of makeup and 515 00:36:43,800 --> 00:36:46,759 Speaker 1: singing these little sing along songs that everybody likes and 516 00:36:46,840 --> 00:36:50,000 Speaker 1: appearing in pop movies. So that's a that's a really 517 00:36:50,040 --> 00:36:53,840 Speaker 1: really good observation that John Denver might have become Dolly Parton. 518 00:36:54,080 --> 00:36:56,560 Speaker 1: He might have become as respected as Dolly Parton. And 519 00:36:56,640 --> 00:37:00,000 Speaker 1: now that we live in a world where everyone we're 520 00:37:00,000 --> 00:37:05,120 Speaker 1: beers Dolly Parton and there is great retrospective um affection 521 00:37:05,200 --> 00:37:08,719 Speaker 1: for the Carpenters and nobody cares about what the great 522 00:37:08,760 --> 00:37:12,879 Speaker 1: rock critics of the seventies wrote. Sure, John Denver might 523 00:37:12,880 --> 00:37:16,359 Speaker 1: be uh, you know, might be getting the Presidential Medal 524 00:37:16,360 --> 00:37:20,799 Speaker 1: of Freedom. Today, I just wanted to show you US 525 00:37:20,840 --> 00:37:25,480 Speaker 1: is here meditation. This is Buck. Tom Crumb is showing 526 00:37:25,480 --> 00:37:29,080 Speaker 1: me around his delightful home in Aspen. It's an a 527 00:37:29,200 --> 00:37:32,120 Speaker 1: frame kind of looks like a ski shout from the outside. 528 00:37:32,600 --> 00:37:34,759 Speaker 1: But when he and his wife first moved in in 529 00:37:34,800 --> 00:37:38,240 Speaker 1: the early nineteen seventies, it didn't even have running water. 530 00:37:38,840 --> 00:37:42,240 Speaker 1: So I took a pipe of PBC pipe plastic pipe, 531 00:37:42,239 --> 00:37:44,439 Speaker 1: and ran it up into the hills right up there 532 00:37:44,520 --> 00:37:47,239 Speaker 1: new the where you can see the gondola. I don't 533 00:37:47,239 --> 00:37:49,200 Speaker 1: know if you can see it. This was just all 534 00:37:49,520 --> 00:37:55,040 Speaker 1: mining cabins along here. It's a charming outlier in today's Aspen. 535 00:37:55,760 --> 00:37:59,799 Speaker 1: In the backyard a small Japanese rock garden. On the 536 00:37:59,800 --> 00:38:03,160 Speaker 1: other side of the backyard fence, a forty six million 537 00:38:03,160 --> 00:38:07,719 Speaker 1: dollar mansion recently rented out by the Kardashians. How many 538 00:38:07,800 --> 00:38:10,960 Speaker 1: bitcoin billionaires come by trying to buy it? Yeah? Right, 539 00:38:11,400 --> 00:38:14,080 Speaker 1: I don't know. They come and go quick. I hear. 540 00:38:15,080 --> 00:38:18,960 Speaker 1: The inside of Tom's house is chocolate block with curiosities, 541 00:38:19,640 --> 00:38:24,920 Speaker 1: including a nineteenth century cross between a music box and phonograph. 542 00:38:24,760 --> 00:38:27,840 Speaker 1: Oh my god, this is a vagina phone. This is 543 00:38:28,200 --> 00:38:31,600 Speaker 1: I know the Vagina phone. Yes, I know about this. 544 00:38:31,600 --> 00:38:42,120 Speaker 1: This is so cool, so cool. I saw one of 545 00:38:42,120 --> 00:38:46,040 Speaker 1: these in Indianapolis at the President Benjamin Harrison home and 546 00:38:46,080 --> 00:38:50,759 Speaker 1: he was president elected. So it's the same, like the same, 547 00:38:51,880 --> 00:38:56,160 Speaker 1: but this is not a mobituary for Benjamin Harrison. At 548 00:38:56,200 --> 00:38:59,560 Speaker 1: the height of his fame, John Denver was struggling with 549 00:38:59,719 --> 00:39:04,840 Speaker 1: loneliness and demanding work schedule. That's when he turned to 550 00:39:04,840 --> 00:39:08,799 Speaker 1: Tom Crumb, who was teaching martial arts and meditation here 551 00:39:08,840 --> 00:39:16,200 Speaker 1: in Aspen. Tom came aboard to help handle security, but 552 00:39:16,360 --> 00:39:23,680 Speaker 1: also as emotional support for John. There's a song where 553 00:39:23,719 --> 00:39:29,120 Speaker 1: it goes he sometimes I fly like an eagle, and 554 00:39:29,239 --> 00:39:33,560 Speaker 1: sometimes I'm deep in despair. I think John was one 555 00:39:33,600 --> 00:39:36,560 Speaker 1: of those personalities. There's an up and down in him. 556 00:39:36,600 --> 00:39:39,359 Speaker 1: So those times he'd get quiet, yeah, he'd get dark, 557 00:39:39,480 --> 00:39:41,640 Speaker 1: but also a lot of creativity came out of that. 558 00:39:42,200 --> 00:39:44,960 Speaker 1: Did the songs come from the lonely place? Oh? I 559 00:39:44,960 --> 00:39:47,080 Speaker 1: think a lot of them. Did you know everything that 560 00:39:48,239 --> 00:39:53,239 Speaker 1: he would write about he was so fully committed to 561 00:39:53,840 --> 00:39:58,160 Speaker 1: and that only happens when you're feeling it deeply. Tom 562 00:39:58,239 --> 00:40:01,600 Speaker 1: was there as John's saw songs began fading from the 563 00:40:01,640 --> 00:40:05,720 Speaker 1: air waves, and as John began redirecting his energy towards 564 00:40:05,800 --> 00:40:11,200 Speaker 1: conservation and a host of other causes. In six John 565 00:40:11,239 --> 00:40:14,440 Speaker 1: and Tom bought a ranch near Aspen and set up 566 00:40:14,480 --> 00:40:19,799 Speaker 1: a humanitarian organization they named the Windstar Foundation. John was 567 00:40:19,880 --> 00:40:23,520 Speaker 1: no longer content to entertain the world. He wanted to 568 00:40:23,640 --> 00:40:26,640 Speaker 1: change the planet. We wanted to make a difference. We 569 00:40:26,719 --> 00:40:29,680 Speaker 1: wanted to affect the environment. We wanted to affect Hungary 570 00:40:29,719 --> 00:40:33,719 Speaker 1: with nuclear non proliferation. We had a wind generation, We 571 00:40:33,760 --> 00:40:38,200 Speaker 1: had solar retrofitting. Now this is in the world wasn't ready. 572 00:40:38,280 --> 00:40:41,800 Speaker 1: We're We're putting up solar panels, were doing bio intensive gardening. 573 00:40:42,440 --> 00:40:45,760 Speaker 1: By virtue of his celebrity, John was able to commune 574 00:40:45,920 --> 00:40:51,480 Speaker 1: with luminaries like Guru Ram Das, astronomer Carl Sagan, and 575 00:40:51,680 --> 00:40:56,960 Speaker 1: futurist and architect Buckminster Fuller. You know, friends like Warner Earhart. 576 00:40:56,960 --> 00:40:59,799 Speaker 1: When with the s movement, which was a very big 577 00:41:00,120 --> 00:41:03,919 Speaker 1: movement back in the early seventies, getting involved with that, 578 00:41:04,640 --> 00:41:08,680 Speaker 1: Denver Co found did a hunger nonprofit with Werner Earhard, 579 00:41:09,000 --> 00:41:12,719 Speaker 1: the controversial celebrity guru whose air hard to semin Our 580 00:41:12,800 --> 00:41:18,720 Speaker 1: trainings also known as st promised to transform lives. According 581 00:41:18,719 --> 00:41:21,760 Speaker 1: to sixty Minutes Are Heard was so popular in nineteen 582 00:41:21,800 --> 00:41:25,880 Speaker 1: seventies Hollywood that someone once suggested a studio be renamed 583 00:41:26,239 --> 00:41:30,840 Speaker 1: Werner Brothers. Increasingly, when John went on TV, it was 584 00:41:30,880 --> 00:41:34,360 Speaker 1: in support of his array of causes. Well, I'm a 585 00:41:34,480 --> 00:41:37,040 Speaker 1: very optimistic person. I think it's important for people to 586 00:41:37,040 --> 00:41:39,480 Speaker 1: know that we do feel we have the wherewithal if 587 00:41:39,520 --> 00:41:41,759 Speaker 1: people are willing to make the commitment, if governments are 588 00:41:41,800 --> 00:41:44,680 Speaker 1: willing to make the commitment to end hunger in our lifetime, 589 00:41:44,840 --> 00:41:48,319 Speaker 1: I mean, that's incredible. You know, John was so enthusiastic 590 00:41:48,360 --> 00:41:50,040 Speaker 1: if you went to a hearing with him. Let's get 591 00:41:50,080 --> 00:41:52,200 Speaker 1: out of songs now and get into the political world 592 00:41:52,400 --> 00:41:57,040 Speaker 1: where he's working on the Alaska Wildlands Bill, very influential. 593 00:41:57,080 --> 00:42:01,000 Speaker 1: They're working on the space issue, working on a hunger issue, 594 00:42:01,000 --> 00:42:04,720 Speaker 1: working on environmental issue, had all these issues. Once again, 595 00:42:04,840 --> 00:42:08,360 Speaker 1: John Denver seemed to be everywhere this time trying to 596 00:42:08,400 --> 00:42:12,080 Speaker 1: be all things to all causes. And you are involved 597 00:42:12,080 --> 00:42:15,400 Speaker 1: in all different kinds of causes. What does a cause 598 00:42:15,440 --> 00:42:17,279 Speaker 1: have to have? What does it have to represent in 599 00:42:17,360 --> 00:42:19,319 Speaker 1: order to get John Denver involved in Well, it's not 600 00:42:19,400 --> 00:42:21,399 Speaker 1: like a cause, you know, it's it's things that that 601 00:42:21,520 --> 00:42:23,440 Speaker 1: are are given to me or come up for me 602 00:42:23,480 --> 00:42:25,680 Speaker 1: because I am celebrity. I have been successful and have 603 00:42:26,120 --> 00:42:28,480 Speaker 1: certain things that come to people's mind when they when 604 00:42:28,480 --> 00:42:30,760 Speaker 1: they speak of my name or or hear my music. 605 00:42:31,280 --> 00:42:34,319 Speaker 1: To be clear, John Denver did throw himself into some 606 00:42:34,400 --> 00:42:38,880 Speaker 1: causes with real commitment. From saving the ocean, he formed 607 00:42:38,880 --> 00:42:42,960 Speaker 1: a deep bond with Jacques Cousteau to exploring outer space. 608 00:42:43,280 --> 00:42:46,200 Speaker 1: He was a serious contender to join the ill fated 609 00:42:46,320 --> 00:42:51,360 Speaker 1: Challenger mission. Instead, NASA went with teacher Christie mccauliffe. But 610 00:42:51,440 --> 00:42:54,799 Speaker 1: in his memoir, Denver revealed that he did so many 611 00:42:54,880 --> 00:42:59,400 Speaker 1: benefits and supported so many causes because he wanted so 612 00:42:59,560 --> 00:43:02,279 Speaker 1: much to be liked. He said he would agree to 613 00:43:02,360 --> 00:43:05,200 Speaker 1: some things not out of commitment to an issue, but 614 00:43:05,280 --> 00:43:08,239 Speaker 1: because he was afraid to say no. This was no 615 00:43:08,360 --> 00:43:12,800 Speaker 1: surprise to Annie Denver. Basically he was a pleaser. I 616 00:43:12,880 --> 00:43:16,200 Speaker 1: wanted to make people happy. I think that was hard 617 00:43:16,239 --> 00:43:21,560 Speaker 1: for him. He had a rough few years, was especially 618 00:43:21,640 --> 00:43:25,920 Speaker 1: rough early that year. John's father, Dutch, suffered a massive 619 00:43:25,960 --> 00:43:29,600 Speaker 1: heart attack and died. When John and Tom Crumb were 620 00:43:29,640 --> 00:43:32,920 Speaker 1: on tour, they were often flown by John's pilot father, 621 00:43:33,680 --> 00:43:37,120 Speaker 1: and Dutch had taught John how to fly hours spent 622 00:43:37,160 --> 00:43:41,680 Speaker 1: in the cockpit together began to heal their relationship. Once 623 00:43:41,760 --> 00:43:45,960 Speaker 1: he was asked by John to be his pilot and 624 00:43:46,040 --> 00:43:49,120 Speaker 1: to teach him to fly that jet. That's where it 625 00:43:49,160 --> 00:43:51,520 Speaker 1: all shifted. That and of course being at concerts and 626 00:43:51,640 --> 00:43:57,719 Speaker 1: seeing who John was. John mourned Dutch in song and 627 00:43:57,880 --> 00:44:04,800 Speaker 1: the soul the nice thing. Then, only months after Dutch 628 00:44:04,840 --> 00:44:09,800 Speaker 1: died on their fifteenth wedding anniversary, Annie filed for divorce. 629 00:44:11,480 --> 00:44:14,719 Speaker 1: When you look back now, after you've been married for 630 00:44:14,760 --> 00:44:18,719 Speaker 1: fifteen years and you decided to divorce, was that the 631 00:44:18,760 --> 00:44:25,840 Speaker 1: way it had to be? Yes, Yes, she's reluctant to elaborate, understandably, 632 00:44:26,400 --> 00:44:29,840 Speaker 1: But John himself would confess in interviews that he wasn't 633 00:44:29,880 --> 00:44:32,560 Speaker 1: there for Annie. He was still going on the road 634 00:44:32,640 --> 00:44:36,200 Speaker 1: for months at a time, and he'd been unfaithful to her. 635 00:44:36,760 --> 00:44:38,719 Speaker 1: My life is way out of balance in regard to 636 00:44:39,000 --> 00:44:41,840 Speaker 1: the time that I had with my family and uh 637 00:44:41,920 --> 00:44:44,200 Speaker 1: and that I have now, and I feel it more 638 00:44:44,280 --> 00:44:46,960 Speaker 1: with the kids being teenagers now. They had built a 639 00:44:47,000 --> 00:44:50,319 Speaker 1: home together in Aspen, but it just didn't seem to 640 00:44:50,320 --> 00:44:54,600 Speaker 1: be enough for him. John soon suffered another painful break up, 641 00:44:55,040 --> 00:44:59,280 Speaker 1: this time with manager Jerry Weintraub, who John claimed ditched 642 00:44:59,320 --> 00:45:02,279 Speaker 1: him for the move he was producing the Karate Kid. 643 00:45:02,760 --> 00:45:11,600 Speaker 1: Then another disappointment when the biggest stars in music came 644 00:45:11,640 --> 00:45:25,400 Speaker 1: together for African famine relief. Yeah, John wasn't invited. You 645 00:45:25,520 --> 00:45:28,600 Speaker 1: have been involved in hunger projects for fifteen years, long 646 00:45:28,680 --> 00:45:32,560 Speaker 1: before many other celebrities got on the bandwagon, so to speak, 647 00:45:32,719 --> 00:45:34,400 Speaker 1: and yet you were left out of the recording of 648 00:45:34,400 --> 00:45:37,720 Speaker 1: Way of the World. Were you upseid about that? Well, 649 00:45:37,880 --> 00:45:41,000 Speaker 1: you know what had happened. Uh, I was very disappointed. 650 00:45:41,160 --> 00:45:44,520 Speaker 1: I would love to have been there. That hurt him deeply. 651 00:45:45,000 --> 00:45:49,520 Speaker 1: He was on President Carter's Commission on World and Domestic Hunger. 652 00:45:49,960 --> 00:45:53,720 Speaker 1: This guy was out there making a difference way before 653 00:45:53,840 --> 00:45:56,319 Speaker 1: any of these people. I'm suddenly hunger after all these 654 00:45:56,400 --> 00:46:00,000 Speaker 1: years he's working on it becomes a huge public issue. 655 00:46:00,000 --> 00:46:03,640 Speaker 1: You and he's not invited. We are the world's producer. 656 00:46:03,719 --> 00:46:07,800 Speaker 1: Ken Craigan later said John Denver was the hardest artist 657 00:46:07,960 --> 00:46:11,560 Speaker 1: to turn down, but it had been years since John 658 00:46:11,600 --> 00:46:17,600 Speaker 1: had had a hit. He was invited later that year 659 00:46:17,640 --> 00:46:21,560 Speaker 1: to Washington, d C. To testify on an issue roiling 660 00:46:21,680 --> 00:46:26,000 Speaker 1: the music industry, sex and violence in rock and roll lyrics. 661 00:46:26,520 --> 00:46:29,320 Speaker 1: Whether records should be rated AX On one side. The 662 00:46:29,400 --> 00:46:32,320 Speaker 1: p t A and a group of influential women in Washington, 663 00:46:32,400 --> 00:46:36,560 Speaker 1: d C. Called the Parents Music Resource Center. In September, 664 00:46:37,960 --> 00:46:41,719 Speaker 1: Tipper Gore, wife of then Senator Al Gore, and other 665 00:46:41,800 --> 00:46:45,560 Speaker 1: Washington wives held a congressional hearing on the labeling of 666 00:46:45,680 --> 00:46:50,960 Speaker 1: music deemed obscene. Rock lyrics havept turned from I can't 667 00:46:50,960 --> 00:46:54,719 Speaker 1: get no satisfaction. I'm going to force you at gunpoint 668 00:46:54,760 --> 00:46:58,719 Speaker 1: to eat me alive. Other witnesses included d Snyder of 669 00:46:58,760 --> 00:47:04,480 Speaker 1: Twisted Sister and Frank Zappa. Mr Zappa, thank you very 670 00:47:04,520 --> 00:47:09,960 Speaker 1: much for your testimony. Next witnesses John Denver. Before his testimony, 671 00:47:10,080 --> 00:47:13,880 Speaker 1: it was anyone's guests who Denver would side with. It 672 00:47:13,960 --> 00:47:16,560 Speaker 1: may be very clear that I'm strongly opposed to censorship 673 00:47:16,600 --> 00:47:19,840 Speaker 1: of any kind in our society or anywhere else in 674 00:47:19,880 --> 00:47:22,799 Speaker 1: the world. My song Rocky Mountain High was banned from 675 00:47:22,800 --> 00:47:27,360 Speaker 1: many of radio stations as a drug related song. This 676 00:47:27,480 --> 00:47:29,360 Speaker 1: was obviously done by people who have never seen or 677 00:47:29,400 --> 00:47:32,640 Speaker 1: been to the Rocky Mountains and also had never experienced 678 00:47:32,640 --> 00:47:35,719 Speaker 1: the elation, the celebration of life for the joy in 679 00:47:35,800 --> 00:47:38,840 Speaker 1: living that one feels when he observes something is wondrous 680 00:47:39,239 --> 00:47:43,760 Speaker 1: as the perceed meteor shower. Years later, in a radio interview, 681 00:47:44,120 --> 00:47:48,960 Speaker 1: d Snyder said Denver's testimony was key. Me and Frank 682 00:47:49,040 --> 00:47:51,400 Speaker 1: were very worried about what John was gonna do. He 683 00:47:51,520 --> 00:47:54,000 Speaker 1: was such, he was like the all American guy then, 684 00:47:54,480 --> 00:47:56,440 Speaker 1: and we were very worried that he would turn his 685 00:47:56,520 --> 00:47:59,640 Speaker 1: back on his on on rock. But he did not. 686 00:47:59,760 --> 00:48:02,000 Speaker 1: He tall for us and I never got to shake 687 00:48:02,040 --> 00:48:04,680 Speaker 1: his hands though it's one of my regrets. But all 688 00:48:04,719 --> 00:48:08,239 Speaker 1: the activism didn't change the fact that his sales were 689 00:48:08,280 --> 00:48:13,440 Speaker 1: continuing to flag. The public had moved on. The following year, 690 00:48:13,800 --> 00:48:18,040 Speaker 1: in June of six, r c A tropped John Denver. 691 00:48:18,880 --> 00:48:22,480 Speaker 1: He was one of the top selling artists in their history, 692 00:48:22,520 --> 00:48:25,040 Speaker 1: but he wasn't worth what they were paying him anymore. 693 00:48:25,680 --> 00:48:27,800 Speaker 1: And now I'm not the biggest selling record artist in 694 00:48:27,800 --> 00:48:29,799 Speaker 1: the world, and I don't sell out big arenas like 695 00:48:29,880 --> 00:48:32,600 Speaker 1: I used to, and that might come around again, I 696 00:48:32,680 --> 00:48:38,680 Speaker 1: don't know. John married Australian actress Cassandra Delaney, and the 697 00:48:38,719 --> 00:48:42,000 Speaker 1: two had a daughter, but John continued to struggle to 698 00:48:42,080 --> 00:48:46,800 Speaker 1: find balance between his public and private lives. They soon divorced, 699 00:48:47,120 --> 00:48:52,239 Speaker 1: and friends say he fell into depression In interview, John 700 00:48:52,360 --> 00:48:55,920 Speaker 1: shared what he thought had happened to his career. One 701 00:48:55,960 --> 00:48:58,359 Speaker 1: of the major things I think for me in that 702 00:48:58,640 --> 00:49:03,000 Speaker 1: decline was both my wanting to stick to the music 703 00:49:03,000 --> 00:49:05,680 Speaker 1: that I do. I don't want to be told what 704 00:49:05,760 --> 00:49:08,359 Speaker 1: to record by anybody. I think I earned the right 705 00:49:08,400 --> 00:49:10,000 Speaker 1: to do what I do. That's where I had my 706 00:49:10,040 --> 00:49:13,040 Speaker 1: big success. And I'm not going to do a bunch 707 00:49:13,080 --> 00:49:15,400 Speaker 1: of country songs is because somebody thinks I'm a country 708 00:49:15,480 --> 00:49:17,640 Speaker 1: artist or that's what they want to sell from me. 709 00:49:18,320 --> 00:49:21,000 Speaker 1: It was like John had lost his sense of direction. 710 00:49:21,480 --> 00:49:24,640 Speaker 1: He wasn't sure where he belonged, but he no longer 711 00:49:24,680 --> 00:49:28,960 Speaker 1: had the guiding hand of someone like Jerry Weintraub. In 712 00:49:30,160 --> 00:49:35,080 Speaker 1: He recorded and released his twenty seven studio album All Aboard, 713 00:49:35,400 --> 00:49:40,160 Speaker 1: a children's train themed album, nine A Lie to Blow, 714 00:49:40,320 --> 00:49:43,280 Speaker 1: Dyna World to Blow, nine and one to Blow Your Horn. 715 00:49:44,960 --> 00:49:49,040 Speaker 1: The album earned John Denver his first and only Grammy award, 716 00:49:49,920 --> 00:49:53,320 Speaker 1: but he never got to accept it. Diving crews searched 717 00:49:53,320 --> 00:49:56,120 Speaker 1: the waters of Monterey Bay four pieces of the two 718 00:49:56,160 --> 00:49:59,800 Speaker 1: seaters single engineer plane and clues to the crash, but 719 00:50:00,080 --> 00:50:02,640 Speaker 1: singer John Denver was alone in the plane when witnesses 720 00:50:02,680 --> 00:50:05,560 Speaker 1: say it just fell from the sky and all of 721 00:50:05,600 --> 00:50:08,160 Speaker 1: a sudden there was a pop and a popping sound, 722 00:50:08,239 --> 00:50:10,279 Speaker 1: and it just kind of went up a little bit 723 00:50:10,320 --> 00:50:15,400 Speaker 1: and absolutely straight down, not spiraling, just absolutely straight down. 724 00:50:16,000 --> 00:50:19,680 Speaker 1: John was flying with a suspended license. He'd lost it 725 00:50:19,760 --> 00:50:24,280 Speaker 1: after two d u wise, but toxicology tests later showed 726 00:50:24,440 --> 00:50:27,720 Speaker 1: he'd been sober that day, And at the time, Tom 727 00:50:27,800 --> 00:50:31,440 Speaker 1: Crumb wasn't worried about his friend's mental health. Would you 728 00:50:31,480 --> 00:50:36,360 Speaker 1: worry that, you know, he might be suicidal or something? No? 729 00:50:37,080 --> 00:50:41,279 Speaker 1: I didn't. I just didn't. I knew John when they 730 00:50:41,280 --> 00:50:44,279 Speaker 1: were on the road years earlier. Tom had seen John 731 00:50:44,400 --> 00:50:47,200 Speaker 1: at his lowest. That was a tough time, coming out 732 00:50:47,200 --> 00:50:50,799 Speaker 1: of a dark darkness and and going in and know 733 00:50:50,800 --> 00:50:56,000 Speaker 1: when you're gonna have to perform for twenty two thousand 734 00:50:56,200 --> 00:51:01,239 Speaker 1: people and and bring them up, and you suddenly are 735 00:51:01,320 --> 00:51:04,320 Speaker 1: singing for them because now you have to do something 736 00:51:04,360 --> 00:51:08,160 Speaker 1: out there. That the performing was he antidote that made 737 00:51:08,200 --> 00:51:10,040 Speaker 1: him feel better. You go out and make a difference 738 00:51:10,080 --> 00:51:12,680 Speaker 1: for somebody and you'll feel better. But did you have 739 00:51:12,800 --> 00:51:15,600 Speaker 1: confidence that he'd come through it, that he would like 740 00:51:15,719 --> 00:51:18,200 Speaker 1: through the darker period? I did. I thought he was 741 00:51:18,400 --> 00:51:22,960 Speaker 1: coming out of it when he died. Annie Denver's last 742 00:51:23,040 --> 00:51:27,439 Speaker 1: conversation with John was just before his death. John died 743 00:51:27,480 --> 00:51:35,000 Speaker 1: October twelfth, And he had he had been home and 744 00:51:35,080 --> 00:51:38,520 Speaker 1: he had had dinner with Anna Kate, with your daughter, 745 00:51:38,560 --> 00:51:41,960 Speaker 1: Anna Kate. Yeah, and he called me and he was 746 00:51:42,040 --> 00:51:46,360 Speaker 1: in a great mood. John had recently sent Annie flowers 747 00:51:46,440 --> 00:51:49,640 Speaker 1: for her birthday, which he did every year, even after 748 00:51:49,680 --> 00:51:53,600 Speaker 1: the divorce. Oh, and even things were when things weren't good, 749 00:51:54,239 --> 00:51:57,480 Speaker 1: I always got flowers. And so I thanked him for 750 00:51:57,520 --> 00:52:00,880 Speaker 1: the flowers. And then there was a long, long pause, 751 00:52:02,280 --> 00:52:09,040 Speaker 1: and he said, this is totally indelibly etched in my heart. 752 00:52:10,239 --> 00:52:15,520 Speaker 1: And he said, oh, but Annie, I love you. On 753 00:52:15,600 --> 00:52:20,120 Speaker 1: Phil Donahue's show years before their divorce, Annie described her 754 00:52:20,120 --> 00:52:24,719 Speaker 1: relationship with John and his appeal to the masses. He's 755 00:52:24,760 --> 00:52:29,279 Speaker 1: always been very affectionate, very sensitive, to the point of 756 00:52:29,280 --> 00:52:33,320 Speaker 1: being moody sometimes, and it comes from I think stems 757 00:52:33,360 --> 00:52:36,920 Speaker 1: from his loneliness. He feels a lot of loneliness. Said 758 00:52:36,960 --> 00:52:41,360 Speaker 1: think it's the kids. And consequently he's always been very warm, 759 00:52:41,520 --> 00:52:44,799 Speaker 1: very affectionate, and he's it's really so that a lot 760 00:52:44,840 --> 00:52:47,719 Speaker 1: of men can't share those feelings, and John can sit 761 00:52:47,840 --> 00:52:51,040 Speaker 1: for everybody because everybody feels it, they just can't share it. 762 00:52:51,800 --> 00:52:55,279 Speaker 1: I think the loneliness John Denver projected was a big 763 00:52:55,320 --> 00:52:58,600 Speaker 1: part of his appeal. Like he told those Aspen school 764 00:52:58,680 --> 00:53:02,040 Speaker 1: kids back in nineteen and seven, he just wanted to 765 00:53:02,080 --> 00:53:08,160 Speaker 1: be liked. Who couldn't relate to that? Maybe it makes 766 00:53:08,239 --> 00:53:11,799 Speaker 1: perfect sense that he sang one of the most enduringly 767 00:53:11,960 --> 00:53:16,440 Speaker 1: popular songs ever written about home, a song that's beloved 768 00:53:16,520 --> 00:53:20,719 Speaker 1: worldwide about a place that wasn't ever actually his home. 769 00:53:22,160 --> 00:53:25,040 Speaker 1: I didn't know John Denver. I don't know if he 770 00:53:25,080 --> 00:53:28,239 Speaker 1: ever felt like he found home, but whatever he was 771 00:53:28,280 --> 00:53:33,319 Speaker 1: searching for, that yearning in his voice, that was real. 772 00:53:46,760 --> 00:53:50,279 Speaker 1: I certainly hope you enjoyed this Mobituary. May I ask 773 00:53:50,320 --> 00:53:53,239 Speaker 1: you to please rate and review our podcast. You can 774 00:53:53,239 --> 00:53:57,000 Speaker 1: also follow Mobituaries on Facebook and Instagram, and you can 775 00:53:57,080 --> 00:54:01,200 Speaker 1: follow me on Twitter at Morocca. Here all new episodes 776 00:54:01,200 --> 00:54:05,600 Speaker 1: of Mobituaries every Wednesday. Wherever you get your podcasts, and 777 00:54:05,680 --> 00:54:09,520 Speaker 1: check out Mobituaries. Great Lives Worth Reliving, the New York 778 00:54:09,520 --> 00:54:13,799 Speaker 1: Times best selling book, now available in paperback and audio book. 779 00:54:14,040 --> 00:54:19,480 Speaker 1: It includes plenty of stories not in the podcast. This 780 00:54:19,560 --> 00:54:23,759 Speaker 1: episode of Mobituaries was produced by Aaron Shrank. Our team 781 00:54:23,800 --> 00:54:28,560 Speaker 1: of producers also includes Wilco, Martinez Cacceto and me Morocca. 782 00:54:28,800 --> 00:54:32,759 Speaker 1: Editing was by Moral Walls, engineering by Josh Hahn, and 783 00:54:32,840 --> 00:54:36,440 Speaker 1: fact checking by Naomi Barr. Our production company is Neon 784 00:54:36,520 --> 00:54:41,000 Speaker 1: hom Media. Our archival producer at CBS is Jamie Benson. 785 00:54:41,280 --> 00:54:45,440 Speaker 1: Our theme music is written by Daniel Hart. Indispensable support 786 00:54:45,480 --> 00:54:50,239 Speaker 1: from Craig Swaggler, Dustin Gerveis, Alan Pang, Reggie Basil and 787 00:54:50,400 --> 00:54:54,720 Speaker 1: everyone at CBS News Radio Special thanks to Michelle Castle, 788 00:54:54,880 --> 00:54:59,680 Speaker 1: Young Kim and Alberto Robina. Mobituary's senior producer is the 789 00:55:00,040 --> 00:55:05,360 Speaker 1: comparable Aaron Shrank. Executive producers for Mobituaries include Steve Raizy's 790 00:55:05,440 --> 00:55:09,920 Speaker 1: and Morocca. This series is created by Yours truly and 791 00:55:10,000 --> 00:55:14,120 Speaker 1: as always undying gratitude to Rand Morrison and John carp 792 00:55:14,480 --> 00:55:25,800 Speaker 1: for helping breathe life into Mobituaries. Okay, High, This is 793 00:55:25,880 --> 00:55:30,320 Speaker 1: the end of Rocky Mountain High with about two thousand 794 00:55:30,400 --> 00:55:33,520 Speaker 1: people at the Paramount Theater, which was built and has 795 00:55:33,560 --> 00:55:39,920 Speaker 1: beautiful murals. Um So let's do this now. Okay, Rocky 796 00:55:39,960 --> 00:55:56,480 Speaker 1: Mountain High, Rocky Mountain High, Rocky Mountain High, Rocky Mountain High, 797 00:55:57,160 --> 00:56:03,440 Speaker 1: Rocky Mountain High, thank you,