Country Roads
Transcript: Country Roads by John Denver Presented By James, Hunter, Thomas and Kyuss 8. 7. 6. 5. What else did John do Inspiration and Career 4. 3. 2. 1. About The Author About The Author The singer of Country Roads is John Denver although the song was originally written by Taffy Nivert and Bill Danof. John was born in Roswell, New Mexico on December 31, 1943. John made about 300 songs, mostly country and acoustic guitar music. He had 33 albums and singles that were Gold and Platinum in the U.S with an estimated 33 million sales. He died in a plane crash on October 12, 1997. The Songs Meaning The song was written about the Clopper Road in Maryland and its winding, twisting roads which Bill and Taffy were taking to get to a family reunion which is why they say "Country roads, take me home." The country roads are taking them home, maybe to their family which they refer to as their home. While writing the song they were thinking of the country roads that they grew up around and the landmarks they lived around. They refered to West Virginia as "Almost Heaven" as they sung about the landmarks even though some of the places they sung about in the song aren't in West Virginia.. The Songs Meaning Why the Song was Written Why the Song was Written In 1970 Billy Danoff and Taffy Nivert got inspired to make the song by Clopper Road in Maryland when driving to a family reunion. They wrote the song when they got bored during the drive. The song was about the winding roads and the land around them. But during making the song they had a problem. The problem was that Maryland didn't fit into the song because it had too many syllables, so they chose West Virginia because it sounded better. Later in the year John met up with them and they spent a whole night re-writing and re-arranging the song. John then performed it that night. He released the song in the album Poems, Prayers & Promises in 1971. Clopper Road Lyrics Lyrics Almost heaven, West Virginia Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River Life is old there, older than the trees Younger than the mountains, growin' like a breeze Country roads, take me home To the place I belong West Virginia, mountain mama Take me home, country roads All my memories gather 'round her Miner's lady, stranger to blue water Dark and dusty, painted on the sky Misty taste of moonshine, teardrop in my eye Country roads, take me home To the place I belong West Virginia, mountain mama Take me home, country roads I hear her voice in the mornin' hour, she calls me The radio reminds me of my home far away Drivin' down the road, I get a feelin' That I should've been home yesterday, yesterday Country roads, take me home To the place I belong West Virginia, mountain mama Take me home, country roads Country roads, take me home To the place I belong West Virginia, mountain mama Take me home, country roads Take me home, (down) country roads Take me home, (down) country roads What Inspired John and his Career When John was 11 he was given his grandmothers guitar. He started to take lessons and joined a choir. He started his carrer as a musician at the age of 20. He was chosen for the lead singer for the Mitchell Trio. In two years he released 3 albums and started to devolp his own style. Eventually the trio was disbanded but John continued to become more popular, becoming one of the most popular stars in the 1970's. By his third album John started to sing more about the enviroment with support from his fans. He also started to sing about peace. He became the first american singer to perform in the Soviet Union after the Cold War. He was also the first western singer to perform in mainland China. His song Rocky Mountain High became one of Colarado's two states song and Country roads became West Virginia's state song. Other than writting songs John was also a photographer and took photos on his holidays and showed his photos professionally along with speeches at colleges and universities. John also really liked the nature and conserving it, so in 1976 he cofounded the Windstar Foundation. The foundation was used to educate people about the enviroment and also conserved 1,000 acres of land in Colarado. John also spent 20 years with UNICEF to help with hunger and poverty. John was also a pilot trained by his father who was in the Air Force. What else did John do Why we chose this song We chose this song because we thought that the song had a lot of meaning behind it and that it would be a good song to learn about. We also thought that there would be a lot to learn about the Author and what he did during his life and his inspiration for making the song. We also just like this song. Why we chose this song The Significance of Country Roads Significance of the song This song has gained a lot of views and made a lot of sales since its release. On Youtube Country Roads has made over 50 million views and 370 thousand likes not including all the covers and reposts. Since it's release there have been 150 covers in over 19 languages.