WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. – He is ours. But he is also theirs.
Few artists are more closely associated with Colorado than John Denver. The capital is named after him. OK, that is a lie. He was born John Deutschendorf in Roswell, N.M. We always knew our mountains were beautiful, but when he put our thoughts to his lyrics in “Rocky Mountain High” five decades ago it became our state’s unofficial soundtrack.
But West Virginians consider Denver one of them. Not the city. The man. “Take Me Home, Country Roads” is not a song in these parts. It is an anthem. To understand its impact — the singalong nature, the down-to-roots appeal — we start at The Greenbrier Resort. We start at the beginning of Broncos practice on Wednesday, their first of the week.
As the players began stretching, “Almost Heaven, West Virginia” blared from the speakers. Stuck in the media tent, “Almost Prison, West Virginia” seemed more apropos. But darn it, Denver was right about the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Shenandoah River. Life is old there, older than the trees with changing leaves. And there were definitely mountains, mama.
This song isn’t about West Virginia. It is West Virginia.
“First of all, I am a child of the ’70s, so that’s my era of music. But ‘Country Roads’ is just a great song. It brings chill bumps thinking about it getting played after football and basketball games (at the University of West Virginia in Morgantown),” said Cathy Rennard, president and CEO of Carnegie Hall in Lewisburg, a city about 10 miles of country road down from The Greenbrier.
“It is woven into our fabric here. Who doesn’t know a good country road that can take them home?”
The purity of her explanation makes me wonder if I am doing it all wrong by following I-25 to my northern Colorado house every day after work. Time stops in this part of southeastern West Virginia. Shops close at 5 p.m.. Restaurants are only open a few days a week and the library reminds children that if there are five words on a page they don’t understand that they should check out a different book.
It harkens back to a simpler time. “Country Roads” was released in 1971 and rocketed to No. 2 on Billboard’s Hot 100 singles. It has been recorded in 19 different languages.
“We all know it so well. It is almost always the last song played at a wedding reception,” Rennard said. “It is wonderful the way that it connects people.”
When “Country Roads” became a hit, music was not divided into endless genres. Everyone knew it, the lyrics speaking to many Americans romanticizing a return to nature as the Vietnam War divided the country.
While Virginia also identifies with “Country Roads,” West Virginia and Colorado fight to claim Denver. “Rocky Mountain High” became our state’s second official song in 2007. It was released in 1972, topped the charts in 1973, and quickly became identified with the culture of Colorado.
Moving to Aspen provided the lens for Denver’s lyrics that still resonate today: “I’ve seen it rainin’ fire in the sky, the shadow from the starlight is softer than a lullaby, Rocky Mountain High.”
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“I grew up in Texas and when we traveled to Colorado for vacation we always cued up ‘Rocky Mountain High’ as we drove across the border. It was our family’s theme song,” said David Menconi, who attended high school in Colorado and worked as a music critic at The Boulder Daily Camera before spending almost two decades at the Charlotte News-Observer in North Carolina. “Colorado was a magical place where we could go skiing and hike in the mountains. That song evokes great memories.”
It is not without controversy. Before it became an official state tune, critics charged that it referred to drug use. Denver was a flawed man with a criminal record, but the “High” in the song was inspired by elevation, not intoxication, according to his brother.
However, some believe “rainin’ fire in the sky” was related to a meteor, not a sunset.
“Don’t say that,” laughed Menconi. “You are going to destroy a myth of my childhood.”
From sheer popularity, “Country Roads” tops “Rocky Mountain High.” Roads has a more universal appeal with musicians changing the lyrics to match their paths home. But the songs share much in common beyond their folksy sound. They represent nostalgia, a less complicated past.
“Rocky Mountain High” forecasted the future with Denver deriding the destruction of beautiful mountains by tourists. “Country Roads” reminds us of comfort, of homesickness, of longing for something out of reach.
Walking down Jefferson Street in Lewisburg after dinner, I spotted a shirt in the window with “Rocky Mountain High” emblazoned across the chest. It was splashed in orange, yellow and green with mountains sketched in stencil. Had Colorado, with a single piece of clothing, won this debate about Denver? Not exactly. A navy blue West Virginia cap hung above the shirt.
Rocky Mountain High shirt. (Troy Renck, The Denver Post)
John Denver is ours. But being back here for a week, he really is theirs. Or at least his song is.
“Every year we have our big fundraiser gala at The Greenbrier Resort and we have a band. And one of the first questions we can ask them is, ‘Do you know the words to ‘Country Roads?’” Rennard said. “The band last year did not. So I am not sure they will be back. Yes, the song is that special to us.”
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