John Denver: Take Me Home Reaction 

Exactly Cynthia. We all have our own version of "West Virginia" I love this song and am so happy you reacted to it. It has been a while since I heard it. Yet it still has the power to make me want to hop on that Country Road and head back home.. To that place in time when life was far less complicated. Great reaction young lady, Rick

I don't know anyone who doesn't like this young or old, always sing along loudly. One of the best songs of all time in my opinion

Growing up, I spent my summers on the old home place (my Grandmother's) in West Virginia. I loved my time there with a passion only the young can possess. The memories pull at me still and I"m almost 65.

I can never listen to this without tearing up. The moment the music begins.Every time.

You described this beautifully! John Denver wrote all his own songs ❤️. He is missed very much. Thank you.

Married couple Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert had written the verses and the chorus of the song with plans of selling it to Johnny Cash. However, it lacked the bridge so they were still working on it. The couple were opening for Denver at The Cellar Door in DC. After the show one night, they played the song for Denver who immediately asked if he could have it. He worked with them, completing the bridge and tweaking the lyrics (and getting writing credit as well). The song was inspired by Danoff’s growing up in Western Massachusetts and his fond memories of country roads, but “Massachusetts” just didn’t fit. Through his childhood, Danoff had listened to a country station in West Virginia, so, although none of the three had ever been there, it became the setting of the song. They finished Country Roads at 6:00 a.m. Dec 30, 1970, and they first performed it that night at their show, reading the lyrics off a hand written sheet of paper (to a 5 min standing ovation). Denver recorded it in Jan, 1971, with Danoff and Nivert singing back up.

This song was created by Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert (they are providing the great support vocals on this recording). John was sharing some gigs with them and while at their apartment, asked if they had any new songs they wanted to him hear. They had this one which they had in mind for Johnny Cash. He loved it and the three of them stayed up all night completing the song. The first time they played it at a club, the club erupted into a 5 minute standing ovation and the rest is history. Bill and Taffy went on to be in the Starland Vocal Band and had a major hit with Afternoon Delight.

To all of us, there is no place like home. Deep within all of us and something we can all relate to and understand each other.

John Denver....at the top table of great musical artists....Beautiful and your are so right very emotional/ John Denver speaks to your soul in a message of love and the love of nature and the beauty that it offers if we just take time to let it into our hearts. Thanks for tour reaction

I forgotten how good John was.....

How I now regret not to listen to country music when I was a kid.

John Denver was one of my favorites his music was so down to earth .He is Greatly missed . R-I-P JOHN

Great reaction. This is my All time favorite song of mine by John Denver. John Denver always had such an honest sound when he sang.

Hi my dear... that was such a lovely reaction video... You probably know that there are different covers of this song, some of them turned into some sort of crappy party song and therefor also well-lnown by the younger generation, but to be honest : Nothing beats this original version ! John Denver (who by the way has GERMAN roots, since his father was a German-American) sings it with so much authenticity and feeling. I can't even imagine anyone else singing this song better, or more beautiful than him. This is by far his most popular and best-known song, but he has lots of other great songs as well, that you can react to. And your thoughts at the end were so wonderful... and they nailed it, of course. Talking about "home", I suggested J.J. Grey & Mofro to you with the song "Lpchloosa" from "Brighter days"... it's also a song about homecoming, finding peace and rest at your favourite place and forgetting about all your troubles. It's a great song and I'm sure you'lll like it as much as I do. Hugs and kisses from your dear friend Gerry

Insightful reaction! This is his biggest hit, but he has a huge catalog of wonderful songs. Thank you!

As you say, the song makes us yearn for home. It seems to me he may be singing about longing to be back with his mother or wife. It makes me think of road trips to see my mom, and how warm and relaxing it felt to be back home with her, even when I was a 40 year-old adult. Those of us who've lost our mothers look forward to the final reunion in heaven. I remember when Michael J. Fox was interviewed by James Lipton, his answer to the question, "What will heaven be like?". He said, my Dad will greet me and say, "The (Toronto Maple) Leafs are on and there's beer in the fridge. " In my case, my Mom will greet me and say, "The Blues are on and there's coffee in the kitchen."

I thought I left a commit. I love playing this song on my guitar. John had a big influence on my playing guitar. Yes. I ask you to listen to Rocky mountin high about 2 years ago. I loved your reaction as much as I love playing this song.

I'm so glad you enjoyed this song. I'm actually a West Virginian since birth so it is particularly personal to me, but it does represent the feeling of "home", wherever that may be for each listener. I even heard it played one summer at the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, Turkey❤

Such evocative lyrics: "life is old there, older than the trees" and "dark and dusty, painted on the sky" and "misty taste of moonshine"

The only "western" ( non-Chinese ) song allowed to be played over the airwaves in mainland China for quite a few years. How that came about, & how J.D. found out about it when he took a trip there to "get away" from the problems he was facing at the time, makes for an interesting story....

Great song and reaction. Just found your channel. I will lurk here a while.

That's the right reaction to this song. 🥲

John recorded around 300 songs during his career, and among these he wrote or co-wrote around 200 of them. Take Me Home, Country Roads was one of his many collaborations, with the song originally composed, though unfinished, by friends Bill and Taffy Danoff, a married couple who performed alongside John in folk clubs around Washington DC in the early 1970s. One evening after leaving work the three finished up at the Danoff's DC apartment, and there they showed John their still unfinished song that they had hoped to pitch to Johnny Cash. They spent the rest of the night completing the song, and John was so taken with it that he proposed to add it immediately to the new album Poems, Prayers and Promises that he was at that time still working on for RCA. Thus Take Me Home, Country Roads was hurriedly added to John's new album, virtually edging out the title track that would go on to be a B side on John's next single, with Take me home, Country Roads being perhaps John's most successful single record ever. The beautiful Poems, Prayers and Promises would never get the recognition it so richly deserved. John shared recording credits for the Take Me Home, Country Roads single recording with co-writers Bill and Taffy, who also provided the backing vocals, and who are billed by their stage name as Fat City on the original RCA recording. John's gain was a huge loss forJohnny Cash, who would one day join John in a wonderful duet version on TV of the song that might have been his. After John's untimely death in a flying accident in 1997 this song would go on to be chosen as a state song for West Virginia. His Rocky Mountain High would also become a state song for Colorado! Not since Steven Foster in the 19th century had any songwriter ever achieved two state songs in his legacy! That shows just how special John Denver was.

I was raised on a ranch and was immersed in country when this song came out in 1971. This was not a country song. John Denver was a folk singer at the time and this song rose to prominence on the same radio stations that were playing The Bee Gees and Three Dog Night. It wasn't until the outlaw country movement really got going a year or two later when artists not considered Nashville certified were played on country stations and even then, it was mainly on FM adult contemporary stations. Country Roads rose to #2 on the Billboard 100 late August 1971. If one looks at country play charts of 1971 they will not find Country Roads. Country artists could cross over onto mainstream radio but country radio and Nashville got the middle finger from Johnny Cash for a reason.

It’s very nostalgic

Beautiful reaction! If you ever get chance, drive down a country road in West Virginia and the song will take on a whole new meaning.

You got it love