I had always heard his music when I was a kid but never paid attention. These days i will put his music on when I working as it keeps me calm. Lol. Great voice. Great songs. No need to be complex. Just make good sounding music.
He was 52 when he recorded this - about a year before he died. John did age a little bit and likely why he looks older than some of his earlier videos/performances you have seen
I just watched “Oh, God!” for the first time in a while. It holds up well. He was so great as Jerry Landers. Always loved this song - ever since I was a kid.
This is a great song but maybe a case of the studio might be better than most of the live versions. More strings and woodwinds but still the same song and John is much more powerful! You watch The Wildlife Concert which was about 2 years before he passed away. If you want a song with John all by himself, try "This Old Guitar" about him writing a song about the guitar his grandmother had given him. "Poems, Prayers, and Promises" is my favorite song and there are 2 versions that are my favorites. Let me know if you want either one of them! One from a BBC tv show and other from the Wildlife Concert.
I agree Camilla, it's totally like a lullaby & a pinch to long, I would have been asleep around the 3 minute mark when I was 3 which coincidentally was 1971 the year this song was released.
His voice on the album version(younger) has more range & character. That & adding the oboe (?) mellows it out, a bit too much & loses some of the dynamic quality of the sings earlier performance, gives more lullaby feel.
Being my teenage years were in the 70's and being a Rush/Yes etc guy I had no interest in this at the time. Obviously anyone from my era not living under a rock knows John Denver and his tunes. I never really appreciated him until I got older. As a singer and songwriter it doesn't get much better honestly. I have seen reaction videos regarding live performances by him and they are really good...
Have a listen to the studio recording from his 1973 Greatest Hits album - totally different to this live version. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-nAcGxB3OGwI.html That said, this reworked live version needs to be listened to in context of the entire 1995 Wildlife concert, and the other songs that were performed around it throughout the whole show.
