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In What Country Did the Long March Take Place

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1971 single by John Denver

Not to be confused with the James Taylor song Country Road.

"Take Me Home, Country Roads"
John Denver with Fat City take me home country roads 1971 A-side US vinyl.jpg

Side A of the US single
Single by John Denver
from the album Poems, Prayers & Promises
B-side "Poems, Prayers and Promises"
Released April 12, 1971 (1971-04-12)
Recorded January 1971, New York City
Genre Country[1]
Length 3:17
Label RCA
Songwriter(s)
  • Bill Danoff
  • Taffy Nivert
  • John Denver
Producer(s)
  • Milton Okun
  • Susan Ruskin
John Denver singles chronology
"Friends With You"
(1971) 		"Take Me Home, Country Roads"
(1971) 		"Everyday"
(1972)
Audio
"Take Me Home, Country Roads" (audio) on YouTube

"Take Me Home, Country Roads", also known simply as "Country Roads", is a song written by Bill Danoff, Taffy Nivert and John Denver about West Virginia. It was released as a single performed by Denver on April 12, 1971, peaking at number two on Billboard 's US Hot 100 singles for the week ending August 28, 1971. The song was a success on its initial release and was certified Gold by the RIAA on August 18, 1971, and Platinum on April 10, 2017.[2] The song became one of John Denver's most popular songs. It has continued to sell, with over 1.6 million digital copies sold in the United States.[3]

The song is considered a symbol of West Virginia, which it describes as "Almost Heaven". In March 2014, it became one of the four official state anthems of West Virginia.

Composition

Inspiration for the title line had come while Nivert and Danoff, who were married, were driving along Clopper Road in Montgomery County, Maryland to a Nivert family gathering in Gaithersburg, with Nivert behind the wheel while Danoff played his guitar. "I just started thinking, country roads, I started thinking of me growing up in western new England and going on all these small roads," Danoff said. "It didn't have anything to do with Maryland or anyplace."[4]

To Danoff, the lyric "(t)he radio reminds me of my home far away" in the bridge is quintessentially West Virginian, an allusion to when he listened to the program Saturday Night Jamboree, broadcast from Wheeling, West Virginia, on WWVA at his home in Springfield, Massachusetts during his childhood in the 1950s.[5]

Danoff had some other West Virginia associations to draw from as well. He became friends with actor Chris Sarandon as well as a group of hippies from a West Virginia commune who used to sit in the front row of the little clubs in which his groups used to play:[5] "They brought their dogs and were a very colorful group of folks, but that is how West Virginia began creeping into the song," Danoff said. He briefly considered using his home state of "Massachusetts", rather than "West Virginia", as both four-syllable state names would have fit the song's meter. "I didn't want to write about Massachusetts because I didn't think the word was musical. And the Bee Gees, of course, had a hit record called "Massachusetts", but what did I know?" Danoff said.[5]

Starting December 22, 1970, Denver was heading the New Year's bill at The Cellar Door, with Fat City opening for him, just as Denver had opened at the same club for then headliner David Steinberg. After the club's post-Christmas reopening night on Tuesday, December 29 (Cellar Door engagements ran from Tuesday to Sunday and this booking was for two weeks), the three headed back to the couple's apartment for an impromptu jam. On the way, Denver's left thumb was broken in a collision. He was rushed to the emergency room, where the thumb was put in a splint. By the time they got back to the apartment, Denver said he was "wired, you know."[ citation needed ]

When Danoff and Nivert ran through what they had of the song they had been working on for about a month, planning to sell to Johnny Cash, Denver "flipped."[ clarification needed ] He decided he had to have it, prompting them to abandon plans for the sale.[ citation needed ] The verses and chorus were still missing a bridge, so the three of them went about finishing.

Nivert got out an encyclopedia to learn more about West Virginia, and the first thing that came upon was the Rhododendron, the state flower, so she kept trying to work the word Rhododendron into the song. Rhododendron was the title that Nivert had written down on the lyric sheet, which they later sent to ASCAP.[5] The three stayed up until 6:00 a.m., changing words and moving lines around.[6]

When they finished, on the morning of Wednesday, December 30, 1970, Denver announced that the song had to go on his next album.[6] Later that night, during Denver's first set, Denver called his two collaborators back to the spotlight, where the trio changed their career trajectories, reading the lyrics from a single, handheld, unfolded piece of paper. The resulting ovation is said[ by whom? ] to have been five minutes long.[ citation needed ] The next day was Denver's 28th birthday. They recorded it in New York City in January 1971.

Commercial performance

"Take Me Home, Country Roads" appeared on the LP Poems, Prayers & Promises and was released as a 45 in the spring of 1971. Original pressings credited the single to "John Denver with Fat City". It broke nationally in mid-April but moved up the charts very slowly. After several weeks, RCA Records called John and told him that they were giving up on the single. His response: "No! Keep working on it!" They did, and the single went to number 1 on the Record World Pop Singles Chart and the Cash Box Top 100, and number 2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, topped only by "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" by The Bee Gees.

On August 18, 1971, it was certified Gold by the RIAA for a million copies shipped.[7] The song continued to sell in the digital era. As of January 2020, the song has also sold 1,591,000 downloads since it became available digitally.[3]

Eric Weissberg played banjo and steel guitar on the recording, who is best known for Dueling Banjos, a hit song of his in 1973 from the movie Deliverance, and he won a Grammy Award for it in 1974.

Reception in West Virginia

"Take Me Home, Country Roads" received an enthusiastic response from West Virginians. The song is the theme song of West Virginia University and it has been performed during every home football pregame show since 1972.

On September 6, 1980, at the invitation of West Virginia Governor Jay Rockefeller, songwriters Danoff, Nivert, and Denver performed the song during pregame festivities to a sold-out crowd of Mountaineer fans. This performance marked the dedication of the current West Virginia University Mountaineer Field and the first game for head coach Don Nehlen.[8]

The song is played for other athletic events and university functions, including after football games, for which the fans are encouraged to stay in the stands and sing the song along with the team.[9]

The song was played at the funeral for West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd at the state capitol in Charleston, West Virginia on July 2, 2010.[10]

The popularity of the song inspired resolutions in the West Virginia Legislature to adopt "Take Me Home, Country Roads" as an official state song. On March 7, 2014, the West Virginia Legislature approved a resolution to make "Take Me Home, Country Roads" an official state song of West Virginia, alongside three other pieces: "West Virginia Hills", "This Is My West Virginia", and "West Virginia, My Home Sweet Home".[11] Governor Earl Ray Tomblin signed the resolution into law on March 8, 2014.[12]

On November 1, 2017, the West Virginia Tourism Office announced it had obtained the rights to use "Take Me Home, Country Roads", in its marketing efforts. "'Country Roads' has become synonymous with West Virginia all over the world," said West Virginia Tourism Commissioner Chelsea Ruby. "It highlights everything we love about our state: scenic beauty, majestic mountains, a timeless way of life, and most of all, the warmth of a place that feels like home whether you've lived here forever or are just coming to visit." The opening phrase of the song, "Almost heaven", became a primary tourism office slogan.[13]

The Mountain State Brewing Company based in Thomas, West Virginia produces an amber ale named "Almost Heaven," which it says is "named after John Denver's ode to West Virginia, Country Roads".[14]

Personnel

  • John Denver – vocals, 6 & 12-string acoustic guitar
  • Bill Danoff – backing vocals
  • Taffy Nivert – backing vocals
  • Eric Weissberg – banjo, steel guitar
  • Mike Taylor – acoustic guitar
  • Richard Kniss – double bass
  • Gary Chester – drums, percussion

Charts

Certifications

Cover versions

Hermes House Band version

"Country Roads"
HermesHouseBandCountryRoads.jpg
Single by Hermes House Band
from the album The Album
Released May 21, 2001 (2001-05-21)
Length 3:22
Label
  • XPLO Music (Netherlands, UK)
  • various (international)
Songwriter(s)
  • Bill Danoff
  • Taffy Nivert
  • John Denver
Producer(s)
  • Jim Binapfl
  • John Lehmkuhl
  • Mark Snijders
  • Jack Buck
Hermes House Band singles chronology
"Disco Samba Part II"
(2000) 		"Country Roads"
(2001) 		"Que Sera Sera"
(2001)

Dutch pop band Hermes House Band covered the song and released it as "Country Roads". This version was first released in Germany on May 21, 2001,[23] and was issued in the United Kingdom on December 3, 2001, where it was a contender for the 2001 Christmas number-one single.[24] This version was a chart success in Europe, reaching number one in Scotland, number two in Germany and Ireland, and the top 10 in Austria, Denmark, and the United Kingdom.

Track listings

Dutch CD single[25]
No. Title Length
1. "Country Roads" (original radio edit) 3:22
2. "Country Roads" (happy dance version) 3:20
Belgian CD single[26]
No. Title Length
1. "Country Roads" (original radio edit) 3:22
2. "Country Roads" (happy dance version) 3:20
3. "Country Roads" (karaoke version) 3:20
European and Australian maxi-single[27] [28]
No. Title Length
1. "Country Roads" (original live radio version) 3:22
2. "Country Roads" (original radio version) 3:22
3. "Country Roads" (dance radio version) 3:20
4. "Country Roads" (happy party radio version) 3:20
5. "Country Roads" (original live extended version) 4:24
6. "Country Roads" (dance extended version) 4:14
7. "Country Roads" (happy party extended version) 4:26
UK enhanced CD single[29]
No. Title Length
1. "Country Roads" (original radio version) 3:22
2. "Country Roads" (original live extended version) 4:24
3. "Country Roads" (dance extended version) 4:14
4. "Country Roads" (video) 3:22
UK cassette single[30]
No. Title Length
1. "Country Roads" (original radio version) 3:22
2. "Country Roads" (original live extended version) 4:24
3. "Country Roads" (original dance extended version) 4:14

Charts

Certifications

Olivia Newton-John version

Olivia Newton-John released a cover version in January 1973 that reached the number 6 in Japan and the number 15 in the UK.[50] It was the lead single from her third studio album, Let Me Be There. This version, as well as the song itself, features prominently in the Japanese animated film, Whisper of the Heart.

Lynn Anderson version

Country music singer Lynn Anderson recorded a version of the song on her 1971 studio album How Can I Unlove You which reached the number 2 position on the Top Country Albums chart — one of the most successful albums Anderson released during her career.

Fallout 76 version

A cover version of the song, a collaboration between Copilot Music and Sound and the vocal group Spank,[51] was commissioned for and featured in both the teaser and full E3 2018 trailers for the 2018 video game Fallout 76, with its plot events are set in West Virginia.[52] Released as an iTunes-only single on July 4, 2018, the song reached No. 1 on the iTunes singles chart.[53] It debuted at No. 41 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart that week and at No. 21 on Billboard's Country Digital Songs the following week.[53] The official YouTube upload of the original John Denver recording, initially uploaded in 2013, would later edit its description in response to the song's use for the game.[54] In Australia, a promotional Fallout 76 vinyl featuring the cover was included with the December 2018 issue of STACK Magazine exclusively from retailer JB Hi-Fi.[55]

References

  1. ^ Kurt Wolff; Orla Duane (2000). Country Music: The Rough Guide. Rough Guides. p. 425. ISBN978-1-85828-534-4.
  2. ^ "American single certifications – John Denver – Take Me Home, Country Road". Recording Industry Association of America.
  3. ^ a b c Bjorke, Matt (January 25, 2020). "Top 30 Digital Country Downloads: January 24, 2020". Rough Stock . Retrieved February 3, 2020.
  4. ^ Segraves, Mark (December 30, 2020). "Co-Writer of 'Take Me Home, Country Roads' Dispels Myths Surrounding Song's Origins". NBC4 Washington . Retrieved August 30, 2021.
  5. ^ a b c d "Take Me Home, Country Roads". WVUSports.com. January 29, 2014. Retrieved February 11, 2019.
  6. ^ a b Collis, John (September 30, 2011). John Denver: Mother Nature's Son. Mainstream Publishing. p. 22. ISBN978-1-78057-330-4.
  7. ^ a b "American single certifications – John Denver – Take Me Home, Country Road". Recording Industry Association of America.
  8. ^ "Country Roads-John Denver WVU 1980 Introduction and Full Song (Audio)". YouTube. July 8, 2013. Archived from the original on November 7, 2021. Retrieved December 1, 2018. John Denver, Bill Danoff, and Taffy Nivert performing "Take Me Home, Country Roads" at the opening of West Virginia University's Mountaineer Field September 6, 1980. This audio recording includes the introduction by John Denver followed by the full song as recorded by WVAQ with Jack Fleming announcing.
  9. ^ "Welcome To | WVU Traditions | West Virginia University". Welcometo.wvu.edu. November 3, 2009. Archived from the original on July 20, 2011. Retrieved January 29, 2011.
  10. ^ Garcia, Jon (July 2, 2010). "Eulogizing Sen. Robert Byrd: The Hard Working, if Imperfect, Senator". ABC News. Archived from the original on July 5, 2010.
  11. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on March 16, 2014. Retrieved March 16, 2014. CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  12. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on March 8, 2014. Retrieved March 7, 2014. CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. ^ "WV Tourism obtains rights to use John Denver's 'Take Me Home, Country Roads'". West Virginia Press. November 1, 2017. Retrieved December 1, 2018.
  14. ^ "Brews". Mountainstatebrewing.com. Archived from the original on January 4, 2012. Retrieved February 13, 2012.
  15. ^ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 7580." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. September 4, 1971.
  16. ^ "Top RPM Adult Contemporary: Issue 5331." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. August 14, 1971.
  17. ^ "Top RPM Country Tracks: Issue 5339." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. August 14, 1971.
  18. ^ "John Denver Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved March 26, 2015.
  19. ^ "John Denver Chart History (Adult Contemporary)". Billboard. Retrieved March 26, 2015.
  20. ^ "Hot Country Singles". Billboard. Vol. 83 no. 36. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. September 4, 1971. p. 32. ISSN 0006-2510.
  21. ^ "Italian single certifications – John Denver – Take Me Home, Country Roads" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved April 15, 2019. Select "2019" in the "Anno" drop-down menu. Select "Take Me Home, Country Roads" in the "Filtra" field. Select "Singoli" under "Sezione".
  22. ^ "British single certifications – John Denver – Take Me Home Country Roads". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved August 31, 2021.
  23. ^ a b "Hermes House Band – Country Roads" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts.
  24. ^ "The Christmas Number One Race" (PDF). Music Week. December 1, 2001. p. 21. Retrieved August 21, 2021.
  25. ^ Country Roads (Dutch CD single disc notes). Hermes House Band. XPLO Music. 2001. 0133636ERE. CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  26. ^ Country Roads (Belgian CD single liner notes). Hermes House Band. ARS Productions. 2001. scd 740635-5. CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  27. ^ Country Roads (European maxi-single liner notes). Hermes House Band. XPLO Music. 2001. 74321 89745 2. CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  28. ^ Country Roads (Australian maxi-single liner notes). Hermes House Band. Hussle Recordings. 2001. PORNCD5004. CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  29. ^ Country Roads (UK enhanced CD single liner notes). Hermes House Band. XPLO Music, Liberty Records. 2001. 7243 5 50234 0 7. CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  30. ^ Country Roads (UK cassette single sleeve). Hermes House Band. XPLO Music. 2001. 7243 5 50234 4 5. CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  31. ^ "Hermes House Band – Country Roads" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40.
  32. ^ "Hermes House Band – Country Roads" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
  33. ^ "Hermes House Band – Country Roads". Tracklisten.
  34. ^ "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 18 no. 38. September 15, 2001. p. 9. Retrieved February 10, 2020.
  35. ^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Country Roads". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved January 28, 2020.
  36. ^ "Top 10 Dance Singles, Week Ending 11 October 2001". GfK Chart-Track. Retrieved June 2, 2019. [ dead link ]
  37. ^ "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 1, 2002" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40.
  38. ^ "Hermes House Band – Country Roads" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
  39. ^ "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  40. ^ "Hermes House Band – Country Roads". Singles Top 100.
  41. ^ "Hermes House Band – Country Roads". Swiss Singles Chart.
  42. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  43. ^ "Jahreshitparade Singles 2001" (in German). Retrieved November 9, 2019.
  44. ^ "Year in Review – Eurochart Hot 100 Singles 2001" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 18 no. 52. December 22, 2001. p. 14. Retrieved February 10, 2020.
  45. ^ "Top 100 Single–Jahrescharts 2001" (in German). GfK Entertainment. Retrieved June 12, 2018.
  46. ^ "Best of Singles 2001". IRMA. Retrieved June 12, 2018.
  47. ^ "The Official UK Singles Chart 2001" (PDF). UKChartsPlus . Retrieved June 12, 2018.
  48. ^ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Hermes House Band; 'Country Roads')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie.
  49. ^ "British single certifications – Hermes House Band – Country Roads". British Phonographic Industry.
  50. ^ "Olivia Newton-John | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company". www.officialcharts.com.
  51. ^ Hines, Pete (July 4, 2018). "IT'S FINALLY HERE. Download Country Roads cover now. It was recorded by our friends at CoPilot with a group out of New York called Spank. You've never heard of them, but maybe seen them performing on the streets of New York". Twitter . Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  52. ^ Kuchera, Ben (June 11, 2018). "Fallout 76 has everyone humming John Denver". Polygon. Vox Media, Inc. Retrieved July 22, 2018.
  53. ^ a b c d Hampp, Andrew (July 31, 2018). "Songs for Screens: How a John Denver Classic Resurfaced Thanks to 'Fallout 76'". Variety . Retrieved September 17, 2018.
  54. ^ "John Denver – Take Me Home, Country Roads (Audio)". YouTube. April 5, 2013. Retrieved October 11, 2018. John Denver's official audio for 'Take Me Home, Country Roads', as featured on Fallout 76.
  55. ^ Kolbe, Alesha (December 3, 2018). "Grab a FREE Fallout 76 vinyl with this month's STACK Magazine". stack.com.au. Archived from the original on December 5, 2018. Retrieved December 4, 2018.

External links

  • ‹The template MetroLyrics song is being considered for deletion.› Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics

In What Country Did the Long March Take Place

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Take_Me_Home,_Country_Roads

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