I Want to Live (John Denver song)

Last updated
"I Want to Live"
I Want to Live single label denver.jpg
Single by John Denver
from the album I Want to Live
B-side "Tradewinds"
Released1977 (1977)
Genre folk
Length3:48
Label RCA
Songwriter(s) John Denver
John Denver singles chronology
"How Can I Leave You Again"
(1977)
"I Want to Live"
(1977)
"Bet on the Blues"
(1977)

"I Want to Live" is a 1978 charting single by John Denver from the album of the same name. Denver wrote the song "I Want to Live" after with folk singer Harry Chapin promoting the idea to President Jimmy Carter for a President's Commission on World Hunger. Denver conceived that the song should be used as the commission's theme song, though the commission produced little more than a report. [1] Denver's interest was spurred by seeing a documentary film by Keith Bloom called The Hungry Planet. [2]

Related Research Articles

John Denver American singer, songwriter, and activist

Henry John Deutschendorf Jr., known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer-songwriter, record producer, actor, activist, and humanitarian, whose greatest commercial success was as a solo singer. After traveling and living in numerous locations while growing up in his military family, Denver began his music career with folk music groups during the late 1960s. Starting in the 1970s, he was one of the most popular acoustic artists of the decade and one of its best-selling artists. By 1974, he was one of America's best-selling performers; AllMusic has called Denver "among the most beloved entertainers of his era".

Jimmy Webb American songwriter, composer, and singer

Jimmy Layne Webb is an American songwriter, composer, and singer. He has written numerous platinum-selling songs, including "Up, Up and Away", "By the Time I Get to Phoenix", "Wichita Lineman", "Galveston", "Worst That Could Happen", "All I Know", and "MacArthur Park". He has had successful collaborations with Glen Campbell, Michael Feinstein, Linda Ronstadt, the 5th Dimension, Art Garfunkel, and Richard Harris.

Roland Stephen "Steve" Taylor is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, music executive, film maker, assistant professor, and actor. A figure in what has come to be known as Christian alternative rock, Taylor enjoyed a successful solo career during the 1980s, and also served in the short-lived group Chagall Guevara. In contrast to many Christian musical artists, his songs have often taken aim at other Christians with the use of satirical, sardonic lyrics. In 1997, he founded the record label Squint Entertainment, which fueled the careers of artists such as Sixpence None the Richer, Chevelle, and Burlap to Cashmere. Despite this success, Taylor was ousted from the label by its parent, Word Entertainment, in 2001. He has produced and written for numerous musical acts, one of the most consistent being Newsboys. As a film-maker, Taylor co-wrote, directed, and produced the feature films Down Under the Big Top, The Second Chance, and Blue Like Jazz. After a decade and a half of hiatus, Taylor returned to performing music in 2010 as the front-man for Steve Taylor & The Perfect Foil, a supergroup he founded with Peter Furler, Jimmy Abegg, and John Mark Painter. Along with a university residency and continued filmmaking, Taylor would resume work on unfinished Chagall Guevara material into the 2020s.

Jimmy Page Guitarist for Led Zeppelin

James Patrick Page is an English musician, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the rock band Led Zeppelin.

John Mellencamp American rock musician and painter

John J. Mellencamp, previously known as Johnny Cougar, John Cougar, and John Cougar Mellencamp, is an American musician, singer-songwriter, painter, actor, and film director. He is known for his catchy, populist brand of heartland rock, which emphasizes traditional instrumentation. Mellencamp rose to fame in the 1980s while "honing an almost startlingly plainspoken writing style" that, starting in 1982, yielded a string of Top 10 singles, including "Hurts So Good", "Jack & Diane", "Crumblin' Down", "Pink Houses", "Lonely Ol' Night", "Small Town", "R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.", "Paper in Fire", and "Cherry Bomb". He has amassed 22 Top 40 hits in the United States. In addition, he holds the record for the most tracks by a solo artist to hit number one on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, with seven. Mellencamp has been nominated for 13 Grammy Awards, winning one. His latest album of original songs, Sad Clowns & Hillbillies, was released on April 28, 2017 to widespread critical acclaim. Mellencamp has sold over 30 million albums in the US and over 60 million worldwide.

Harry Chapin American musician

Harold Forster Chapin was an American singer-songwriter and philanthropist best known for his folk rock and pop rock songs. He achieved worldwide success in the 1970s and became one of the most popular artists and highest-paid performers. Chapin is also one of the best charting musical artists in the United States. Chapin, a Grammy Award-winning artist and Grammy Hall of Fame inductee, has sold over 16 million records worldwide. He has been described as one of the most beloved performers in music history.

Jimmy Cliff Jamaican musician, singer and actor

James Chambers OM, known professionally as Jimmy Cliff, is a Jamaican ska, rocksteady, reggae and soul musician, multi-instrumentalist, singer, and actor. He is the only living musician to hold the Order of Merit, the highest honour that can be granted by the Jamaican government for achievements in the arts and sciences.

Jon Hendricks

John Carl Hendricks, known professionally as Jon Hendricks, was an American jazz lyricist and singer. He is one of the originators of vocalese, which adds lyrics to existing instrumental songs and replaces many instruments with vocalists, such as the big-band arrangements of Duke Ellington and Count Basie. He is considered one of the best practitioners of scat singing, which involves vocal jazz soloing. Jazz critic and historian Leonard Feather called him the "Poet Laureate of Jazz", while Time dubbed him the "James Joyce of Jive". Al Jarreau called him "pound-for-pound the best jazz singer on the planet—maybe that's ever been".

Radney Foster American country music singer-songwriter, musician and music producer

Radney Muckleroy Foster is an American country music singer-songwriter, musician and music producer. Initially a songwriter in Nashville, Tennessee, Foster made his recording debut as part of the Foster & Lloyd duo, recording three studio albums and with nine singles on the country charts.

Jimmy Bain Scottish bassist

James Stewart Bain was a Scottish musician, best known for playing bass guitar in the bands Rainbow and Dio. He also worked with Thin Lizzy frontman Phil Lynott, co-writing on his solo albums.

Burning the Ground 1989 single by Duran Duran

"Burning The Ground" is the 20th single by Duran Duran, released in December 1989. It was created as a stand-alone single to promote the compilation album Decade: Greatest Hits. However, its music video was included on the band's audiovisual compilation Greatest, released in 1999 (VHS) and 2003 (DVD). The song is essentially a megamix of Duran Duran's history, featuring tidbits of all of the band's hits of the previous ten years.

<i>Live from London</i> (Duran Duran) 2005 video by Duran Duran

Live from London is a concert film by the British group, Duran Duran. It was filmed during the course of the last two of five sold-out nights at Wembley Arena in April 2004, during the band's first global tour after the reunion of the band's original five members.

<i>Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Volume Two</i> 1989 studio album by Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Volume Two is a 1989 album by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. The album follows the same concept as the band's 1972 album, Will the Circle Be Unbroken, which featured guest performances from many notable country music stars.

<i>I Want to Live</i> (album) 1977 studio album by John Denver

I Want to Live is the 12th studio album by American singer-songwriter John Denver released by RCA Records in November 1977. The title song was dedicated to the "Hunger Project", which Denver was on the board of directors.

Jenni Alpert

Jenni Alpert is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and pianist. Born in Los Angeles and adopted at the age of four, she started to sing and play piano while staying in various foster homes and began writing songs early. Jenni Alpert is the first unsigned independent artist to ever release an album on iTunes under the Mastered for iTunes category which was mastered by Eric Boulanger the designer of Mastered for iTunes. And that isn't the only time she was a pioneer for something new. As familiar with jazz as she is pop, Alpert graduated from UCLA in the Ethnomusicology Department as the first jazz vocalist to complete four-year jazz music program headed by Kenny Burrell. Inspired by the fusion of soul, folk, jazz, and pop, Alpert began self penning songs, co-producing, and recording concept genre albums coining the genre Soul-Americana with her unique take to sound. No stranger to the recording studio, she independently released seven albums before signing a 5 year licensing deal with S-Curve Records to release her eighth album Until Then which was recorded live in the studio in one take in Nashville, TN with guitarist Guthrie Trapp. Additionally, Independent Singer-Songwriter Jenni Alpert has performed in over 14 countries with no formal representation rather solely through the support of fans, acquiring radio play on UK's the BBC, PBS Australia, Triple J, and Sirius XM Radio: The Coffee House.. Upon finding and reuniting with her birth father later in life, Alpert's music and biological reunion story caught wind of adoptees around the country when a short documentary about her life their reunion called "Homeless: the Soundtrack”, filmed and edited by Emmy Award-winning director Irene Taylor Brodsky, receiving a Jury Award at Tribeca Film Festival, won best short film at Nantucket Film Festival, screened at the Laemmle Royal Theater in West Los Angeles, and was shortlisted for an IDA award in the short doc category.

Harry Chapin discography

This page is a discography for the singer and songwriter Harry Chapin. Chapin was a popular singer in the 1970s and 1980s. He achieved international success with a string of hits throughout the 70s and 80s. Chapin's career was cut short at its peak, when he was killed in a car accident in 1981. Shortly after his career debut in 1972, he became one of the highest paid artists in the world. All of his single releases managed to chart on at least one international chart.

Gerald Goldstein is an American producer, singer-songwriter, talent manager, music executive, musician and entrepreneur. He was one of the members of The Strangeloves, the co-writer of "My Boyfriend's Back" and "Come on Down to My Boat", the producer and songwriter of War, and the former manager of Sly Stone. Goldstein produced a single with teenage singer, Nancy Baron in 1963 for the Diamond Record label. Goldstein was part of a three-person production team which wrote and produced numerous records which are referred to as "FGG"-Feldman, Goldstein and Gottehrer. The numerous artists and their work in collaboration with FGG are listed in a Discography included in the references below.

Sharon Van Etten American singer-songwriter and actress

Sharon Katharine Van Etten is an American singer-songwriter. She has released five studio albums, the latest of which is Remind Me Tomorrow (2019).

Phantogram (band) American electronic rock duo

Phantogram is an American music duo from Greenwich, New York, formed in 2007 and consisting of multi-instrumentalists and vocalists Sarah Barthel and Josh Carter.

James Kevin Salestrom is an Grammy Nominated American singer/songwriter. Salestrom was lead singer of the band Timberline from 1971 to 1977. Salestrom performed in Dolly Parton's band from 1979 to 1991. As a solo artist, he has performed around the world.

References

  1. John Collis John Denver: Mother Nature's Son 1780573308 - 2011 "The trigger point for Denver was a documentary film by West Coast director Keith Bloom called The Hungry Planet ... and its anthem was to be the title song on the album Denver was preparing at the time of Carter's election, 'I Want to Live'."
  2. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, Jimmy Carter, 0160589347 "John Denver, the recording artist, who has also produced a film, "I Want to Live," directed toward the problem of world hunger"