"Rocky Mountain High" | ||||
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Single by John Denver | ||||
from the album Rocky Mountain High | ||||
B-side | "Spring" | |||
Released | October 30, 1972 | |||
Recorded | August 1972 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 4:43 | |||
Label | RCA Victor | |||
Songwriter(s) | John Denver, Mike Taylor | |||
Producer(s) | Milt Okun | |||
John Denver singles chronology | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"Rocky Mountain High" (audio only) on YouTube |
State song of Colorado | |
Adopted | March 12, 2007 |
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Preceded by | Where the Columbines Grow (equal status as of 2007, first adopted 1915) |
"Rocky Mountain High" is a folk rock song written by John Denver and Mike Taylor and is one of the two official state songs of Colorado. [1] [2] Recorded by Denver in 1972, it is the title track of the 1972 album Rocky Mountain High , and rose to No. 9 on the US Hot 100 in 1973. Denver told concert audiences in the mid-1970s that the song took him an unusually long nine months to write[ citation needed ]. On April 10, 2017, the record was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales exceeding 500,000 digital downloads.
Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time. [3]
"Rocky Mountain High" was primarily inspired by John Denver's move to Aspen, Colorado, three years before its writing, and by his love for the state. The seventh stanza makes reference to the destruction of the mountains' beauty by commercial tourism. The song was considered a major piece of 1970s pop culture and became a well-associated piece of Colorado history.
The song briefly became controversial that year[ when? ] when the U.S. Federal Communications Commission was permitted by a legal ruling to censor music deemed to promote drug abuse [ citation needed ]. Numerous radio stations cautiously banned it[ citation needed ] until Denver publicly explained that the phrase "everybody's high" was his innocent description of the sense of peace he found in the Rockies. In 1985, Denver testified before Congress in the Parents Music Resource Center hearings about his experience:
This was obviously done by people who had never seen or been to the Rocky Mountains, and also had never experienced the elation, celebration of life or the joy in living that one feels when he observes something as wondrous as the Perseid meteor shower on a moonless, cloudless night, when there are so many stars that you have a shadow from the starlight, and you are out camping with your friends, your best friends, and introducing them to one of nature's most spectacular light shows for the first time. [4]
In late 2007, the John Denver Sanctuary in Aspen drew some controversy after the last lines of the song, which included the controversial lyric, were removed from the "Rocky Mountain High" stone. [5]
Cash Box said that the song "sparkles with sincerity and beautiful lyrical images." [6]
After years as an unofficial anthem for Colorado, on March 12, 2007, the Colorado General Assembly made "Rocky Mountain High" one of two official state songs, sharing the honor with "Where the Columbines Grow". [1]
The song was also heard in "Final Destination" as a sign which was heard before each character dies.
American singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey referenced "Rocky Mountain High" in her 2023 single "The Grants".
Chart (1972-1973) | Peak position |
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Australia (Kent Music Report) | 39 |
Canada Top Singles ( RPM ) [7] | 8 |
Canada Adult Contemporary ( RPM ) [8] | 2 |
US Billboard Hot 100 [9] | 9 |
US Adult Contemporary ( Billboard ) [10] | 3 |
US Cash Box Top 100 [11] | 7 |
Colorado is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Colorado borders Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas to the east, Oklahoma to the southeast, New Mexico to the south, Utah to the west, and meets Arizona to the southwest at the Four Corners. Colorado is noted for its landscape of mountains, forests, high plains, mesas, canyons, plateaus, rivers, and desert lands. Colorado is one of the Mountain States and is often considered to be part of the southwestern United States. The high plains of Colorado may be considered a part of the midwestern United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains. Colorado is the eighth most extensive and 21st most populous U.S. state. The United States Census Bureau estimated the population of Colorado at 5,877,610 as of July 1, 2023, a 1.80% increase since the 2020 United States census.
Aspen is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 7,004 at the 2020 United States Census. Aspen is in a remote area of the Rocky Mountains' Sawatch Range and Elk Mountains, along the Roaring Fork River at an elevation just below 8,000 feet (2,400 m) above sea level on the Western Slope, 11 miles (18 km) west of the Continental Divide. Aspen is now a part of the Glenwood Springs, CO Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Henry John Deutschendorf Jr., known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer and songwriter. He was one of the most popular acoustic artists of the 1970s and one of the best-selling artists in that decade. AllMusic has called Denver "among the most beloved entertainers of his era".
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Where the Columbines Grow is one of the two official state songs of the U.S. state of Colorado. It was written and composed by Dr. Arthur John Fynn in 1911, and was adopted on May 8, 1915. In the early to mid-2000s, there was debate over replacing Where the Columbines Grow with John Denver's Rocky Mountain High or Merle Haggard's rare song Colorado. In 2007, the Colorado legislature named Rocky Mountain High as Colorado's second official state song, paired with Where the Columbines Grow.
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"Sunshine on My Shoulders" is a song recorded and co-written by American singer-songwriter John Denver. It was originally released as an album track on 1971's Poems, Prayers & Promises and later, as a single in 1973. It went to No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the U.S. in early 1974.
This page is a comprehensive discography of American folk musician John Denver. Denver had four number one hits on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, all achieved between 1973 and 1975: "Sunshine on My Shoulders", "Annie's Song", "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" and "I'm Sorry". Three of his albums were also number one sellers: "Back Home Again", "Windsong" and "John Denver's Greatest Hits", again all released between 1973 and 1975.
"Leaving on a Jet Plane" is a song written and recorded by American singer-songwriter John Denver in 1966, originally included on his debut demo recording John Denver Sings as "Babe I Hate to Go". He made several copies and gave them out as presents for Christmas of that year. Denver's then producer Milt Okun convinced him to change the title; the song was renamed "Leaving on a Jet Plane" in 1967.
The geography of the U.S. State of Colorado is diverse, encompassing both rugged mountainous terrain, vast plains, desert lands, desert canyons, and mesas. Colorado is a landlocked U.S. state. In 1861, the United States Congress defined the boundaries of the new Territory of Colorado exclusively by lines of latitude and longitude, stretching from 37°N to 41°N latitude, and from 102°02'48"W to 109°02'48"W longitude. Starting in 1868, official surveys demarcated the boundaries, deviating from the parallels and meridians in several places. Later surveys attempted to correct some of these mistakes but in 1925 the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed that the earlier demarcation was the official boundary. The borders of Colorado are now officially defined by 697 boundary markers connected by straight boundary lines. Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah are the only states that have their borders defined solely by straight boundary lines with no natural features. The southwest corner of Colorado is the Four Corners Monument at 36°59'56"N, 109°2'43"W. This is the only place in the United States where four states meet: Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah.
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