"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.
"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. [3]
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. [4]
Cash Box said that the song "sparkles with sincerity and beautiful lyrical images." [5]
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 ) [6] | 8 |
Canada Adult Contemporary ( RPM ) [7] | 2 |
US Billboard Hot 100 [8] | 9 |
US Adult Contemporary ( Billboard ) [9] | 3 |
US Cash Box Top 100 [10] | 7 |
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 bestselling artists in that decade. AllMusic has called Denver "among the most beloved entertainers of his era".
"Annie's Song" (also known as "Annie's Song (You Fill Up My Senses)") is a song written and recorded by American singer-songwriter John Denver. The song was released as the lead single from his eighth studio album Back Home Again. It was his second number-one song in the United States, occupying that spot for two weeks in July 1974. "Annie's Song" also went to number one on the Easy Listening chart. Billboard ranked it as the No. 25 song for 1974.
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.
"Piano Man" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Billy Joel. First released as a single in the US on November 2, 1973, it was included on Joel's 1973 album Piano Man. The song is sung from the point of view of a piano player at a bar, describing the patrons. "Piano Man" is based on Joel's real-life experiences as a lounge musician in Los Angeles from 1972 to 1973, which he had decided to pursue in an effort to escape his contracted New York City–based record company at the time, Family Productions, following the poor commercial performance of his debut album, Cold Spring Harbor (1971).
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A Song for You is the fourth studio album by the American music duo the Carpenters, released on June 22, 1972. According to Richard Carpenter, A Song for You was intended to be a concept album with the title tune opening and closing the set and the bookended selections comprising the 'song'. "A Song for You" was written by songwriter Leon Russell.
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Now & Then is the fifth studio album by the American music duo the Carpenters, released on May 1, 1973. It reached No. 2 on the Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart on July 21, 1973, and ranked No. 20 on the Cash Box year-end pop albums chart. The title, suggested by Karen and Richard's mother Agnes, was taken from a leftover song that did not appear on the album.
"To Know Him Is to Love Him" is a song written by Phil Spector, inspired by the words on his father's gravestone, "To Know Him Was to Love Him". It was first recorded by the only vocal group of which he was a member, The Teddy Bears. The single spent three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1958, while reaching No. 2 on the UK's New Musical Express chart. Peter & Gordon and Bobby Vinton later each experienced chart success with the song, in 1965 and 1968, respectively.
John Denver's Greatest Hits is the first greatest hits album by American singer-songwriter John Denver, released in November 1973 by RCA Records. A version known as The Best of John Denver with the same track listing was released in some countries.
Rocky Mountain High is the sixth studio album released by American singer-songwriter John Denver in September 1972. It was his first US Top 10 album, propelled by the title single, and in addition reached no. 11 in the UK and no. 1 in Canada. The album's cover photograph was taken at Slaughterhouse Falls, Rio Grande Trail, Aspen, Colorado.
The following is John Denver's comprehensive filmography, listed from the newest to the oldest, organized in tiers in accordance with the dates of recording or airing. The filmography does not include any appearances of Denver post-1997.
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