"Thank God I'm a Country Boy" | ||||
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Single by John Denver | ||||
from the album Back Home Again & An Evening with John Denver | ||||
B-side | "My Sweet Lady" | |||
Released | March 1975 | |||
Recorded | August 26, 1974 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 3:13 2:47 (single edit) | |||
Label | RCA Victor | |||
Songwriter(s) | John Martin Sommers | |||
Producer(s) | Milton Okun | |||
John Denver singles chronology | ||||
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Audio | ||||
John Denver – "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" on YouTube |
"Thank God I'm a Country Boy", also known as "Country Boy", is a song written by John Martin Sommers [3] and recorded by American singer/songwriter John Denver. The song was originally included on Denver's 1974 album Back Home Again . A version recorded live on August 26, 1974, at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles was included on his 1975 album An Evening with John Denver . The live version was released as a single and went to No. 1 on both the Billboard magazine Hot Country Singles [4] and Billboard Hot 100 charts. [5] The song topped both charts for one week each, first the country chart (on May 31), and the Hot 100 chart a week later. Thank God I'm a Country Boy also became the name of a variety special show hosted by Denver in 1977.
"Thank God I'm a Country Boy" was one of six songs released in 1975 that topped both the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard Hot Country Singles charts. Denver's two-sided hit "I'm Sorry"/"Calypso" also received that distinction.
The song was written by John Martin Sommers, a guitar/banjo/fiddle/mandolin player in Denver's backup band, on December 31, 1973 (coincidentally Denver's thirtieth birthday) when he was driving from his home in Aspen, Colorado to Los Angeles. [6]
Sommers recalls that at the time he was feeling “peaceful, happy and content” with his lot in life, and started scribbling some notes about his blissful state along the way. They served as the inspiration for the song.
This section possibly contains original research .(October 2016) |
The song is in cut (2/2) time that is typical of two-step. Both the verse and chorus comprise eight measures with 3/2 added between the first four measures and last three measures. Emotionally, this creates an intended slight stall. The instrumental breaks in the song incorporate a violin playing the old fiddle tune Sally Goodin, which is also referenced in the song's lyrics: "I'd play Sally Goodin all day if I could...."
Chart (1975) | Peak position |
---|---|
US Billboard Hot 100 [7] | 1 |
US Adult Contemporary ( Billboard ) [8] | 5 |
US Hot Country Songs ( Billboard ) [9] | 1 |
Canadian RPM Top Singles | 1 |
Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary Tracks | 1 |
Canadian RPM Country Tracks | 1 |
Yugoslavian Singles Charts | 1 |
Chart (1975) | Position |
---|---|
US Billboard Hot 100 [10] | 11 |
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard) [11] | 44 |
Chart (2004) | Peak position |
---|---|
US Hot Country Songs ( Billboard ) [12] | 27 |
The Hampster Dance is one of the earliest Internet memes. Created in 1998 by Canadian art student Deidre LaCarte as a GeoCities page, the dance features rows of animated GIFs of hamsters and other rodents dancing in various ways to a sped-up sample from the song "Whistle-Stop", written and performed by Roger Miller for the 1973 Walt Disney Productions film Robin Hood. In 2005, CNET named the Hampster Dance the number-one Web fad.
"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.
"I'm a Believer" is a song written by Neil Diamond and recorded by American band the Monkees in 1966 with the lead vocals by Micky Dolenz. The single, produced by Jeff Barry, hit the number-one spot on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart for the week ending December 31, 1966, and remained there for seven weeks becoming the last number-one hit of 1966 and the biggest-selling single for all of 1967. Billboard ranked the record as the number-five song for 1967. While originally published by Screen Gems-Columbia Music (BMI), it is now published by Stonebridge Music/EMI Foray Music (SESAC), with administration passed to Sony Music Publishing and Universal Music Publishing Group.
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1975.
"The Tide Is High" is a 1967 rocksteady song written by John Holt, originally produced by Duke Reid and performed by the Jamaican group the Paragons, with Holt as lead singer. The song gained international attention in 1980, when a cover version by the American band Blondie became a US and UK number one hit. The song topped the UK Singles Chart again in 2002 with a version by the British girl group Atomic Kitten, while Canadian rapper Kardinal Offishall had a minor hit with his interpretation in 2008.
"I Can't Stop Loving You" is a popular song written and composed by country singer, songwriter, and musician Don Gibson, who first recorded it on December 3, 1957, for RCA Victor Records. It was released in 1958 as the B-side of "Oh, Lonesome Me", becoming a double-sided country hit single. At the time of Gibson's death in 2003, the song had been recorded by more than 700 artists, most notably by Ray Charles, whose recording reached No. 1 on the Billboard chart.
"All I Have to Do Is Dream" is a song made famous by the Everly Brothers, written by Boudleaux Bryant of the husband-and-wife songwriting team Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, and published in 1958. The song is ranked No. 141 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The song is in AABA form.
"(If You're Not in It for Love) I'm Outta Here!" is a song co-written and recorded by Canadian country music singer Shania Twain. It was released on November 15, 1995, as the fourth single from her second studio album, The Woman in Me. Written by Twain and then-husband and producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange, the song is lyrically a warning to "pickup artists" who are searching for one-night stands instead of real love.
"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.
"Rhinestone Cowboy" is a song written and recorded by Larry Weiss in 1974, then popularized the next year by American country music singer Glen Campbell. When released on May 26, 1975, as the lead single and title track from his album Rhinestone Cowboy, it enjoyed huge popularity with both country and pop audiences.
"Signed, Sealed, Delivered " is a soul song, by American musician Stevie Wonder, released in June 1970 as a single on Motown's Tamla label. It spent six weeks at number one on the U.S. R&B chart and peaked at number three on the U.S. Pop chart. In the same year, the song was also released on the album Signed, Sealed & Delivered.
"Running Bear" is a teenage tragedy song written by Jiles Perry Richardson and sung most famously by Johnny Preston in 1959. The 1959 recording featured background vocals by George Jones and the session's producer Bill Hall, who provided the "Indian chanting" of "uga-uga" during the three verses, as well as the "Indian war cries" at the start and end of the record. It was No. 1 for three weeks in January 1960 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States and the same on Canada's CHUM Charts. The song also reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart and New Zealand in 1960. Coincidentally, "Running Bear" was immediately preceded in the Hot 100 No. 1 position by Marty Robbins' "El Paso", and immediately followed by Mark Dinning's "Teen Angel", both of which feature a death of, or affecting, the protagonist. Billboard ranked "Running Bear" as the No. 4 song of 1960. The tenor saxophone was played by Link Davis.
"If You Could Read My Mind" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot. Lightfoot wrote the lyrics while he was reflecting on his own divorce. It reached No. 1 on the Canadian Singles Chart on commercial release in 1970 and charted in several other countries on international release in 1971. In 2023, Hockey Night in Canada used the song for their year end playoff montage commemorating the Vegas Golden Knights' Stanley Cup win, following Lightfoot's passing.
"I'm Free" is a song by the Rolling Stones written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, first released as the final track on the UK version of their album Out of Our Heads on 24 September 1965. It was also released at the same time as a single in the US and later included on the American December's Children album.
"Before the Next Teardrop Falls" is an American country and pop song written by Vivian Keith and Ben Peters, and most famously recorded by Freddy Fender. His version was a major crossover success in 1975, reaching number 1 on the Billboard pop and country charts.
"I'm Sorry" is a song written and recorded by American country-folk singer-songwriter John Denver and released in 1975. It was the final number-one pop hit released during his career.
Back Home Again is the eighth studio album by American singer-songwriter John Denver, released in June 1974.
"Hey There Lonely Girl" is a song released in 1969 by Eddie Holman. The original version "Hey There Lonely Boy" was recorded in 1963 by Ruby & the Romantics. It was a hit for both of them. It has since been recorded by many other artists.
Hampsterdance: The Album is the debut album by Hampton the Hampster, released on October 24, 2000, through Koch Records. It was produced by the Canadian producer team the Boomtang Boys after the success of the novelty track "The Hampsterdance Song" featuring the hamster character Hampton, which was created by Canadian art student Deidre LaCarte as an Internet meme in 1998. The album reached the top 10 of the charts in Australia, where it was certified gold by ARIA. It produced the additional singles "Thank God I'm a Country Boy", "Hampster Party" and "Hampsterdance Christmas", the former two of which charted at numbers 12 and 44 in Australia, respectively.