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 and beloved songs and is still very popular around the world. It has continued to sell, with over a million digital copies sold in the United States.[3] It is considered to be Denver’s signature song.[4]
Danoff and his then-wife, Mary (“Taffy”) Nivert, wrote “I Guess He’d Rather Be in Colorado” and “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” both of which were hits for John Denver. Danoff (from Springfield, Massachusetts) has stated he had never been to West Virginia before co-writing the song.[6] Inspiration for the song had come while driving to a family reunion of Nivert’s relatives along Clopper Road[7] in nearby Maryland. To pass the time en route, Danoff had made up a ballad about the little winding roads they were taking. He had even briefly considered using “Massachusetts” rather than “West Virginia,” as both four-syllable state names would have fit the song’s meter.
Starting December 22, 1970, John Denver was heading the bill at The Cellar Door, a Washington, D.C. club. Danoff and Nivert opened for him as a duo named Fat City. After the Tuesday post-Christmas re-opening night (Cellar Door engagements ran from Tuesday to Sunday, and this booking was for two weeks,) the three headed back to their place for an impromptu jam. On the way, Denver’s left thumb was broken in an automobile accident. He was taken to the hospital, where a splint was applied. By the time they got back to the house, he was, in his own words, “wired, you know.”
Danoff and Nivert then told him about the song that they had been working on for about a month. Originally, Danoff and Nivert had planned to sell the song to popular country singer Johnny Cash, but when Denver heard the song and decided he had to have it, the duo who wrote the original lyrics decided not to make the sale.
They sang the song for Denver and as he recalled, “I flipped.” The three stayed up until 6:00 a.m., changing words and moving lines around. When they finished, John announced that the song had to go on his next album.[8]
The song was premiered December 30, 1970, during an encore of Denver’s set, with the singers reading the words from a folded piece of paper. This resulted in a five-minute ovation, one of the longest in Cellar Door history.[9] 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.[10] The song continued to sell in the digital era. As of September 2017, the song has also sold an additional 1,584,000 downloads since it became available digitally.[11]
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 has been performed at every home football pre-game show since 1972. In 1977 Denver played for Morgantown High School and even changed the wording to “Appalachian Mountains, Monongahela River”.[citation needed] In 1980, Denver performed the song during pregame festivities to a sold-out crowd of Mountaineer fans. This performance marked the dedication of the current Mountaineer Field and the first game for then head coach Don Nehlen. 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.[12]
The popularity of the song has 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”.[13] Governor Earl Ray Tomblin signed the resolution into law on March 8.[14]
The land features mentioned prominently in the song lyrics – the Shenandoah River and the Blue Ridge Mountains – have only marginal associations with the state of West Virginia, and would seem to be more appropriate to describe western Virginia. The river passes through only the very eastern tip of the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia in Jefferson County. Similarly, the vast majority of the Blue Ridge also lies outside the state, only crossing into West Virginia in Jefferson County. According to a radio interview with Nivert, the road is close to her native Washington, D.C., in nearby Montgomery County, Maryland, where Denver often visited. That road – Clopper Road – still exists today, but the landscape has changed drastically from the bucolic scenery that once surrounded it.[15]
Thomas, West Virginia-based brewery Mountain State Brewing Company produces an amber ale called “Almost Heaven,” which it says is “named after John Denver’s ode to West Virginia, Country Roads.”[16]
In 2001, the song was covered by Dutch pop band Hermes House Band and released as “Country Roads“. The band performed the song live on Top of the Pops.
Olivia Newton-John recorded a cover version in 1973 that reached the top 10 in Japan and the number 15 in the UK, but only reached No. 119 in the United States on the Billboard Hot 100.
Toots & the Maytals recorded a reggae version in 1974 in which the lyrics are altered to describe Jamaica: “Almost heaven, West Jamaica,” for instance, replaces Denver’s “West Virginia.” This version was itself covered in Almost Heaven,[31] a 2005 German film directed by Ed Herzog. In the story, Helen Shuster is a German girl with a terminal illness who dreams to be a country singer Nashville style and winds up in Jamaica. The song is sung by Heike Makatsch, who plays Helen.[32]
In 1975 Aleksander Mežek covered Denver’s single, changing lyrics into Slovene language, his home language, and named the song “Siva pot”, which means “grey road”. The song is still very popular in Slovenia.
In 1976, Dick Rivers (ex-lead singer of “Les Chats Sauvages“), recorded and released a French version titled “Faire Un Pont”.
Romanian singer Gil Dobrică covered the song 1977 with a Romanian text “Hai acasă, hai cu mine” (“Let’s go home, come with me”).
Country pop vocalist Carrie Underwood performed the song during her Play On Tour in 2010. Underwood performed the song in the bed of a pick-up truck over the audience.
In 1995, Yuji Nomi, a Japanese composer, adapted the song to the Studio Ghibli movie Whisper of the Heart by changing the lyrics in a humorous and ecology-aware way.
In 2010 Swedish singer Meja covered the Studio Ghibli version of the song on her album AniMeja.
In 2012, The Gypsy Queens released “Take Me Home Country Roads” on their eponymous album, The Gypsy Queens.
In 2012 singer/songwriter Mike Doughty released a cover on his album The Flip Is Another Honey.
In 2013, American folk singers Brandi Carlile and Emmylou Harris recorded the song for the John Denver tribute album This Music is You: A Tribute to John Denver.
In 2013, Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out perform “Take Me Home Country Roads” in the Washington, DC studios of WAMU’s Bluegrass Country.
In 2015, American country singer Kerry Degman recorded a cover on his album Red Light.
Bradford City A.F.C., an English football club, has a variation for their stadium Valley Parade, with West Virginia being replaced with Midland Road.[34]
Manchester United F.C., an English football club, have a variation with Country Road being replaced with United Road, the road that leads to Old Trafford.
Vegalta Sendai, a Japanese football club, sings the song as its theme before home games. While during the game altered lyrics are sung to the tunes of “The Lambrusco Kid” by the Toy Dolls, Blitzkrieg Bop, and other songs by KISS and Twisted Sister.[36]
Swinton rugby league club, an English rugby league club, have their own version relating to the club’s one time home stadium, Station Road (1929-1992): “take me home Station Road”.
Wests Rugby, the successful Australian rugby club have their own version.
The film Whisper of the Heart mentions this song: the protagonist, Shizuku, translates and adapts the song for Japanese language before singing it at the end of the movie, accompanied by a luthier who plays violin and other characters.
Steve and the Mexican immigrants sing the song at the end of the season 3American Dad! episode “American Dream Factory”.
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