Like a storm in the desert
Like a sleepy blue ocean
You fill up my senses
Come fill me again
Come let me love you
Let me give my life to you
Let me drown in your laughter
Let me die in your arms
Let me lay down beside you
Let me always be with you
Come let me love you
Come love me again
Let me always be with you
Come let me love you
Come love me again
You fill up my senses
Like a night in a forest
Like a mountain in springtime
Like a walk in the rain
Like a storm in the desert
Like a sleepy blue ocean
You fill up my senses
Come fill me again
“Annie’s Song” (also known as “Annie’s Song (You Fill Up My Senses)“) is a folk rock and country song recorded and written by singer-songwriterJohn Denver. The song was released as a single from Denver’s 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.[1]Billboard ranked it as the No. 25 song for 1974.
It went to number one in the United Kingdom, where it was Denver’s only major hit single (many of Denver’s American hits were more familiar in the UK through cover versions by other artists). Four years later, an instrumental version also became flutist James Galway‘s only major British hit.
Background
“Annie’s Song” was written as an ode to Denver’s wife at the time, Annie Martell Denver. Denver “wrote this song in July 1973 in about ten-and-a-half minutes one day on a ski lift” to the top of Ajax Mountain in Aspen, Colorado, as the physical exhilaration of having “just skied down a very difficult run” and the feeling of total immersion in the beauty of the colors and sounds that filled all senses inspired him to think about his wife.[2][3] Annie Denver recalls the beginnings: “It was written after John and I had gone through a pretty intense time together and things were pretty good for us. He left to go skiing and he got on the Ajax chair on Aspen mountain and the song just came to him. He skied down and came home and wrote it down… Initially it was a love song and it was given to me through him, and yet for him it became a bit like a prayer.”
“The first time I heard ‘Annie’s Song,’ I told John it had the same melody as Tchaikovsky’sFifth Symphony, Second Movement,” says Milt Okun. “He walked over to the piano, sat for an hour and came back, and the only thing remaining from Tchaikovsky was the first five notes. It was fantastic.”[4]
Cover versions
Ville Valo version
On July 4, 2016, Ville Valo, vocalist of the rock band HIM, released a Finnish-language translation of “Annie’s Song”, titled “Olet mun kaikuluotain” (“You’re My Sonar”).[5] The song had previously been performed in Finnish in 1976 by Freeman, with lyrics by Hector.[5] Ville Valo’s version was released as a tribute to Finnish label Love Records, who celebrated their 50th anniversary in 2016.[5] Valo’s version was also the first release from the label in over 30 years.[5] Valo commented on the song, stating: “‘Kaikuluotain’ is a childhood favorite of mine, to the beat of which many a sleepless night ended up in tears. To this day it gives me cold shivers and goosebumps.”[5]
Valo’s version also received a music video, directed by Ykä Järvinen.[6] Released on July 11, 2016, the video features scenes of Valo walking around Helsinki, done in tribute to Aki Kaurismäki‘s film Calamari Union.[6] The single eventually reached number one on the Finnish Singles Chart, while the video received the Emma Award for “Video of the Year” in 2017.[7][8]
![John Denver / Live at The Apollo Theater [10/26/1982] (Full)](https://mcdiggles.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/john-denver-live-at-the-apollo-theater-10-26-1982-full-youtube-thumbnail-320x180.jpg)
