THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.
110-John Denver-Annie’s Song.
1974-Number 1 single.
Best Bit-At 1.07. If you’re lucky enough to be called Annie then congratulations, you have one of the greatest love songs of all time named in your honour.
John Denver was born Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. on December 31st, 1943, in Roswell, New Mexico, United States, he died on October 12th, 1997, at the age of 53, when the aircraft he was piloting crashed into Monterrey Bay, near Pacific Grove, California, Denver was the only occupant on the aircraft. John Denver had many interests, as well as being a pilot, he was politically outspoken, supporting the campaign of Jimmy Carter in 1976, and putting his name to a number of charitable causes, including being the founder of the ‘Wildstar Foundation’ in 1976, to promote sustainable living. In the early 1980’s Denver began to focus more on humanitarian, and sustainability causes, focusing extensively on nature conservation projects. He also founded the environmental group ‘Plant-It 2020’ (originally ‘Plant-It 2000’). Denver had a keen interest in trying to find solutions to world hunger, he visited Africa during the 1980’s to witness first hand the suffering caused by starvation, and he worked with African leaders to try to find solutions. Denver appeared in nine films between 1973-1997, and made many television appearances, including hosting his own ‘The John Denver Show’ in 1973, with many TV specials, and spin offs being made in the following years. John Denver has sold in excess of 33 million records, which included 30 studio Albums issued between 1965-1998, and 44 singles released between 1969-2017. In America on the Billboard Hot 100, 14 of his singles made the top 40, with four of those songs making Number 1, while in the UK, his only charting single in the top 40 is this song, making him a true ‘one hit wonder’ in that country (see also best songs 990-698-496-467-116 and 101.) John Denver recorded approximately 300 songs, of which around 200 were ones he composed himself.
‘Annie’s Song’ was written by John Denver, and produced by his long term collaborator Milt Okum, (1923-2016) it was one of two singles released from Denver’s eighth studio Album ‘Back Home Again’ from 1974. It had been Okum who had helped give Denver his first big success in Pop Music when offering the ‘Folk’ group ‘Peter, Paul and Mary’ Denver’s song ‘Leaving on a Jet Plane,’ which went on to reach Number 1 on Billboard, and Number 2 in the UK in 1969.
John Denver wrote ‘Annie’s Song’ for his wife Ann in 1973. The couple had been married since 1968, and had been having marital troubles, partly due to the pressures of Denver’s successful career. Denver has said that it was one of the fastest songs he had ever written, composing the song in around 10 minutes while he was riding on a ski lift in Aspen, Colorado. Denver was reflecting on all the joy he found in his marriage, and his relief that they were back together after almost breaking up for good. In his 1994 autobiography Denver wrote,’Suddenly, I’m hypersensitive to how beautiful everything is. All of these things filled up my senses, and when I said this to myself unbidden images came one after the other. All of the pictures merged and I was left with Annie. That song was the embodiment of the love I felt at that time.’ Denver’s wife Ann has also shed light on the writing of the song,’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.’ Unfortunately their marriage had no happy ending as the couple divorced in 1982.
‘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.’