Every West Virginian can probably sing this song by heart.
I spent a year in Korea back in the early 80’s and avoided this song like the plaque.
So without further ado, I give you John Denver’s Take Me Home Country Roads. (In the karaoke version, I don’t know who the artist is.)
EDIT EDIT EDIT
Above the edit was the original post with a karaoke version. Shame on me!
I just couldn’t let it go, I mean I love this song but if you need the words to be flashing across the screen then you my friend are definitely not from round here, so to speak. So with my senses once again intact, I give you the real John Denver doing the real Take Me Home Country Roads. For those that don’t know the words. I’ve provided them for you below.
Take Me Home Country Roads by John Denver (1971)
Almost heaven, west virginia
Blue ridge mountains
Shenandoah river -
Life is old there
Older than the trees
Younger than the mountains
Growin like a breeze
Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West virginia, mountain momma
Take me home, country roads
All my memories gathered round her
Miners lady, stranger to blue water
Dark and dusty, painted on the sky
Misty taste of moonshine
Teardrops in my eye
Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West virginia, mountain momma
Take me home, country roads
I hear her voice
In the mornin hour she calls me
The radio reminds me of my home far away
And drivin down the road I get a feelin
That I should have been home yesterday, yesterday
Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West virginia, mountain momma
Take me home, country roads
Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West virginia, mountain momma
Take me home, country roads
Take me home, now country roads
Take me home, now country roads
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Did You Know?
Denver didn’t write this song. In fact, when he recorded it he had never even been to West Virginia. Two musicians, Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert, wrote it while driving to Maryland - they’d never been to West Virginia either! Danoff got his inspiration from postcards sent to him by a friend who DID live here.
The Starland Vocal Band, who charted with “Afternoon Delight” in 1977, sang background vocals on this. At the time, they were known as “Fat City.”
Denver was introduced to the song by Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert, who were married at the time. It wasn’t finished, but before John left, they finished it in the form that exists today. John was included as a writer because he did help write the finished product, although he had nothing to do with the origins of it.
This song was included on John Denver’s 1971 breakout album Poems, Prayers and Promises; the single went to #2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.
Bill Danoff still performs this at his D.C. Restaurant on selected Friday Nights.
The Shenandoah River is in West Virginia, running right through Harper’s Ferry into the Potomac. The Blue Ridge Mountain Ranges run in a strip from northeast West Virginia to its southwest across the eastern part of the state.
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