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On 12 October 1997, at Monterey Airport, California,
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the singer John Denver took off to test his new plane.
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The son of a famous pilot, Denver had thousands of hours'
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flying experience, and it was a simple flight on a cloudless day.
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But over Monterey Bay, something went wrong
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and John Denver's plane plummeted into the sea.
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He was killed instantly, aged only 53.
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# You fill up my senses
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# Like a night in a forest
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# Like the mountains In spring time... #
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When he died, John Denver was no longer in the limelight,
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but during the mid-1970s he was America's most successful solo singer.
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He was huge. He was one of the biggest artists in America,
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one of the biggest artists around the world.
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What Frank Sinatra was to the '40s, Elvis Presley was to the '50s,
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and the Beatles were to the '60s, John Denver was to the '70s.
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It was a rocket ship.
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And...it was big. It was really great.
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He projected an image of an easy-going country boy,
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at home with nature, skiing in the mountains.
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But behind the image was a more complicated man -
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an Air Force brat who became a peace campaigner.
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He was sort of the grandfather of celebrities being activists.
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The Stings and the Bonos - I think they were inspired by John back then.
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An ambitious, driven man who struggle with depression
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and the barbs of the music critics.
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He was called the Mickey Mouse of rock. The Ronald Reagan of pop.
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That angered him. That's what got under his skin.
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70 years after his birth, who was the real John Denver?
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And what's the appeal of his timeless songs?
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# Come fill me again... #
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SONG: 'Rocky Mountain High'
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# He was born in the summer Of his 27th year... #
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The Rocky Mountains of Colorado,
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are forever associated with the music of John Denver,
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and many of his most famous songs were inspired by the landscape there.
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In the early 1970s, John Denver was a new type of pop star,
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living in tune with nature, away from the city.
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I find when I come to Los Angeles especially,
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more so than most cities, that I physically don't feel good.
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I don't have the energy that I have when I'm back up in the mountains.
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My eyes hurt. Sometimes I feel a little nauseous from the smog.
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And I just prefer being back a ways where it's a little bit quieter.
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To me it's a little bit more peaceful.
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I can see more of the stars at night. I feel more comfortable.
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# Rocky Mountain high... #
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He just liked to sit and be in nature.
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It filled him up, and out of that,
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beautiful things came forth in terms of his songwriting.
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When he was in nature, it inspired his songs,
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it gave him a sense of who he really was.
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It brought him to be able to communicate,
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because he lived in it.
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# Colorado Rocky Mountain high... #
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but the idyllic setting of the Rocky Mountains
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was a long way from the place where he grew up.
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BIG-BAND SWING MUSIC
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John Denver was born in 1943 in Roswell, New Mexico,
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at the Air Force base where his father was stationed.
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And if this was far away from Denver, Colorado, so was his name.
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My real name is Henry John Deutschendorf Junior. And...
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That's a whole album cover!
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My father was in the Air Force
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and we moved around a great deal.
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And it was one particular period in my life
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when I was 13 years old and we moved from Tucson, Arizona to Montgomery, Alabama.
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And I was there for one year and then we moved to Fort Worth, Texas.
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It was always hard because you were going into a new school, new people.
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John was a little bit more shy, and so it was harder for him.
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And the music, especially his guitar,
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became a way of making friends and being accepted.
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And I said, "I like music, play guitar," blah blah blah.
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And so they asked me to bring my guitar to class one day, which I did.
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And all of a sudden...
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All of a sudden people were saying hello to me in the halls.
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All of a sudden people knew me
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as more than just another one of the Air Force brats
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that was coming through every year through Maxwell Air Force base.
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John's father, Dutch Deutschendorf,
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had been born to a poor Oklahoma farmer,
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but joined the Air Force in the Second World War and soon became a top pilot.
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He flew a number of planes.
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He actually gave Lindberg a test ride,
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and I think it was a B-25, he was flying those bombers,
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and then he went on to fly the plane that carried all the electronics
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when they dropped the first atomic bomb to test it.
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Dutch Deutschendorf achieved national fame flying a new bomber,
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the B-58 Hustler.
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In 1961, he broke six world air speed records in one day.
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My dad was a very tough guy. A hard guy.
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And he was hard on us. Not abusive.
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I think John was... Not more sensitive,
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but a little shier and a little more withdrawn,
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and so where Dad and I would fight, John and Dad would argue,
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and John would get upset and go in his room, play his guitar.
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For this sensitive son of a Cold War warrior, something had to give.
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Aged 16, he took the family car and ran away from home,
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heading out West to Los Angeles,
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with a dream of becoming a folk singer.
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But it didn't work out,
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and his dad jumped into a friend's jet to retrieve his wayward son.
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Dad flew out there, and they went to Disneyland and SeaWorld
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and did all these things, and then came back and, to me,
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their relationship was, like, golden.
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But four years later, John tried again, dropping out of college
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and hitting LA just as the folk boom was at its height.
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So I left school and I came out here, and started singing every place
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I could around Los Angeles, at the hootenannies that were going on,
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and things at the Troubadour and stuff like that. And Randy Sparks,
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who in those days had a group called the New Christy Minstrels,
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gave me the chance to sing and to do it for a couple of weeks,
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and gave me an opportunity to find out a little bit about
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whether I could work on stage.
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And he found out if I worked for him and the audiences liked me.
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- Were you John...?
- I was John Deutschendorf.
- Deutschendorf.
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And things kind of started going well for us,
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at least they felt that we might go someplace.
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And one day there was this big heavy meeting
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and they sat down and said, "Listen, kid, Deutschendorf..."
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- "Has got to go!"
- "..has got to go!"
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Randy says that they asked him to change his name and John said,
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"No, I will not give up my father's name.
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"I'm proud to be a Deutschendorf." And Randy said,
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"It won't fit on the marquee. You have to change it."
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They had a minor hit at the time called Denver,
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written about this city, and the sheet music was on the wall behind the desk.
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And they said, "You're John Denver."
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Now with his new name, John Denver set out to make it as a folk singer.
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The opening came when one of the big names on the folk circuit,
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the Chad Mitchell Trio, lost their lead singer,
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and hundreds of young folk artists tried out for the role.
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He came to New York to audition,
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and it was very clear right away that he was the best.
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And it turns out I was very cruel, didn't call him for a week.
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And he had a very nervous week.
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But it was obvious that John was going to be terrific.
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We just, you know, we were just knocked out by this guy.
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John was a fine musician, an excellent musician,
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a very fine 12-string guitar player.
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There was an innocence, I think, in a way,
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that was believable and true.
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The Mitchell Trio's trademark was left-wing political satire.
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Their targets were politicians, religious leaders
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and any opponents of Civil Rights.
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Top of the list was the secret racist group, the Ku Klux Klan.
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# You'll never recognise us There's a smile upon our face
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# We're changing all our dirty sheets And a-cleaning up the place
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# Yep, since we got a lawyer and a public relations man
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# We're your friendly, liberal Neighbourhood Ku Klux Klan
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# Yes, we're your friendly, liberal Neighbourhood Ku Klux Klan
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# Ever since we got that lawyer And that public relations man
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# Of course, we did shoot One reporter
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# But he was just obscene
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# And you can't call us No filthy names
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# What does Anglo-Saxon mean? #
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For John, being in The Mitchell Trio was a political education.
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He says, "I don't know anything about pol-IT-ics."
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And we looked at him and said, "John - it's PO-li-tics."
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He said, "That's what I said, I don't know anything about that."
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Which was really true.
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He was youthful, he was young,
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and grew up from the viewpoint of the material that we were doing.
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# Your friendly neighbourhood Klan who asks
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# "What's wrong with a hood?"
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# Your friendly, liberal Neighbourhood Ku Klux...
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# Grab your Cadillac And head for the hills. #
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APPLAUSE
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The Mitchell Trio's main audience were university students,
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and the group played campuses right across the Midwest.
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In spring 1966, they were in St Peter, Minnesota.
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In the audience was a young Annie Martell.
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I was a sophomore in college,
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and John was part of The Mitchell Trio.
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And he came into town,
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and about three weeks later I got a letter,
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and he said that if he was ever in the area again
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he would love to meet me and...
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have a talk.
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And a year later, he called me and he came over and picked me up,
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and that's how this all started.
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I was 20 and John was 23.
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Very young, but I thought he was very glamorous, very worldly.
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He was not at all, but I thought so.
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The two were married in June 1967, but for John,
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the hard life touring with The Mitchell Trio carried on.
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He was starting to write songs, and recorded some of them
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at his own expense, sending the album out as a Christmas present.
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This is the Christmas album that John made for all his friends,
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relatives, associates early in his tenure in The Mitchell Trio.
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Track three on the album was called, Babe, I Hate To Go.
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Milt Okun liked the tune, but not the title.
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I said, "John, that's a terrible name for a very beautiful song."
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He said, "What would you call it?" I said, "Leaving on a jet plane."
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He said, "But that's the third line of the chorus.
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"You never heard a song named after the third line of a chorus."
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I said, "It's a good name, let's go with it." And he went with it.
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SONG: 'Leaving On A Jet Plane'
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# All my bags are packed I'm ready to go
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# I'm standing here Outside your door... #
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Milt Okun passed the song onto another of his acts,
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Peter, Paul and Mary, and it became a smash hit,
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going to the top of the American pop charts.
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# The taxi's waiting He's blowing his horn
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# Already I'm so lonesome... #
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John became a friend of the group, and would sometimes join them on stage.
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# So kiss me and smile for me
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# Tell me that you'll wait for me
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# Hold me like you'll never let me go
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# I'm leaving on a jet plane
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# I don't know when I'll be back again... #
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With the Vietnam War at its height,
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the song gained added poignancy and became a favourite among the troops.
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For them, it was their goodbye song when they were going to war.
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So it's very moving to see how a song travels in these kinds of ways.
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And how a song like Leaving On A Jet Plane
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has become really important to people.
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The song had a resonance for John even closer to home
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when his younger brother, Ron, went to Vietnam.
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Well, I got drafted in 1968.
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The weekend I shipped to Vietnam,
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John was at the Washington Monument at a peace concert.
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A protest concert. And...
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That was just the way it went.
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# Last night I had The strangest dream
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# I never dreamed before
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# I dreamed the world Had all agreed
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# To put an end to war. #
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Even with his success as a songwriter,
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John and The Mitchell Trio were struggling.
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Their clean-cut good looks were out of step with the new long-haired rock bands,
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and in 1968 they called it a day.
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John decided to pursue a solo career,
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but his producer, Milt Okun, struggled to get record companies interested.
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I struck out with John Hammond at Columbia, Wexler at Atlantic,
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and half a dozen others.
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And someone at RCA, Harry Jenkins, liked it.
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And I brought John in the next day to sing for the executives.
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And it was a home run.
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John Denver signed to RCA in 1969.
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His first albums were in the classic singer-songwriter vein.
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The songs were intimate and personal,
242
00:15:40,920 --> 00:15:43,000
full of images of the natural world.
243
00:15:45,080 --> 00:15:50,880
# Oh, I am the eagle I live in high country
244
00:15:50,880 --> 00:15:56,320
# In rocky cathedrals That reach to the sky
245
00:15:56,320 --> 00:16:00,760
# I am the hawk and there's Blood on my feathers
246
00:16:00,760 --> 00:16:06,520
# But time is still turning They soon will be dry. #
247
00:16:06,520 --> 00:16:11,720
Songs like The Eagle And The Hawk remained a mainstay of John's act for years to come.
248
00:16:11,720 --> 00:16:14,160
But those early records refused to sell.
249
00:16:15,800 --> 00:16:19,280
Jerry Weintraub is now a top Hollywood producer.
250
00:16:19,280 --> 00:16:22,000
Then, he was a streetwise New York music promoter,
251
00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:25,000
and was brought in as John's new manager.
252
00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:29,120
And we got along, and I said, "Yeah, let's try it." So we tried it.
253
00:16:29,120 --> 00:16:32,480
And it was very successful for a long time.
254
00:16:32,480 --> 00:16:34,800
He was...
255
00:16:34,800 --> 00:16:36,880
He was a farm boy.
256
00:16:36,880 --> 00:16:41,640
Really didn't understand the city or the ways of the city.
257
00:16:41,640 --> 00:16:45,840
He was kind of naive at the time.
258
00:16:45,840 --> 00:16:48,000
But he was nice.
259
00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:50,680
John came to the meeting, you know,
260
00:16:50,680 --> 00:16:54,400
with a guitar slung over his back and wearing sandals,
261
00:16:54,400 --> 00:16:58,480
and I wasn't sure that this meeting would last more than five minutes.
262
00:16:58,480 --> 00:17:04,280
But, you know, the synergy was there, and it became successful.
263
00:17:04,280 --> 00:17:08,800
# And reach for the heavens And hope for the future
264
00:17:08,800 --> 00:17:15,480
# And all that we can be Not what we are. #
265
00:17:15,480 --> 00:17:18,920
You don't make anybody anything,
266
00:17:18,920 --> 00:17:22,080
you expose people to the talent
267
00:17:22,080 --> 00:17:25,320
and they either like it or they don't. You can't make anybody like...
268
00:17:25,320 --> 00:17:28,560
You don't put a gun on their head and say, "Go buy this record."
269
00:17:28,560 --> 00:17:33,160
They listen to it, and they decide to enjoy it or not enjoy it.
270
00:17:34,800 --> 00:17:37,000
I enjoyed his music and his songs,
271
00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:40,080
and I always felt he was going to be a star.
272
00:17:40,080 --> 00:17:43,520
Jerry and John loved each other,
273
00:17:43,520 --> 00:17:49,920
and I think Jerry epitomised a lot for John in terms of
274
00:17:49,920 --> 00:17:53,760
show business, and Jerry saw something in John,
275
00:17:53,760 --> 00:17:58,600
I think his wholesomeness and this kind of, "gee-whiz" quality.
276
00:17:58,600 --> 00:18:01,160
We all got on a rocket ship together,
277
00:18:01,160 --> 00:18:05,640
and it was big, it was really big.
278
00:18:06,840 --> 00:18:09,600
The song that launched the rocket ship was
279
00:18:09,600 --> 00:18:12,640
Take Me Home, Country Roads.
280
00:18:12,640 --> 00:18:16,800
# Almost Heaven West Virginia... #
281
00:18:16,800 --> 00:18:20,360
It was co-written by two of John's friends from the folk scene,
282
00:18:20,360 --> 00:18:22,720
Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert
283
00:18:24,840 --> 00:18:30,040
# Life is old there Older than the trees
284
00:18:30,040 --> 00:18:34,720
# Younger than the mountains Blowing like a breeze... #
285
00:18:34,720 --> 00:18:38,320
We were working at the Cellar Door as John's opening act,
286
00:18:38,320 --> 00:18:42,320
the week between Christmas and New Year's 1970 going into '71.
287
00:18:42,320 --> 00:18:44,600
John liked our music.
288
00:18:44,600 --> 00:18:48,680
He was going to come over one night he wanted to know what else we had.
289
00:18:48,680 --> 00:18:50,760
I said, "Let's show him Country Roads."
290
00:18:50,760 --> 00:18:52,760
Bill says, "It's not finished."
291
00:18:52,760 --> 00:18:56,720
I said, "I know, but, you know, let's just show him what we got."
292
00:18:56,720 --> 00:18:58,880
And he absolutely loved it.
293
00:18:58,880 --> 00:19:03,400
And in the singing of it, John took the lead,
294
00:19:03,400 --> 00:19:05,680
Bill and I fell in with a harmony
295
00:19:05,680 --> 00:19:08,640
and it just sounded so good like that,
296
00:19:08,640 --> 00:19:11,840
that we just decided to perform it like that the next night at the club.
297
00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:17,040
# Dark and dusty Painted on the sky
298
00:19:17,040 --> 00:19:20,840
# Misty taste of moonshine
299
00:19:20,840 --> 00:19:28,560
# Teardrops in my eye Country roads take me home
300
00:19:28,560 --> 00:19:34,320
# To the place I belong
301
00:19:34,320 --> 00:19:40,280
# West Virginia Mountain momma
302
00:19:40,280 --> 00:19:45,600
# Take me home Country roads. #
303
00:19:45,600 --> 00:19:50,040
I remember riding in a car with him. We were going to a concert in Connecticut.
304
00:19:50,040 --> 00:19:54,720
And he heard on the radio for the first time. We heard it on the radio.
305
00:19:54,720 --> 00:19:57,560
And when I heard it on the radio, I turned to him and said,
306
00:19:57,560 --> 00:20:00,920
"That's going to be a smash hit. That's great."
307
00:20:00,920 --> 00:20:06,400
But I loved it. And the public loved it. And they sold.
308
00:20:06,400 --> 00:20:10,520
Sold a lot of records. He sold an amazing amount of records.
309
00:20:10,520 --> 00:20:12,280
He was an amazing artist.
310
00:20:12,280 --> 00:20:17,080
Take Me Home, Country Roads was a huge hit in the summer of 1971,
311
00:20:17,080 --> 00:20:19,320
peaking at number two in the charts
312
00:20:19,320 --> 00:20:22,680
and selling more than three million copies.
313
00:20:22,680 --> 00:20:31,360
# Mountain momma Take me home country roads... #
314
00:20:31,360 --> 00:20:35,400
When we recorded Country Roads,
315
00:20:35,400 --> 00:20:39,680
we needed a little "tsch-tsch" noise at one point,
316
00:20:39,680 --> 00:20:43,280
and the only thing that made any sense in the studio was,
317
00:20:43,280 --> 00:20:45,920
John had some change in his pocket,
318
00:20:45,920 --> 00:20:49,080
and instead of a tambourine or something that was loud,
319
00:20:49,080 --> 00:20:52,680
it was just a "tsch-tsch-tsch-tsch."
320
00:20:54,280 --> 00:20:55,960
Money made music, baby.
321
00:20:57,280 --> 00:21:02,680
# Down country roads Take me home
322
00:21:02,680 --> 00:21:07,320
# Down country roads. #
323
00:21:07,320 --> 00:21:10,120
APPLAUSE
324
00:21:16,440 --> 00:21:22,320
# It's a long way From LA to Denver... #
325
00:21:22,320 --> 00:21:24,640
After the success of Country Roads,
326
00:21:24,640 --> 00:21:27,600
John moved permanently up to the Rocky Mountains
327
00:21:27,600 --> 00:21:31,720
and built his dream home in the ski resort of Aspen, Colorado.
328
00:21:31,720 --> 00:21:38,480
# A long way home to Starwood in Aspen... #
329
00:21:38,480 --> 00:21:41,280
Now it's one of the wealthiest towns in America,
330
00:21:41,280 --> 00:21:43,480
home to billionaires and movie stars,
331
00:21:43,480 --> 00:21:46,240
but back then it was very different.
332
00:21:46,240 --> 00:21:50,360
# Sweet Rocky Mountain paradise... #
333
00:21:50,360 --> 00:21:51,840
All of the mountain towns,
334
00:21:51,840 --> 00:21:54,720
it was a little bit more like the Wild West then.
335
00:21:54,720 --> 00:21:56,640
But unexplored, certainly.
336
00:21:56,640 --> 00:22:01,360
John fell in love with the outdoors, and it was reflected in his music.
337
00:22:01,360 --> 00:22:06,040
And I think he was on the cusp of that becoming part of everyone's consciousness back in the '70s,
338
00:22:06,040 --> 00:22:09,840
just looking around and seeing the beauty of nature.
339
00:22:09,840 --> 00:22:13,280
And hearing it expressed in his music was a big plus for him.
340
00:22:13,280 --> 00:22:19,600
# I forgot what it's like To be home... #
341
00:22:19,600 --> 00:22:25,200
It was this old mining town becoming a ski area, becoming a famous ski area.
342
00:22:25,200 --> 00:22:28,680
And you also had this little intellectual, cultural aspect.
343
00:22:28,680 --> 00:22:32,440
All of it was in its formation. It was a wonderful time to be here.
344
00:22:34,600 --> 00:22:36,520
And you'd have dinner with people
345
00:22:36,520 --> 00:22:41,000
that were plumbers, electricians, fishing guides.
346
00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:46,680
Everything was pretty easy, very laid-back and safe. Safe.
347
00:22:46,680 --> 00:22:49,400
You could be yourself here.
348
00:22:49,400 --> 00:22:55,200
# Oh, my sweet Rocky Mountain Paradise. #
349
00:22:58,560 --> 00:23:01,600
Inspired by this relaxed, back-to-nature lifestyle,
350
00:23:01,600 --> 00:23:05,240
John wrote a hymn to the Rocky Mountains and his life there.
351
00:23:05,240 --> 00:23:08,920
The song went on to become an anthem for the state of Colorado.
352
00:23:10,640 --> 00:23:17,880
# He was born in the summer Of his 27th year
353
00:23:17,880 --> 00:23:22,960
# Coming home to a place He'd never been before... #
354
00:23:22,960 --> 00:23:27,960
We went camping, backpacking with some friends to a place
355
00:23:27,960 --> 00:23:30,480
not far from here called Williams Lake,
356
00:23:30,480 --> 00:23:33,720
and it was the night of the Perseid meteor shower.
357
00:23:33,720 --> 00:23:38,800
And we're all camping and we're laying out under the stars
358
00:23:38,800 --> 00:23:43,640
and they start really going through the sky between midnight and three.
359
00:23:44,720 --> 00:23:47,880
And everybody was clapping and yelling,
360
00:23:47,880 --> 00:23:52,160
and it's really a magnificent, magnificent thing to see.
361
00:23:52,160 --> 00:23:54,880
Out of that he wrote Rocky Mountain High.
362
00:23:54,880 --> 00:23:58,640
"I've seen it raining fire in the sky."
363
00:23:58,640 --> 00:24:04,280
# But the Colorado Rocky Mountain high
364
00:24:04,280 --> 00:24:10,160
# I've seen it rainin' fire in the sky
365
00:24:10,160 --> 00:24:18,920
# The shadow from the starlight is softer than a lullaby
366
00:24:18,920 --> 00:24:24,600
# Rocky Mountain high. #
367
00:24:24,600 --> 00:24:27,560
'So we were up all night watching the most glorious display that'
368
00:24:27,560 --> 00:24:30,880
I've ever seen in these mountains, of meteorites,
369
00:24:30,880 --> 00:24:32,400
and with that camping trip
370
00:24:32,400 --> 00:24:36,080
and with the feeling of coming home here to Colorado, to a place
371
00:24:36,080 --> 00:24:39,400
I'd never been before, I ended up writing Rocky Mountain High.
372
00:24:46,160 --> 00:24:50,040
APPLAUSE
373
00:24:50,040 --> 00:24:53,080
Country Roads and Rocky Mountain High were big hits,
374
00:24:53,080 --> 00:24:56,240
but John's next move cemented his stardom.
375
00:24:56,240 --> 00:25:00,320
Folk music on television to that date had been serious and earnest.
376
00:25:00,320 --> 00:25:04,920
But John's outgoing personality made him a natural for the small screen.
377
00:25:04,920 --> 00:25:08,240
I...I know what you're thinking.
378
00:25:09,760 --> 00:25:15,480
You're thinking, "Sure, he can play guitar and sing.
379
00:25:15,480 --> 00:25:19,000
"But...can he juggle?"
380
00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:21,880
LAUGHTER
381
00:25:28,920 --> 00:25:32,000
'Television is a very different medium
382
00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:35,920
'from live entertainment, because...
383
00:25:35,920 --> 00:25:39,640
'you watch television in your home and in 1970'
384
00:25:39,640 --> 00:25:43,040
people had television sets in their bedroom
385
00:25:43,040 --> 00:25:46,520
and they laid in bed and they watched television.
386
00:25:46,520 --> 00:25:49,400
When you let somebody into your bedroom,
387
00:25:49,400 --> 00:25:53,760
they'd better be a nice person or you don't want them in your bedroom.
388
00:25:53,760 --> 00:25:55,400
This is TV, right?
389
00:25:56,400 --> 00:25:59,360
I can do it again or do you want me to leave it like that?
390
00:26:00,720 --> 00:26:04,240
That's a very different quality, from just being a performer,
391
00:26:04,240 --> 00:26:06,480
he had that quality.
392
00:26:06,480 --> 00:26:08,440
People wanted to be around him,
393
00:26:08,440 --> 00:26:11,080
he made people feel good and comfortable.
394
00:26:11,080 --> 00:26:14,200
# Jessie went away last summer
395
00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:16,360
# Couple of months ago. #
396
00:26:16,360 --> 00:26:21,240
In 1973, Jerry Weintraub launched John Denver's television career
397
00:26:21,240 --> 00:26:26,480
not in America, but on the BBC where there was less stress on ratings.
398
00:26:26,480 --> 00:26:30,880
The six-part series combined music, dance and comedy routines.
399
00:26:30,880 --> 00:26:33,760
It was a runaway success with British viewers.
400
00:26:38,560 --> 00:26:42,880
# I think I'd rather be a cowboy. #
401
00:26:42,880 --> 00:26:46,800
'It was my first step in television, in entertainment television,
402
00:26:46,800 --> 00:26:49,080
'I'd done a couple of documentaries prior to that,
403
00:26:49,080 --> 00:26:52,040
'and what I wanted to do was to come someplace where there wasn't quite
404
00:26:52,040 --> 00:26:55,680
so much pressure on the subject and to stretch out a little bit
405
00:26:55,680 --> 00:26:59,040
and see if I could dance and what kind of comedy I could do.
406
00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:02,480
# Magic moments.
407
00:27:02,480 --> 00:27:06,640
'I was doing Top Of The Pops with Pan's People, six dancers,
408
00:27:06,640 --> 00:27:10,320
'a wonderful choreographer, Flick Colby.'
409
00:27:10,320 --> 00:27:14,320
I wish we'd had a camera on the rehearsal of the choreography
410
00:27:14,320 --> 00:27:19,160
because that was insanely funny, because he was pretty much
411
00:27:19,160 --> 00:27:24,400
flat-footed, but Flick was clever enough to give him little moves
412
00:27:24,400 --> 00:27:28,720
that he could do and of course it was always hilarious.
413
00:27:28,720 --> 00:27:31,240
Me Tarzan, you Jane.
414
00:27:31,240 --> 00:27:37,200
It was a joy, we did a live show every week.
415
00:27:37,200 --> 00:27:40,480
Live on stage with an audience.
416
00:27:40,480 --> 00:27:43,000
But it was more like a variety show.
417
00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:47,920
# And daggers fly Everybody loves to see the villain. #
418
00:27:47,920 --> 00:27:52,200
And we were wearing costumes and doing silly songs.
419
00:27:52,200 --> 00:27:53,760
Oh, it was so much fun.
420
00:27:55,640 --> 00:27:58,400
- John Denver!
- CROWD CHEERS
421
00:27:58,400 --> 00:28:01,520
The series also gave John his catch phrase.
422
00:28:01,520 --> 00:28:03,680
It's far out, you guys have been so great.
423
00:28:03,680 --> 00:28:07,080
I thought that was far out, it made my whole day.
424
00:28:07,080 --> 00:28:09,280
Far out!
425
00:28:09,280 --> 00:28:12,640
The success of the BBC series was repeated in the USA
426
00:28:12,640 --> 00:28:16,480
where John hosted TV specials and documentaries.
427
00:28:16,480 --> 00:28:20,320
He was fast becoming one of the biggest stars in American music.
428
00:28:20,320 --> 00:28:24,480
And his greatest hits album of 1973 sold over 10 million copies
429
00:28:24,480 --> 00:28:26,600
in the first six months alone.
430
00:28:33,480 --> 00:28:35,720
The Rocky Mountains were John's retreat,
431
00:28:35,720 --> 00:28:38,200
a place where he could hide away.
432
00:28:38,200 --> 00:28:42,880
Staying there in early 1974, he wrote his most famous song -
433
00:28:42,880 --> 00:28:45,440
a love letter to his wife, Annie.
434
00:28:45,440 --> 00:28:47,520
Although it was written after a row.
435
00:28:49,440 --> 00:28:51,800
John and I were in our kitchen.
436
00:28:53,040 --> 00:28:54,800
And we had had an argument.
437
00:28:55,960 --> 00:29:01,760
And we'd had an argument and then we had sorted it out.
438
00:29:01,760 --> 00:29:04,240
And he left to go skiing.
439
00:29:04,240 --> 00:29:07,320
And I was putzing around and about a half hour later,
440
00:29:07,320 --> 00:29:10,320
45 minutes later, he came back in the door.
441
00:29:10,320 --> 00:29:14,240
And he had gone to Aspen Mountain and gotten on the chairlift
442
00:29:14,240 --> 00:29:16,960
and he wrote the song in 10 minutes.
443
00:29:16,960 --> 00:29:19,240
And he came back and he played it for me.
444
00:29:20,760 --> 00:29:25,480
# You fill up my senses
445
00:29:25,480 --> 00:29:28,120
# Like a night in a forest
446
00:29:30,280 --> 00:29:35,080
# Like the mountains in springtime
447
00:29:35,080 --> 00:29:40,000
# Like a walk in the rain
448
00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:44,760
# Like a storm in the desert
449
00:29:44,760 --> 00:29:49,600
# Like a sleepy blue ocean
450
00:29:49,600 --> 00:29:54,360
# You fill up my senses
451
00:29:54,360 --> 00:29:59,120
# Come fill me again. #
452
00:29:59,120 --> 00:30:01,800
There was nobody on the mountain when I started out that day.
453
00:30:01,800 --> 00:30:04,680
I skied down this very tough run, all out of breath,
454
00:30:04,680 --> 00:30:06,680
I skied right onto the lift.
455
00:30:06,680 --> 00:30:09,520
I was riding up again, sitting there, catching my breath,
456
00:30:09,520 --> 00:30:12,200
looking down at where I'd just been a few months ago -
457
00:30:12,200 --> 00:30:14,640
all this physical stuff going on.
458
00:30:14,640 --> 00:30:19,200
When suddenly I was hypersensitive to how beautiful everything was.
459
00:30:19,200 --> 00:30:22,640
The sky was a blue you only see from mountain tops.
460
00:30:22,640 --> 00:30:25,320
Then I became aware of the other people skiing,
461
00:30:25,320 --> 00:30:28,080
the colours of their clothes, the birds singing,
462
00:30:28,080 --> 00:30:29,400
the sound of the lift,
463
00:30:29,400 --> 00:30:32,320
the sibilant sound of the skiers going down the mountain.
464
00:30:32,320 --> 00:30:34,760
All of these things filled up my senses
465
00:30:34,760 --> 00:30:36,840
and, when I said this to myself,
466
00:30:36,840 --> 00:30:39,440
unbidden images came one after the other -
467
00:30:39,440 --> 00:30:42,480
the night in the forest, a walk in the rain,
468
00:30:42,480 --> 00:30:44,680
the mountains in springtime.
469
00:30:44,680 --> 00:30:49,640
All of the pictures merged and then what I was left with was Annie.
470
00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:53,520
That song was the embodiment of the love that I felt at the time.
471
00:30:53,520 --> 00:30:56,280
In the 10 minutes it took to reach the top of the mountain,
472
00:30:56,280 --> 00:30:57,560
the song was there.
473
00:31:02,240 --> 00:31:06,080
# Let me give my life to you. #
474
00:31:06,080 --> 00:31:10,920
It's been wonderful for me, because I've heard it in elevators,
475
00:31:10,920 --> 00:31:15,360
I've heard it in St Mark's Square with violinists.
476
00:31:15,360 --> 00:31:18,760
My daughter had it played at her wedding.
477
00:31:18,760 --> 00:31:20,640
Erm...
478
00:31:20,640 --> 00:31:23,320
but people still carry that with them
479
00:31:23,320 --> 00:31:28,160
and it's just a beautiful, beautiful gift.
480
00:31:28,160 --> 00:31:32,520
The songs weren't contrived, he wasn't a Tin Pan Alley writer -
481
00:31:32,520 --> 00:31:35,600
he didn't go into an office in the morning
482
00:31:35,600 --> 00:31:37,040
or a studio and say,
483
00:31:37,040 --> 00:31:42,120
"I'm going to sit and write some songs," whenever it hit him.
484
00:31:42,120 --> 00:31:44,360
He, erm, he wrote a song.
485
00:31:47,320 --> 00:31:52,360
# You fill up my senses
486
00:31:52,360 --> 00:31:59,040
# Come fill me again. #
487
00:32:03,760 --> 00:32:07,360
APPLAUSE
488
00:32:14,160 --> 00:32:16,480
John Denver's rise to stardom coincided
489
00:32:16,480 --> 00:32:18,480
with a bleak time in American life.
490
00:32:19,960 --> 00:32:23,760
With the Watergate crisis and the end of the Vietnam War,
491
00:32:23,760 --> 00:32:26,280
his simple songs of love and nature
492
00:32:26,280 --> 00:32:29,440
struck a chord across war-weary America.
493
00:32:29,440 --> 00:32:38,400
# Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy. #
494
00:32:38,400 --> 00:32:42,200
You know, this was the Vietnam era,
495
00:32:42,200 --> 00:32:48,920
Nixon, hearings, there were problems with gasoline shortages.
496
00:32:48,920 --> 00:32:54,960
It's in those crisis moments when you look to home and hearth
497
00:32:54,960 --> 00:32:59,920
and meaning and taking care of the Earth and taking care of each other.
498
00:33:01,280 --> 00:33:06,200
# Looks so lovely. #
499
00:33:06,200 --> 00:33:08,240
Yes, it does.
500
00:33:08,240 --> 00:33:11,880
So, this was post the hippie period
501
00:33:11,880 --> 00:33:19,480
and it was more a middle America appeal, I think,
502
00:33:19,480 --> 00:33:24,160
to people who did want that kind of kindness.
503
00:33:24,160 --> 00:33:29,280
Not as a gesture of opposition.
504
00:33:29,280 --> 00:33:34,200
But as a simple affirmation
505
00:33:34,200 --> 00:33:39,480
of people's ability to care about one another.
506
00:33:39,480 --> 00:33:44,480
# Just like today. #
507
00:33:44,480 --> 00:33:46,920
But not everyone liked John Denver.
508
00:33:46,920 --> 00:33:50,000
In the rock music press, he was widely loathed.
509
00:33:51,160 --> 00:33:54,680
John took his shots from a generation of rock critics
510
00:33:54,680 --> 00:33:56,480
in the early '70s.
511
00:33:56,480 --> 00:34:00,000
Rock journalism was kind of in its nascent stages at the time
512
00:34:00,000 --> 00:34:02,760
and you had people jockeying for position by pointing out
513
00:34:02,760 --> 00:34:04,920
the coolest music or the newest music
514
00:34:04,920 --> 00:34:06,520
or the most underground music.
515
00:34:06,520 --> 00:34:07,840
And that wasn't John.
516
00:34:07,840 --> 00:34:10,360
John wore granny glasses, he said "far out",
517
00:34:10,360 --> 00:34:12,880
he was relentlessly cheerful.
518
00:34:12,880 --> 00:34:16,360
So he wasn't going to get backing in that particular sector
519
00:34:16,360 --> 00:34:19,200
and it's too bad, because they didn't pay attention to his music,
520
00:34:19,200 --> 00:34:21,120
they paid attention to his image.
521
00:34:21,120 --> 00:34:24,560
Well, they didn't say good things about him, you know.
522
00:34:24,560 --> 00:34:29,760
They didn't give him the same adulation that they gave the Beatles
523
00:34:29,760 --> 00:34:31,160
or that they gave...
524
00:34:31,160 --> 00:34:36,040
And he sold as many records. He didn't get that from the critics.
525
00:34:36,040 --> 00:34:39,440
He got the opposite. They'd say, "What is this about?"
526
00:34:40,440 --> 00:34:43,560
John read that stuff and it really affected him.
527
00:34:43,560 --> 00:34:47,920
'The last interview I conducted with John was in the early '90s
528
00:34:47,920 --> 00:34:51,120
'and we got around to the topic of his detractors'
529
00:34:51,120 --> 00:34:53,600
and he said something that really resonated with me.
530
00:34:53,600 --> 00:34:56,360
He was called the Mickey Mouse Of Rock,
531
00:34:56,360 --> 00:34:58,240
the Ronald Reagan Of Pop.
532
00:34:58,240 --> 00:35:01,880
What he was angry about was what it meant regarding his fans -
533
00:35:01,880 --> 00:35:04,800
the people that had seen a birth of a child to his music or
534
00:35:04,800 --> 00:35:07,160
had gotten married to one of his songs -
535
00:35:07,160 --> 00:35:08,840
that they were being disparaged.
536
00:35:08,840 --> 00:35:11,640
That angered him. That's what got under his skin.
537
00:35:11,640 --> 00:35:15,120
John would sing to 18,000 people
538
00:35:15,120 --> 00:35:21,120
and the music critics would just talk about how pap his music was,
539
00:35:21,120 --> 00:35:23,560
and the last tag line was
540
00:35:23,560 --> 00:35:26,480
"But the 18,000 people seemed to enjoy it."
541
00:35:28,960 --> 00:35:32,160
John Denver was a hugely popular live entertainer.
542
00:35:32,160 --> 00:35:35,680
His concerts often had the reverence of a religious gathering,
543
00:35:35,680 --> 00:35:37,600
rather than a regular pop concert.
544
00:35:44,600 --> 00:35:48,600
# I had an uncle name of Matthew. #
545
00:35:48,600 --> 00:35:50,880
He put together a stellar band,
546
00:35:50,880 --> 00:35:55,040
many of whom had played for Elvis, like guitar legend James Burton.
547
00:35:55,040 --> 00:35:57,360
His music was very disciplined.
548
00:35:58,480 --> 00:36:03,480
And everything had to be just in the right spot, the right space.
549
00:36:03,480 --> 00:36:07,680
And John relied a lot on his band,
550
00:36:07,680 --> 00:36:12,760
but he was a very good musician and a great singer/songwriter.
551
00:36:12,760 --> 00:36:16,120
And he could put the people in the palm of his hand.
552
00:36:16,120 --> 00:36:19,520
It was just like a one-on-one, you know.
553
00:36:20,520 --> 00:36:23,160
The people were right there with him.
554
00:36:23,160 --> 00:36:26,200
I mean, even though we had 30,000 people,
555
00:36:26,200 --> 00:36:29,000
it was like they were right there with us on stage.
556
00:36:30,040 --> 00:36:35,760
# Blue, just a Kansas summer sky. #
557
00:36:49,560 --> 00:36:53,080
Now, you hear that? That's not a Rocky Mountain High.
558
00:36:54,640 --> 00:36:59,360
Here he is, ladies and gentlemen. My friend, Mr Frank Sinatra.
559
00:37:00,760 --> 00:37:05,000
By 1976, less than five years after Country Roads,
560
00:37:05,000 --> 00:37:07,640
this former folky had been transformed
561
00:37:07,640 --> 00:37:10,360
into America's most popular performer.
562
00:37:10,360 --> 00:37:14,040
Now the biggest stars wanted to be seen alongside him.
563
00:37:14,040 --> 00:37:18,520
# I've got you under my skin. #
564
00:37:18,520 --> 00:37:20,680
'I remember the first time they worked together,
565
00:37:20,680 --> 00:37:22,600
'we did Harrah's in Lake Tahoe.'
566
00:37:22,600 --> 00:37:27,520
And when we put the show on sale,
567
00:37:27,520 --> 00:37:30,840
the phone lines in the western United States
568
00:37:30,840 --> 00:37:33,240
went down from the reservations.
569
00:37:33,240 --> 00:37:34,920
That's how big it was.
570
00:37:34,920 --> 00:37:38,240
You know, Frank, I was just thinking about the time that song
571
00:37:38,240 --> 00:37:40,640
was first heard, so was I.
572
00:37:40,640 --> 00:37:43,000
LAUGHTER
573
00:37:43,000 --> 00:37:45,240
Boy, you know how to make a guy feel mature, don't you?
574
00:37:45,240 --> 00:37:47,080
Well, no, really, Frank,
575
00:37:47,080 --> 00:37:50,480
do you have any idea how many romances got started to your music?
576
00:37:50,480 --> 00:37:53,720
- No, I don't, but I never got any of the action either.
- Folks...
577
00:37:55,200 --> 00:37:58,880
Sometime during his tenure with the trio,
578
00:37:58,880 --> 00:38:02,040
I remember him saying that it was one of his ambitions
579
00:38:02,040 --> 00:38:05,640
in life to become as much of a household name as Frank Sinatra.
580
00:38:06,720 --> 00:38:09,160
The pay off came years later
581
00:38:09,160 --> 00:38:13,720
when I found myself in Los Angeles driving up Sunset Boulevard
582
00:38:13,720 --> 00:38:18,720
and looking up and seeing a humongous poster of the two of them
583
00:38:18,720 --> 00:38:21,880
with their arms crossed, standing back-to-back with each other.
584
00:38:21,880 --> 00:38:25,320
And I thought to myself, "By golly, he made it!"
585
00:38:25,320 --> 00:38:28,440
# But I get a kick
586
00:38:28,440 --> 00:38:31,160
# You give me a boot
587
00:38:31,160 --> 00:38:34,320
# I get a kick
588
00:38:34,320 --> 00:38:37,120
# Out of you
589
00:38:37,120 --> 00:38:41,400
# Out of you. #
590
00:38:44,560 --> 00:38:47,640
APPLAUSE
591
00:38:51,200 --> 00:38:53,560
John was now in the superstar league -
592
00:38:53,560 --> 00:38:56,680
he had his own Learjet and got his dad to fly it for him.
593
00:38:58,600 --> 00:39:00,720
I hope you folks recognise me,
594
00:39:00,720 --> 00:39:03,440
but I'm not sure you'll recognise the gentleman on my right.
595
00:39:03,440 --> 00:39:05,920
He's my father, John Deutschendorf.
596
00:39:05,920 --> 00:39:09,280
He's been a pilot all his life, he taught me how to fly.
597
00:39:09,280 --> 00:39:13,800
# I guess he'd rather be in Colorado. #
598
00:39:13,800 --> 00:39:17,400
And back home in Aspen, John's own family started to grow
599
00:39:17,400 --> 00:39:20,400
as he and Annie adopted two small children.
600
00:39:20,400 --> 00:39:26,000
Zach was the first and he was this little brown, beautiful little boy.
601
00:39:26,000 --> 00:39:27,960
And then Anna Kate was the second.
602
00:39:27,960 --> 00:39:30,800
And John was just thrilled and over the moon
603
00:39:30,800 --> 00:39:34,160
that this was happening too, cos we'd have a boy and a girl.
604
00:39:35,600 --> 00:39:40,040
You know, when I was younger, I just thought that was, I guess,
605
00:39:40,040 --> 00:39:41,840
it was normal.
606
00:39:41,840 --> 00:39:45,880
Erm, you know, I thought it was always like that
607
00:39:45,880 --> 00:39:52,160
until I was old enough to understand that it was different.
608
00:39:52,160 --> 00:39:56,440
Erm, and that all these people were coming to see him.
609
00:39:56,440 --> 00:40:00,920
And for Zach and kids everywhere, John was a fixture on '70s TV
610
00:40:00,920 --> 00:40:04,880
through his frequent appearances with the Muppets.
611
00:40:04,880 --> 00:40:10,360
It was... Early on, it was, you know when the Muppets were big, I guess.
612
00:40:10,360 --> 00:40:13,320
It's different than it is now.
613
00:40:13,320 --> 00:40:16,560
But it was always a lot of fun.
614
00:40:16,560 --> 00:40:18,040
Where to, Mr?
615
00:40:23,160 --> 00:40:24,960
Get in.
616
00:40:24,960 --> 00:40:26,280
Oh.
617
00:40:26,280 --> 00:40:30,920
Already a big star on TV, John Denver next went into the movies.
618
00:40:30,920 --> 00:40:33,000
Produced by Jerry Weintraub,
619
00:40:33,000 --> 00:40:36,760
Oh, God was a comedy which played on John's everyman appeal
620
00:40:36,760 --> 00:40:39,600
by casting him as a supermarket manager
621
00:40:39,600 --> 00:40:41,720
who is visited by the Almighty,
622
00:40:41,720 --> 00:40:46,000
personified by 90-year-old comedian George Burns.
623
00:40:46,000 --> 00:40:48,400
I was just thinking, maybe...
624
00:40:48,400 --> 00:40:50,480
- What about a little rain?
- A little rain?
625
00:40:50,480 --> 00:40:52,720
Yeah, a small shower.
626
00:40:52,720 --> 00:40:55,240
One small shower, you got it.
627
00:40:56,640 --> 00:40:59,360
RAIN STARTS
628
00:40:59,360 --> 00:41:03,120
Hey, hey, it's raining.
629
00:41:03,120 --> 00:41:04,800
You made it rain!
630
00:41:04,800 --> 00:41:11,200
'It was an exciting time and Oh, God was a big hit all around the world.
631
00:41:11,200 --> 00:41:15,000
'I don't know how skilled he was as an actor,'
632
00:41:15,000 --> 00:41:20,560
he was good because he did on screen exactly what he did on television.
633
00:41:20,560 --> 00:41:23,880
He had a great smile and you accepted him in your house.
634
00:41:23,880 --> 00:41:27,400
I wouldn't term him an ac... He was a singer, an artist.
635
00:41:27,400 --> 00:41:29,400
It's just like Noah's Ark!
636
00:41:29,400 --> 00:41:31,880
Same thing, without the smell.
637
00:41:39,520 --> 00:41:42,920
# It's cold here in the city. #
638
00:41:42,920 --> 00:41:44,720
Despite his huge success,
639
00:41:44,720 --> 00:41:48,440
John Denver had always been prone to insecurity and self-doubt.
640
00:41:49,560 --> 00:41:51,040
From the early '70s,
641
00:41:51,040 --> 00:41:53,840
he'd been involved in new-age therapies including
642
00:41:53,840 --> 00:41:58,920
the controversial self-awareness programme EST or est.
643
00:41:58,920 --> 00:42:00,840
Est is Erhard Seminars Training,
644
00:42:00,840 --> 00:42:06,760
it's one of the many self discovery actions or seminars or workshops...
645
00:42:06,760 --> 00:42:10,800
Why did you want to discover more about yourself? Was it something you were uncomfortable with?
646
00:42:10,800 --> 00:42:13,080
Oh, I think it's part of what Tom Wolfe called,
647
00:42:13,080 --> 00:42:15,040
in the 1970s, The Me Decade.
648
00:42:15,040 --> 00:42:16,760
We really want to know who we are.
649
00:42:16,760 --> 00:42:17,960
There are things going on.
650
00:42:17,960 --> 00:42:20,800
We learn more and more about ourselves all the time.
651
00:42:20,800 --> 00:42:24,160
And to really find out what it is that makes us tick
652
00:42:24,160 --> 00:42:26,600
and how we are and can be really individuals
653
00:42:26,600 --> 00:42:29,040
and how our lives can make a difference.
654
00:42:29,040 --> 00:42:31,480
He was extraordinarily serious about est.
655
00:42:31,480 --> 00:42:33,600
That doesn't mean that I have to be, you know,
656
00:42:33,600 --> 00:42:35,720
I thought it was stupid, but that's just me.
657
00:42:35,720 --> 00:42:38,160
But I know a lot of people that came out of est,
658
00:42:38,160 --> 00:42:39,760
they'd got a lot from it.
659
00:42:39,760 --> 00:42:43,040
But he needed that. You know, people need things,
660
00:42:43,040 --> 00:42:47,440
they turn to whatever it is that gets them through the day.
661
00:42:47,440 --> 00:42:50,240
That helped him get through the day for a very long time.
662
00:42:50,240 --> 00:42:51,960
John was complicated.
663
00:42:51,960 --> 00:42:55,520
I think people have a certain vision of him -
664
00:42:55,520 --> 00:43:00,480
the kind of "Gee golly, far out," those kind of things.
665
00:43:00,480 --> 00:43:02,440
But he was basically a pretty quiet guy.
666
00:43:05,320 --> 00:43:07,400
I think he was insecure.
667
00:43:07,400 --> 00:43:10,240
But I think he had a difficult time with success.
668
00:43:11,560 --> 00:43:15,040
I think that was very hard for him.
669
00:43:15,040 --> 00:43:18,400
Because I don't think he knew how good he was.
670
00:43:19,480 --> 00:43:23,680
Many, many artists don't realise how good they are,
671
00:43:23,680 --> 00:43:25,840
that's when the darkness comes out.
672
00:43:25,840 --> 00:43:32,360
I don't think he ever accepted the fact that he was as good as he was.
673
00:43:32,360 --> 00:43:35,920
Because the critics always were a problem for him.
674
00:43:35,920 --> 00:43:40,120
I think most of our fear comes from not thinking we're enough
675
00:43:40,120 --> 00:43:45,360
and that ironically I think sometimes the more success you can have,
676
00:43:45,360 --> 00:43:49,160
and particularly if it's been a rocket ship, a rocket ride,
677
00:43:49,160 --> 00:43:54,280
that there's not all that time to develop perhaps other aspects of yourself.
678
00:43:55,440 --> 00:43:57,600
That's just my take on it.
679
00:44:00,720 --> 00:44:04,640
But for the time being, these doubts were put to one side as John
680
00:44:04,640 --> 00:44:08,000
continued his reign as America's favourite singer.
681
00:44:08,000 --> 00:44:11,960
He was one of the first celebrities to use his fame to raise awareness
682
00:44:11,960 --> 00:44:15,400
of environmental issues and forged a firm friendship
683
00:44:15,400 --> 00:44:18,600
with underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau.
684
00:44:18,600 --> 00:44:22,360
- Welcome aboard Calypso.
- It is great to be here.
- Let me show you around.
685
00:44:22,360 --> 00:44:26,080
At some point, I think it was during dinner or after dinner,
686
00:44:26,080 --> 00:44:27,840
he asked my dad, he said,
687
00:44:27,840 --> 00:44:33,360
"Captain, do you mind if I go to the bow of the ship
688
00:44:33,360 --> 00:44:38,760
"for a while? I need to think." And my dad said, "Yes, of course."
689
00:44:38,760 --> 00:44:42,520
So he went to the bow and that's when he wrote Aye Calypso.
690
00:44:42,520 --> 00:44:46,440
# Aye, Calypso, the places you've been to
691
00:44:46,440 --> 00:44:50,120
# Things that you show us The stories you tell
692
00:44:50,120 --> 00:44:53,840
# Aye, Calypso, I sing to your spirit
693
00:44:53,840 --> 00:44:57,680
# The men who have served you so long and so well. #
694
00:45:01,640 --> 00:45:07,880
Typical of John and his generosity, ultimately he gave the revenue
695
00:45:07,880 --> 00:45:13,520
of that particular song to the not-for-profit company of my father.
696
00:45:13,520 --> 00:45:16,120
And I remember collecting big cheques.
697
00:45:18,000 --> 00:45:20,680
Supporting Jacques Cousteau was only one strand
698
00:45:20,680 --> 00:45:23,480
of John's political activism and this side of him,
699
00:45:23,480 --> 00:45:26,760
last seen in the Mitchell Trio days, was reborn.
700
00:45:26,760 --> 00:45:29,440
He campaigned against whaling...
701
00:45:29,440 --> 00:45:36,720
# Have you heard the song the humpback hears 500 miles away
702
00:45:36,720 --> 00:45:45,320
# Telling tales of ancient history of passages and home. #
703
00:45:45,320 --> 00:45:47,360
..and worked with President Jimmy Carter
704
00:45:47,360 --> 00:45:50,120
on a commission combating hunger in Africa.
705
00:45:51,520 --> 00:45:55,000
He was the guy that was there before We Are The World,
706
00:45:55,000 --> 00:45:58,320
the whole Hunger Project, he started that.
707
00:45:58,320 --> 00:46:02,560
Working on the President's commission
708
00:46:02,560 --> 00:46:05,040
on world and domestic hunger.
709
00:46:05,040 --> 00:46:08,240
Everywhere he saw... And this was in the '70s, this is early
710
00:46:08,240 --> 00:46:09,960
and he was ahead of his time.
711
00:46:09,960 --> 00:46:11,560
The Stings and the Bonos
712
00:46:11,560 --> 00:46:15,520
and the people who use their status well to help others,
713
00:46:15,520 --> 00:46:20,560
I think they were inspired by John back then, he sort of set the tone.
714
00:46:20,560 --> 00:46:25,840
To further these ideas, John Denver set up his own foundation, Windstar,
715
00:46:25,840 --> 00:46:30,040
and bought a large tract of land near Aspen as its base.
716
00:46:30,040 --> 00:46:34,600
This is late '70s, the land was purchased by the mid-'80s,
717
00:46:34,600 --> 00:46:37,760
we had hundreds of people out there,
718
00:46:37,760 --> 00:46:41,760
we had wind generation experiments, solar demonstrations,
719
00:46:41,760 --> 00:46:45,840
we had an international symposium where 1,500 people would come,
720
00:46:45,840 --> 00:46:48,760
so it was an exciting, exciting place
721
00:46:48,760 --> 00:46:50,760
and probably ahead of its time.
722
00:46:50,760 --> 00:46:53,960
# Usually in the morning
723
00:46:53,960 --> 00:46:57,720
# I'm filled with sweet belonging. #
724
00:46:57,720 --> 00:47:01,960
While he was famous as a campaigner, by the early 1980s,
725
00:47:01,960 --> 00:47:05,440
John Denver's status as a pop star was fading.
726
00:47:05,440 --> 00:47:07,680
Although his albums were still popular,
727
00:47:07,680 --> 00:47:12,160
he hadn't had a hit single since Calypso in 1975.
728
00:47:15,960 --> 00:47:18,760
His personal life was also in turmoil.
729
00:47:18,760 --> 00:47:22,640
His father, to whom he'd grown closer through their love of flying,
730
00:47:22,640 --> 00:47:25,280
died suddenly in March 1982.
731
00:47:26,360 --> 00:47:29,720
And only three months later, on their 15th wedding anniversary,
732
00:47:29,720 --> 00:47:31,480
Annie asked him for a divorce.
733
00:47:33,080 --> 00:47:34,360
It's complicated.
734
00:47:34,360 --> 00:47:38,480
I think anybody that's been married to an entertainer or in that
735
00:47:38,480 --> 00:47:40,920
kind of industry where it's bigger than life...
736
00:47:40,920 --> 00:47:45,120
I think the pressures are enormous and I didn't have the maturity,
737
00:47:45,120 --> 00:47:47,040
and I don't think John did, either,
738
00:47:47,040 --> 00:47:52,160
to be able to deal with each other the way perhaps we could now, today.
739
00:47:52,160 --> 00:47:54,280
You know, there was hurt, there was anger,
740
00:47:54,280 --> 00:48:00,120
there was disappointment and I know for me when I look back is that we
741
00:48:00,120 --> 00:48:04,400
were young and we didn't know how to talk about these things.
742
00:48:04,400 --> 00:48:07,560
Well, I think over the last four, five, six years,
743
00:48:07,560 --> 00:48:11,880
we started drifting away from one another and part of it had to do with
744
00:48:11,880 --> 00:48:15,120
the amount of time that we spent not together
745
00:48:15,120 --> 00:48:16,880
and the things that we, I suppose,
746
00:48:16,880 --> 00:48:18,760
got locked into and not being together
747
00:48:18,760 --> 00:48:21,520
and then an inflexibility when we got back together
748
00:48:21,520 --> 00:48:24,680
to sort of integrate the other's life into our own.
749
00:48:24,680 --> 00:48:29,200
Within that, we sort of found that we have different interests,
750
00:48:29,200 --> 00:48:32,920
we had different friends, we had very little in common.
751
00:48:32,920 --> 00:48:35,640
- Do you see her?
- Yes, I do.
752
00:48:35,640 --> 00:48:40,200
# This is what it's like falling out of love
753
00:48:41,320 --> 00:48:45,960
# This is the way you lose your very best friend
754
00:48:47,320 --> 00:48:53,000
# This is how it feels when it's all over
755
00:48:53,000 --> 00:48:58,680
# This is just the way a true love ends. #
756
00:48:58,680 --> 00:49:02,400
Like so many people, they look at divorce like it's a failure.
757
00:49:02,400 --> 00:49:05,160
It's one of those big failures, you know.
758
00:49:05,160 --> 00:49:11,480
John was depressed about it.
759
00:49:11,480 --> 00:49:15,240
He loved his kids, I think he loved Annie
760
00:49:15,240 --> 00:49:18,480
and John had all of the things tugging at him
761
00:49:18,480 --> 00:49:20,760
that he wasn't about to give up.
762
00:49:20,760 --> 00:49:24,640
And Annie wanted a guy to be around and he wasn't.
763
00:49:25,960 --> 00:49:30,600
# Then the nights grow cold and hard to live through. #
764
00:49:30,600 --> 00:49:34,200
The down spells cycled throughout his life
765
00:49:34,200 --> 00:49:36,360
from when he was very young.
766
00:49:36,360 --> 00:49:42,880
And I think he went through this enormous down spell with relationships.
767
00:49:42,880 --> 00:49:47,040
And maybe because suddenly they weren't playing his music,
768
00:49:47,040 --> 00:49:49,360
every star has their flourishing
769
00:49:49,360 --> 00:49:51,880
and then there's a time when you're not being played,
770
00:49:51,880 --> 00:49:55,320
so those insecurities might have crept in. Who knows?
771
00:49:55,320 --> 00:49:58,360
All I know is John went through a very difficult time.
772
00:50:01,320 --> 00:50:07,360
# This is how it feels when it's all over. #
773
00:50:07,360 --> 00:50:10,600
Well, I think as we get older and we lose people...
774
00:50:10,600 --> 00:50:15,400
You know, his father died and then his first marriage failed.
775
00:50:15,400 --> 00:50:17,960
And then he had other disappointments
776
00:50:17,960 --> 00:50:20,560
and I think you become more serious.
777
00:50:25,800 --> 00:50:28,720
Yeah, I think it was a hard period for him,
778
00:50:28,720 --> 00:50:34,040
but like they say, "One door closes and another one opens."
779
00:50:34,040 --> 00:50:38,120
And in Australia in 1986 there was a new stage in John's life
780
00:50:38,120 --> 00:50:41,960
when he met singer and actress Cassandra Delaney.
781
00:50:41,960 --> 00:50:45,000
I was in Sydney, cos that's where I was raised,
782
00:50:45,000 --> 00:50:49,880
and I was actually a wedding singer the night that I met John.
783
00:50:49,880 --> 00:50:54,600
I was at the Sebel Town House doing a show for this wedding
784
00:50:54,600 --> 00:51:01,080
and we were sitting at the bar and it was packed and in walks this...
785
00:51:01,080 --> 00:51:07,720
this guy with two guys beside him and I looked over and it was...
786
00:51:07,720 --> 00:51:11,800
And he looked at me and it was kind of love at first sight.
787
00:51:11,800 --> 00:51:15,640
And I turned to my guitar player and he was like,
788
00:51:15,640 --> 00:51:18,280
"Do know who that is?" I'm, like, "No."
789
00:51:18,280 --> 00:51:22,440
And he's like, "That's John Denver," and I went, "Oh, well...
790
00:51:22,440 --> 00:51:26,520
"John Denver. Well, maybe I'll just go home!"
791
00:51:27,600 --> 00:51:31,080
After a whirlwind courtship, John and Cassandra married
792
00:51:31,080 --> 00:51:34,920
and she joined his life on the road and his campaigning.
793
00:51:34,920 --> 00:51:37,880
When I met him in the late '80s,
794
00:51:37,880 --> 00:51:43,560
he was really getting involved in the politics of the environment
795
00:51:43,560 --> 00:51:48,080
and you know he was passionate about NASA and going to the moon.
796
00:51:48,080 --> 00:51:51,880
You know, he was going into space.
797
00:51:53,800 --> 00:51:56,640
For many years, John had been one of the foremost campaigners
798
00:51:56,640 --> 00:51:59,080
for civilians to go into space.
799
00:51:59,080 --> 00:52:00,880
He hoped to lead the way as a passenger
800
00:52:00,880 --> 00:52:04,080
on the Challenger Space Shuttle.
801
00:52:04,080 --> 00:52:06,880
Until President Reagan announced a year and a half ago, during his
802
00:52:06,880 --> 00:52:09,800
presidential campaign, that he was going to send a teacher first,
803
00:52:09,800 --> 00:52:13,120
I thought that I would be the first one to go and that was my flight.
804
00:52:13,120 --> 00:52:15,040
He sent Christa McAuliffe.
805
00:52:15,040 --> 00:52:16,880
I knew all of the astronauts on board,
806
00:52:16,880 --> 00:52:20,880
I knew Christa. I support NASA 1,000%.
807
00:52:20,880 --> 00:52:23,040
I think it's one of the best things going on
808
00:52:23,040 --> 00:52:25,360
not only in the United States, but in the world.
809
00:52:25,360 --> 00:52:28,160
Tragically, the Challenger exploded on take off
810
00:52:28,160 --> 00:52:29,880
killing everyone on board.
811
00:52:29,880 --> 00:52:32,360
Would you go if there were another Challenger mission?
812
00:52:32,360 --> 00:52:35,560
I would go right now, I would go tomorrow if it were possible.
813
00:52:35,560 --> 00:52:38,080
# They gave us their light
814
00:52:38,080 --> 00:52:43,520
# They gave us their spirit and all they could be. #
815
00:52:43,520 --> 00:52:46,800
Although he still featured in events like the Challenger Benefit,
816
00:52:46,800 --> 00:52:49,600
by the mid-1980s John Denver's star had fallen.
817
00:52:50,640 --> 00:52:54,920
When the charity record, We Are The World, was produced in 1985,
818
00:52:54,920 --> 00:52:57,280
he wasn't even invited to take part.
819
00:52:58,680 --> 00:53:02,440
He also broke up with his long-term manager Jerry Weintraub.
820
00:53:02,440 --> 00:53:06,120
And, in 1986, Denver was dropped by RCA,
821
00:53:06,120 --> 00:53:11,000
the company for whom he'd sold over 100 million records.
822
00:53:11,000 --> 00:53:14,920
RCA was an incredibly stupid record company.
823
00:53:14,920 --> 00:53:18,840
Unfortunately, every year they changed presidents
824
00:53:18,840 --> 00:53:25,960
and changed A&R people and new people came in, younger people,
825
00:53:25,960 --> 00:53:27,840
they didn't care about John Denver,
826
00:53:27,840 --> 00:53:31,400
they probably didn't even know who he was, you know?
827
00:53:31,400 --> 00:53:36,080
# Lady, are you happy?
828
00:53:38,240 --> 00:53:43,560
# Do you feel the way I do? #
829
00:53:45,520 --> 00:53:48,600
His personal life went through more troubles.
830
00:53:48,600 --> 00:53:51,760
Although John and Cassandra had a baby daughter, Jesse Belle,
831
00:53:51,760 --> 00:53:55,720
their marriage was short-lived and ended in divorce after four years.
832
00:53:55,720 --> 00:53:59,840
In the 1990s, his appearances in the media were more often
833
00:53:59,840 --> 00:54:02,600
for drunk-driving offences than for his music.
834
00:54:04,560 --> 00:54:07,680
# My sweet lady. #
835
00:54:07,680 --> 00:54:10,360
But John Denver had a loyal fanbase
836
00:54:10,360 --> 00:54:13,680
and he still played sell-out shows around the world.
837
00:54:13,680 --> 00:54:17,000
In 1995, he released a double live album
838
00:54:17,000 --> 00:54:19,760
which surprised many by going gold.
839
00:54:19,760 --> 00:54:20,960
For his friends,
840
00:54:20,960 --> 00:54:25,440
John seemed to be in a happier place than he'd been for many years.
841
00:54:25,440 --> 00:54:28,520
He was turning the corner on so many things.
842
00:54:28,520 --> 00:54:33,280
He was still discovering what he's going to do in this next era.
843
00:54:33,280 --> 00:54:37,920
But there was a deeper peace about him, a deeper understanding
844
00:54:37,920 --> 00:54:44,040
about him, much greater wisdom about this celebrity which the
845
00:54:44,040 --> 00:54:48,440
flourishing star maybe had passed, but the ability to make a difference
846
00:54:48,440 --> 00:54:52,480
was possibly even stronger, because he had greater wisdom.
847
00:54:55,520 --> 00:54:59,520
But tragically there was to be no comeback for John Denver.
848
00:54:59,520 --> 00:55:03,600
Since learning to fly with his father, he'd become a keen pilot,
849
00:55:03,600 --> 00:55:07,120
owning a number of high-performance stunt planes.
850
00:55:07,120 --> 00:55:09,920
On October 12th, 1997,
851
00:55:09,920 --> 00:55:14,360
he took delivery of an experimental kit plane, the Long-EZ.
852
00:55:14,360 --> 00:55:17,880
Test flying it at a low level over Monterey Bay,
853
00:55:17,880 --> 00:55:20,840
the plane crashed into the sea.
854
00:55:20,840 --> 00:55:24,760
The accident report concluded that it had run out of fuel
855
00:55:24,760 --> 00:55:28,440
and that John had been unable to switch to the reserve tank.
856
00:55:28,440 --> 00:55:31,000
He was killed instantly.
857
00:55:31,000 --> 00:55:32,800
We got to talking one day and I said,
858
00:55:32,800 --> 00:55:37,160
"John, do you ever think about something,
859
00:55:37,160 --> 00:55:41,280
"maybe tragedy in a plane or something?" He said, "Never."
860
00:55:41,280 --> 00:55:45,640
He said, "If it's my time to go,
861
00:55:45,640 --> 00:55:48,120
"I would want to go flying my plane."
862
00:55:49,640 --> 00:55:55,800
I picked up the phone and Malcolm said that,
863
00:55:55,800 --> 00:55:59,560
"Cassie, there's been an accident."
864
00:55:59,560 --> 00:56:01,960
And I'm like...
865
00:56:01,960 --> 00:56:05,840
I, I pretty much just fell to the floor.
866
00:56:05,840 --> 00:56:08,520
And then I got on the phone and started talking to everybody
867
00:56:08,520 --> 00:56:11,000
and telling them how it was a mistake, it wasn't John,
868
00:56:11,000 --> 00:56:13,880
he wasn't there, you know, blah, blah, blah.
869
00:56:13,880 --> 00:56:18,800
And trying to cover it to keep it from getting to Mom...
870
00:56:18,800 --> 00:56:20,480
for a while.
871
00:56:21,480 --> 00:56:27,840
# I've been lately thinking about my life's time
872
00:56:27,840 --> 00:56:32,720
# All the things I've done and how it's been
873
00:56:34,200 --> 00:56:40,800
# And I can't help believing in my own mind
874
00:56:40,800 --> 00:56:45,480
# I know I'm gonna hate to see it end. #
875
00:56:45,480 --> 00:56:47,920
I think he was a great artist.
876
00:56:47,920 --> 00:56:53,720
I think he was a wonderful man, a wonderful fellow, when I knew him.
877
00:56:53,720 --> 00:56:57,040
I loved him dearly, I miss him a lot.
878
00:57:00,120 --> 00:57:03,480
# I've known my lady's pleasures. #
879
00:57:03,480 --> 00:57:06,560
He represented America at its best and healthiest.
880
00:57:06,560 --> 00:57:09,680
He's a wonderful artist and a wonderful writer
881
00:57:09,680 --> 00:57:13,360
and I think his songs will be sung for hundreds of years.
882
00:57:13,360 --> 00:57:14,960
They're that good.
883
00:57:14,960 --> 00:57:19,040
# I have to say it now It's been a good life all in all. #
884
00:57:19,040 --> 00:57:20,720
My brother was a great guy.
885
00:57:20,720 --> 00:57:24,880
I mean, he could be wonderfully generous, like all people,
886
00:57:24,880 --> 00:57:27,840
and he could be an asshole like all people.
887
00:57:27,840 --> 00:57:31,280
And I have experiences of both, you know.
888
00:57:32,800 --> 00:57:36,320
It didn't affect my love for him or that I like his music.
889
00:57:36,320 --> 00:57:40,480
# Sit and pass the pipe around. #
890
00:57:40,480 --> 00:57:45,240
He was a hard guy to picture dead, cos he'd been so alive.
891
00:57:46,320 --> 00:57:48,760
As I said, nothing scared him.
892
00:57:48,760 --> 00:57:55,200
# How sweet it is to love someone How great it is to care
893
00:57:55,200 --> 00:57:58,440
# How long it's been since yesterday. #
894
00:57:58,440 --> 00:58:01,640
I feel close to him, you know, when I'm in the mountains.
895
00:58:01,640 --> 00:58:05,760
And, you know, when I'm looking at things that I know he looked at,
896
00:58:05,760 --> 00:58:09,720
you know, that he saw, I feel pretty close to him.
897
00:58:09,720 --> 00:58:13,600
# And talk of poems and prayers and promises
898
00:58:13,600 --> 00:58:16,960
# And things that we believe in
899
00:58:16,960 --> 00:58:23,160
# How sweet it is to love someone How right it is to care
900
00:58:23,160 --> 00:58:27,280
# How long it's been from yesterday
901
00:58:27,280 --> 00:58:29,200
# What about tomorrow?
902
00:58:30,680 --> 00:58:35,840
# What about our dreams and all the memories we share? #
903
00:58:38,600 --> 00:58:42,720
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