Plenty of his songs indicate a real belief that humanity really can pull together and figure their shit out, for the good of the world. When he was good, he was damn good.īeyond the obvious John Denver Songwriting Touchstones – nature, a strong but not off-putting aversion to cities, and the various facets of love – is a surprisingly nuanced look at human nature. I would say there around 10 John Denver songs that are perfect, which stacks up pretty well with just about any other artist.

Yes, he was guilty of falling into self-parody throughout his career – “Rhymes & Reasons,” the second half of “The Eagle & the Hawk,” and the aforementioned “Sunshine” being cringe-worthy examples – but the good far outweighs the bad. It’s sort of strange, arguing that the guy who wrote a song called “Sunshine On My Shoulders” requires active listening, but after spending the first 18-odd years of my life casually dismissing him as a musician simply because my dad loved him (and, therefore, he didn’t fit the rigid definition of “coolness” teenage me applied to music), I finally opened my ears in college and realized what I’d been missing. Either way, you’re missing out on a vastly underrated songwriter who may never get the critical recognition he deserved. You’ll either sit at an emotional distance, MST3K-ing the lyrics into oblivion and snarking yourself in circles, or you’ll simply tune the lyrics out altogether, which turns Denver’s music into pleasant but altogether unexceptional background noise.

Without allowing yourself to buy into his clear-eyed, almost overwhelmingly optimistic worldview, the experience can turn sour pretty quickly. In order to really “get” John Denver, it’s almost essential to force any cynicism out of your mind.

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