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The Words From A Huge John Denver Hit You Were Never Supposed To Hear
You don't have to even like John Denver to remember his first big solo hit, "Take Me Home Country Roads." (He'd written "Leavin' On A Jet Plane," a smash for Peter Paul & Mary, under his real name Henry John Deutschendorf.) But "Country Roads" was his breakthrough song, written by Bill Danoff.
If you remember the tune, it was a homespun classic about returning to West Virginia after a while away and was somewhat wistful. But it turns out it may not have always been that way. Danoff had originally written a verse for the tune that almost certainly would have gotten it banned from the radio.
According to American Songwriter, the second verse originally went like this:
"In the foothills, hidin’ from the clouds / Pink and purple West Virginia farm house / Naked ladies, men who look like Christ / And a dog named Poncho nibbling on the rice."
As Denver himself may have said "Far out!" Luckily, he changed it to something a lot more mainstream than naked women and Christ-lookalikes, or we may never have heard of the soft-voiced crooner in the first place.
The Original Verse in “Take Me Home, Country Roads” That Was Deemed Too Risqué for Radio Play
- Binson Echorec
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Re: The Words From A Huge John Denver Hit You Were Never Supposed To Hear
Those lyrics sure would've scuttled the "he's so square" movement.
- turkeytop
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Re: The Words From A Huge John Denver Hit You Were Never Supposed To Hear
The words were on the recorded version. You just had to spin it backwards to hear them.
After all is said and done, more is usually said than done.