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