Take Me Home, Country Roads


"Take Me Home, Country Roads", also known simply as "Take Me Home" or "Country Roads", is a song written by Bill Danoff, Taffy Nivert, and John Denver about West Virginia. It was released as a single performed by Denver on April 12, 1971, peaking at number two on Billboards US Hot 100 singles for the week ending August 28, 1971. The song was a success on its initial release and was certified Gold by the RIAA on August 18, 1971, and Platinum on April 10, 2017. The song became one of John Denver's most popular and beloved songs. It has continued to sell, with over 1.6 million digital copies sold in the United States. It is considered to be Denver's signature song.
The song has a prominent status as an iconic symbol of West Virginia, which it describes as "Almost Heaven". In March 2014, it became one of the four official state anthems of West Virginia.

Composition

Inspiration for the song had come while the couple was driving along Clopper Road in nearby Montgomery County, Maryland to a Nivert family reunion in Gaithersburg. According to a radio interview with Nivert, the road is close to Washington, D.C., where Denver often worked. To pass the time en route, Danoff had made up a ballad about the little winding roads they were taking. He had even briefly considered using "Massachusetts" rather than "West Virginia" as both four-syllable state names would have fit the song's meter. Today, the landscape around Clopper Road has changed drastically due to development and little resembles the countryside scenery that once surrounded it.
To Danoff, the lyric "he radio reminds me of my home far away" in the bridge is quintessentially West Virginian, an allusion to listening during his '50s childhood days to the program Saturday Night Jamboree on Wheeling's WWVA from his home far away, in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Danoff had some other West Virginia associations to draw from as well. He became friends with actor Chris Sarandon, a Beckley native who was once married to actress Susan Sarandon, as well as a group of hippies from a West Virginia commune who used to sit in the front row of the little clubs in which his groups used to play: "They brought their dogs and were a very colorful group of folks, but that is how West Virginia began creeping into the song,” Danoff said. “I didn't want to write about Massachusetts because I didn't think the word was musical. And the Bee Gees, of course, had a hit record called Massachusetts, but what did I know?".
Starting December 22, 1970, Denver was heading the New Year's bill at The Cellar Door, with Fat City opening for him, just as Denver had opened at the same club for then headliner David Steinberg. After Tuesday the 29th's post-Christmas reopening night, the three headed back to the couple's apartment for an impromptu jam. On the way, Denver's left thumb was broken in a collision. He was rushed to the ER, where the thumb was put in a splint. By the time they got back to the apartment, he was, in his own words, "wired, you know."
But when Danoff and Nivert ran through what they had of the song they had been working on for about a month, planning to sell to Johnny Cash, Denver "flipped." He decided he had to have it, prompting them to abandon plans for the sale. The verses and chorus were still missing a bridge, so the three of them went about finishing.
Taffy got out an encyclopedia to learn a little more about West Virginia, and the first thing that came upon was the Rhododendron, the state flower, so she kept trying to work the word Rhododendron into the song. Rhododendron was actually the title that Taffy had written down on the lyric sheet, which they later sent to ASCAP. The three stayed up until 6:00 a.m., changing words and moving lines around.
The geographical features named in the first verse of the lyrics - Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River - which are more prominent in the state of Virginia than in West Virginia, can be found in Jefferson County, West Virginia.
When they finished, on the morning of Wednesday, December 30, 1970, Denver announced that the song had to go on his next album. Later that night, during Denver's first set, Denver called his two collaborators back to the spotlight, where the trio changed their career trajectories, reading the lyrics from a single handheld, unfolded piece of paper. The resulting ovation is said to have been five-minute-long and was certainly one of the longest in Cellar Door history. The next day was Denver's 28th birthday. They recorded it in New York City in January 1971.

Commercial performance

"Take Me Home, Country Roads" appeared on the LP Poems, Prayers & Promises and was released as a 45 in the spring of 1971. Original pressings credited the single to "John Denver with Fat City". It broke nationally in mid-April but moved up the charts very slowly. After several weeks, RCA Records called John and told him that they were giving up on the single. His response: "No! Keep working on it!" They did, and the single went to number 1 on the Record World Pop Singles Chart and the Cash Box Top 100, and number 2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, topped only by "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" by The Bee Gees.
On August 18, 1971, it was certified Gold by the RIAA for a million copies shipped. The song continued to sell in the digital era. As of January 2020, the song has also sold 1,591,000 downloads since it became available digitally.

Reception in West Virginia

"Take Me Home, Country Roads" received an enthusiastic response from West Virginians. The song is the theme song of West Virginia University and it has been performed during every home football pregame show since 1972.
On September 6, 1980, at the invitation of West Virginia Governor Jay Rockefeller, songwriters Bill Danoff, Taffy Nivert, and John Denver performed the song during pregame festivities to a sold-out crowd of Mountaineer fans. This performance marked the dedication of the current West Virginia University Mountaineer Field and the first game for head coach Don Nehlen.
The song is played for other athletic events and university functions, including after football games, for which the fans are encouraged to stay in the stands and sing the song along with the team.
This song was played at the funeral memorial for West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd at the state capitol in Charleston on July 2, 2010.
The popularity of the song has inspired resolutions in the West Virginia Legislature to adopt "Take Me Home, Country Roads" as an official state song. On March 7, 2014, the West Virginia Legislature approved a resolution to make "Take Me Home, Country Roads" an official state song of West Virginia, alongside three other pieces: "West Virginia Hills", "This is My West Virginia", and "West Virginia, My Home Sweet Home". Governor Earl Ray Tomblin signed the resolution into law on March 8, 2014.
On November 1, 2017, the West Virginia Tourism Office announced it had obtained the rights to use “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” in its marketing efforts. “‘Country Roads’ has become synonymous with West Virginia all over the world,” said West Virginia Tourism Commissioner Chelsea Ruby. “It highlights everything we love about our state: scenic beauty, majestic mountains, a timeless way of life, and most of all, the warmth of a place that feels like home whether you've lived here forever or are just coming to visit.”
The Mountain State Brewing Company based in Thomas, West Virginia, produces an amber ale called "Almost Heaven," which it says is "named after John Denver's ode to West Virginia, Country Roads".

Personnel

Certifications

Cover versions

Hermes House Band version

In 2001, the song was covered by Dutch pop band Hermes House Band and released as "Country Roads". This version was a chart success in Europe, reaching number one in Scotland, number two in Germany and Ireland, and the top 10 in Austria, Denmark and the United Kingdom. The band performed the song live on Top of the Pops.
Chart Peak
position

Chart Position
Austria 18
Europe 96
Germany 10
Ireland 20
UK Singles 121

Olivia Newton-John versions

American singer Ray Charles recorded a version of the song on his 1972 album A Message From the People.

Toots and the Maytals version

Jamaican ska/reggae band Toots and the Maytals covered the song on their 1973 album In the Dark, the track also later included on the 1975 U.S. release of Funky Kingston. Their cover of the song was influenced by Ray Charles' rendition, since the two versions share more similarities regarding the structure, melody and tone than they do with the original version.

Israel Kamakawiwoʻole version

singer Israel Kamakawiwoʻole covered the song on his 1993 album Facing Future, featuring his personal rendition of the piece in relation to the Hawaiian Islands and his life there, mentioning West Mākaha and Mount Kaʻala.

Japanese version

A Japanese language cover of the song, sung by Yōko Honna, was made for the 1995 anime film, Whisper of the Heart. The song, which plays a part in the plot of the film, is humorously renamed "Concrete Roads" and reflects on Honna's character's hometown in western Tokyo. The Olivia Newton-John version also plays during the opening of the film. Another Japanese cover is a punk version by :ja:GOING STEADY|Going Steady and is called the .

''Fallout 76'' version

A cover version of the song, a collaboration between Copilot Music and Sound and the vocal group , was commissioned for and featured in both the teaser and full E3 2018 trailers for the 2018 video game, Fallout 76, whose plot events are set in West Virginia. Released as an iTunes-only single on July 4, 2018, the song reached No. 1 on the iTunes singles chart. It debuted at No. 41 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart that week and at No. 21 on Billboard's Country Digital Songs the following week. The official YouTube upload of the original John Denver recording, initially uploaded in 2013, would later edit its description in response to the song's use for the game. In Australia, a promotional Fallout 76 vinyl featuring the cover was included with the December 2018 issue of STACK Magazine exclusively from retailer JB Hi-Fi.
Chart Peak
position
US Country Digital Songs 21
US Hot Country Songs 41

In popular culture

In the September 29, 2008 strip for Pearls Before Swine, Rat sings the song to plant an earworm. When he explains it to Pig, Pig begins to dismiss it, but then he impulsively starts singing the song himself.
In season 5 of the American TV show The Office, Dwight and Andy sing increasingly elaborate and showy versions of the song to try and impress Erin, whom they both have a small crush on.
In the 2017 science fiction horror film ', while repairing their damaged ship, the crew of the spaceship Covenant picks up a weak transmission of the song, which leads them to the nearby planet from where it originates.
In the 2017 Steven Soderbergh film Logan Lucky, the young daughter of primary character Jimmy Logan sings his favorite song "Take Me Home, Country Roads" at a Junior Beauty Pageant, in the resolving scene in the movie.
In the 2017 Matthew Vaughn film ', the character Merlin sings a capella “Take Me Home, Country Roads” before dying by a land mine.
Some VTubers like Shizuka Rin, Kiryu Coco and Akai Haato sang the song during their performances.
In season 2 episode 11 of American Dad, Stan, Steve, and the Mexican sweatshop workers, sing this song as Paco and his family sing this song for their dream of coming to America.
In the 1995 anime, Whisper of the Heart the protagonist Shizuku Tsukishima sings an alternate version of this song for their school graduation.