| "Rocky Mountain High" | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by John Denver | |||||||||||
| from the album Rocky Mountain High | |||||||||||
| Released | 1973 | ||||||||||
| Format | Vinyl record | ||||||||||
| Recorded | August 1972 | ||||||||||
| Genre | Folk-rock | ||||||||||
| Length | 4:12 | ||||||||||
| Label | RCA | ||||||||||
| Writer(s) | John Denver (lyrics)/John Denver and Mike Taylor (music) | ||||||||||
| Producer | Milt Okun | ||||||||||
| John Denver singles chronology | |||||||||||
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"Rocky Mountain High" is a folk-rock song written by John Denver and Mike Taylor about Colorado, and is one of the two official state songs of Colorado.1 Recorded by Denver, it went to number nine on the US Hot 100 in 1973. (The song also made #3 on the Easy Listening chart, and was played by some country music stations.)
"Rocky Mountain High" is primarily inspired by John Denver's move to Aspen, Colorado, United States three years earlier and his love for the state. The seventh stanza makes a reference to destruction of the mountains' beauty by commercial tourism. The song was considered a major piece of 1970's pop culture, and became a well-associated piece of Colorado history.
The song briefly became controversial that year when the U.S. Federal Communications Commission was permitted by a legal ruling to censor music deemed to promote drug abuse. Numerous radio stations cautiously banned the song until Denver publicly explained that the "high" was his innocent description of the sense of peace he found in the Rockies. In 1985, Denver testified before Congress in the Parents Music Resource Center hearings about his experience:
This was obviously done by people who had never seen or been to the Rocky Mountains, and also had never experienced the elation, celebration of life, or the joy in living that one feels when he observes something as wondrous as the Perseid meteor shower on a moonless, cloudless night, when there are so many stars that you have a shadow from the starlight, and you are out camping with your friends, your best friends, and introducing them to one of nature's most spectacular light shows for the first time.2
In 2005, the song was performed by a soloist at the NBA all-star game in Denver. After years as an unofficial anthem for Colorado, on March 12, 2007, the Colorado General Assembly made "Rocky Mountain High" one of two official state songs, sharing the honor with "Where the Columbines Grow".1 The song was also used in an advertisement for Colorado-based Coors beer.
In late 2007, the John Denver Sanctuary drew some controversy after the last lines of the song were removed from the 'Rocky Mountain High" stone.3
The song was used memorably as a warning for Death in the 2000 film Final Destination, referencing John Denver's death in a plane crash.
Snowmass, Colorado, a ski resort near Aspen, named a run "Rocky Mountain High," in honor of John Denver.
Chart performance
| Chart (1972) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 9 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks | 3 |
| Canadian RPM Top Singles | 8 |
| Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary Tracks | 2 |
References
- ^ a b "Lawmakers OK 'Rocky Mountain High'". The Denver Post. March 12, 2007. http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_5418736. Retrieved 2007-03-12.
- ^ Eric D. Nuzum, Parental Advisory: Music Censorship in America, Harper (2001). ISBN 0-688-16772-1
- ^ "It's 'Rocky Mountain (expletive deleted), Colorado'". The Aspen Times. October 13, 2007. http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20071013/NEWS/71012028/0/FRONTPAGE. Retrieved 2008-12-10.
