TGIF

The hard thing these days is recalling what mystical hold John Denver's songs have over me; how they seemed to speak to the spirit in ways that few others do, and how they paint pictures of places (either physically, emotionally or spiritually) so many people yearned to be, states of mind as much as anything, the beauty of a sunrise, the lure of country roads.

John Denver's songs carried him to a pinnacle where few would ever attain. He became an individual recognized around the world, whole phrases of his songs implanted in people's memories, sunshine in my eyes makes me cry, take me home, country roads, you fill up my senses like a night in a forest.

But in reality, he was just like anyone, filled with pain, sadness and often conflicted. In his autobiography, he recounted of personal incidences on a tenth-floor balcony in London with the thought that he would jump to his death, use of marijuana, acid and cocaine as well as the numerous infidelities on the road.

Denver received the Albert Schweitzer Music Award in 1993 ``for a life's work dedicated to music and devoted to humanity," an award that received far less notice than his drunken-driving arrests. That is, to Denver's mind, one more expression of this cynical age, and also why his sun-tinted music no longer is so popular, at least in America.

It was said that Annie's song was dedicated to his wife, even after they split up and went their separate ways. This song will always hold a place in the deep recesses of my old sentimental (although slightly jaded) heart. It brings back beautiful albeit painful memories of the "one which got away". (There are certain things you do in your life with an element of risk and you have to be willing to pay the price.)



ANNIE'S SONG (John Denver)

You fill up me senses like a night in a forest
Like the mountains in springtime, like a walk in the rain
Like a storm in the desert, like a sleepy blue ocean
You fill up my senses come fill me again.

Come let me love you, let me give my life to you
Let me drown in your laughter, let me die in your arms
Let me lay down beside you, let me always be with you
Come let me love you, come love me again.

INSTRUMENTAL VERSE

...Let me give my life to you
Come let me love you, come love me again.

You fill up my senses like a night in a forest
Like the mountains in springtime, like a walk in the rain
Like a storm in the desert, like a sleepy blue ocean
You fill up my senses, come fill me again.