Take Me Home, Country Roads

Inspiration for the title line had come while Taffy Nivert and Bill Danoff, who were married, were driving along Clopper Road in Montgomery County, Maryland, to a gathering of Nivert's family in Gaithersburg, with Nivert behind the wheel while Danoff played his guitar. "I just started thinking, country roads, I started thinking of me growing up in western New England and going on all these small roads", Danoff said. "It didn't have anything to do with Maryland or anyplace." To Danoff, the lyric "the radio reminds me of my home far away" in the bridge is quintessentially West Virginian, an allusion to when he listened to the program Saturday Night Jamboree, broadcast from Wheeling, West Virginia, on WWVA at his home in Springfield, Massachusetts, during his childhood in the 1950s. Danoff was influenced by friend and West Virginian actor Chris Sarandon and members of a West Virginia commune who attended Danoff's performances. 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 decided he had to have it, which prompted them to abandon plans for the sale. The verses and chorus were still missing a bridge, so the three of them went about finishing. Nivert got out an encyclopedia to learn more about West Virginia. The first thing she encountered was the rhododendron, the state flower, so she kept trying to work the word Rhododendron into the song. Rhododendron was the title that Nivert had written down on the lyric sheet, which they later sent to ASCAP. When they finished, on the morning of Wednesday, December 30, 1970, Denver announced that the song had to go on his next album. The next day was Denver's 27th birthday. They recorded it in New York City in January 1971. "Take Me Home, Country Roads" is written in the key of A major with a tempo of 82 beats per minute. ==Commercial performance and legacy==

"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. The single reached number 1 on the Record World Pop Singles Chart and the Cash Box Top 100, and number 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100, topped only by "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" by The Bee Gees. On August 18, 1971, the song was certified Gold by the RIAA for a million copies shipped. The song has since become an anthem of the Brisbane Lions, a professional Australian rules football club and is sung by the crowd every time Lions player Charlie Cameron kicks a goal. The song was chosen by Cameron to be played in reference to his country roots. Meanwhile, it is a fixture at NFL International Series games held in Germany, with fans performing the lyrics in unison even as the game is in play. The song was interpolated in "Lonely Road" by Machine Gun Kelly and Jelly Roll in 2024. It reached number 33 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated August 10, 2024, giving Denver his first top 40 appearance as a songwriter since the same song's appearance in the medley "Forever Country" by Artists of Then, Now & Forever peaked at number 21 in 2016. ==Reception in West Virginia==

"Take Me Home, Country Roads" received an enthusiastic response from West Virginians. 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 opening phrase of the song, "Almost heaven", became a primary tourism office slogan. The song is the theme song of West Virginia University, and it has been performed during every home football pregame show since 1972. The song is also played after every home victory and fans are encouraged to stay in the stands and sing along with the team. It is also played for other athletic events and university functions. On September 6, 1980, at the invitation of West Virginia Governor Jay Rockefeller, songwriters Danoff, Nivert, and 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 popularity of the song 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". The next day, governor Earl Ray Tomblin signed the resolution into law. The song was played at the funeral for West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd at the state capitol in Charleston, West Virginia, on July 2, 2010. ==Personnel==

• John Denver – vocals, 6- and 12-string acoustic guitar • Bill Danoff – backing vocals • Taffy Nivert – backing vocals • Eric Weissberg – banjo, steel guitar • Mike Taylor – acoustic guitar • Richard Kniss – double bass • Gary Chester – drums, percussion ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts ==Certifications==

Olivia Newton-John version Olivia Newton-John released a cover version in January 1973 that reached number 6 in Japan and number 15 in the UK. It was the lead single from her third studio album, Let Me Be There. This version, as well as the song itself, features prominently in the Japanese animated film, Whisper of the Heart. Charts Toots and the Maytals version Jamaican reggae group Toots and the Maytals recorded a cover version for their 1974 album In The Dark. The lyrics are altered slightly to refer to the group's home country of Jamaica with specific references to the island's West end. Yōko Honna version Japanese voice actress Yōko Honna recorded a cover version for the 1995 film Whisper of the Heart simply titled Country Road with new lyrics by Mamiko Suzuki, the daughter of Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki and screenwriter Hayao Miyazaki. The Olivia Newton-John version of the song also plays during the film's opening credits. Hermes House Band version Dutch pop band Hermes House Band covered the song and released it as "Country Roads". This version was first released in Germany on May 21, 2001, 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. Track listings Charts Certifications {{Certification Table Entry|region=Denmark|type=single|artist=Hermes House Band|title=Country Roads|award=Gold|relyear=2001|certyear=2022|id=11384 Forever Country version The song found further chart success as part of the "Forever Country" medley and video, created in 2016 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Country Music Association Awards. Fallout 76 version A cover version of the song, a collaboration between Copilot Music and Sound and the vocal group Spank, was commissioned for and featured in both the teaser and full E3 2018 trailers for the 2018 video game Fallout 76, with its plot events 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 Billboards Country Digital Songs the following week. 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. Charts Lana Del Rey version American singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey released a piano cover of the song on December 1, 2023. Charts ==References==