John Denver’s Rocky Mountain High
Episode 1 | 55m 37sVideo has Closed Captions
Celebrate the 50th anniversary of the iconic title track from Denver’s 1972 album.
Celebrate the 50th anniversary of the iconic title track from Denver’s 1972 album with a 1974 concert filmed at Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheater. The special features one of the world’s best-known and best-loved artists in his prime performing at this stunning outdoor venue.
John Denver’s Rocky Mountain High
Episode 1 | 55m 37sVideo has Closed Captions
Celebrate the 50th anniversary of the iconic title track from Denver’s 1972 album with a 1974 concert filmed at Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheater. The special features one of the world’s best-known and best-loved artists in his prime performing at this stunning outdoor venue.
How to Watch John Denver’s Rocky Mountain High
John Denver’s Rocky Mountain High is available to stream on pbs.org and the free PBS App, available on iPhone, Apple TV, Android TV, Android smartphones, Amazon Fire TV, Amazon Fire Tablet, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, and Vizio.
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship(BIRDSONG) (INDISTINCT CHATTER) (THE MUSIC IS YOU PLAYING) JOHN DENVER: ♪ Music makes pictures and often tells stories ♪ All of it magic, and all of it true ♪ And all of the pictures, and all of the stories ♪ All of the magic, the music is you ♪ Music makes pictures and often tells stories ♪ All of it magic and all of it true ♪ And all of the pictures and all of the stories ♪ And all of the magic, the music is you ♪ And all of the magic, the music is you ♪ (AUDIENCE CHEERING LOUDLY) Good evening.
(STARWOOD IN ASPEN PLAYING) ♪ It's a long way from L.A. to Denver ♪ It's a long time to hang in the sky ♪ It's a long way home to Starwood in Aspen ♪ A sweet Rocky Mountain paradise ♪ Oh, my sweet Rocky Mountain paradise ♪ Springtime is rolling 'round slowly ♪ Gray skies are bringing me down ♪ Can't remember when I've ever been so lonely ♪ I forgot what it's like to be home ♪ Can't remember what it's like to be home ♪ I think on my lady's sweet memories ♪ I think on my children's sweet smiles ♪ I think on my home at Starwood in Aspen ♪ All my friends and the snow covered hills ♪ Oh, my friends are the snow covered hills ♪ And I tell you I'm happy to be here ♪ To share and consider this time ♪ For I see here the shadows of changes ♪ And a feeling of new friends to find ♪ And I see here some new friends to find ♪ It's a long way from this place to Denver ♪ It's a long time to hang in the sky ♪ It's a long way home to Starwood in Aspen ♪ A sweet Rocky Mountain paradise ♪ Oh, my sweet Rocky Mountain paradise ♪ (MUSIC STOPS, CHEERING STARTS) Thank you very much, once again good evening.
Welcome to our little concert tonight.
Beautiful Red Rocks Amphitheatre.
We are here this evening, I don't mind telling you all, to get you high.
Considering...
Considering that you're who you are and we're here, and this is Colorado I don't think we have far to go.
I will tell you that for sure.
I want you to be very comfortable, enjoy yourselves.
Lay back and let yourself go wherever the music takes you.
Anytime you feel like singing along please feel very welcomed to do that.
Kindly limit yourselves to the chorus of the songs.
(AUDIENCE SCREAMING) Let me do the verses.
It's my show.
(AUDIENCE CHEERING) (ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH PLAYING) ♪ He was born in the summer of his 27th year ♪ Coming home to a place he'd never been before ♪ He left yesterday behind him, you might say he was born again ♪ You might say he found a key for every door ♪ When he first came to the mountains his life was far away ♪ On the road and hanging by a song ♪ But the string's already broken and he doesn't really care ♪ It keeps changing fast and it don't last for long ♪ But the Colorado Rocky Mountain high ♪ I've seen it rainin' fire in the sky ♪ The shadow from the starlight is softer than a lullaby ♪ Rocky Mountain high ♪ Rocky Mountain high ♪ He climbed cathedral mountains, he saw silver clouds below ♪ He saw everything as far as you can see ♪ And they say that he got crazy once and he tried to touch the sun ♪ And he lost a friend but kept the memory ♪ Now he walks in quiet solitude the forests and the streams ♪ Seeking grace in every step he takes ♪ His sight has turned inside himself to try and understand ♪ The serenity of a clear blue mountain lake ♪ And the Colorado Rocky Mountain high ♪ I've seen it rainin' fire in the sky ♪ Talk to God and listen to the casual reply ♪ Rocky Mountain high ♪ Rocky Mountain high ♪ Now his life is full of wonder but his heart still knows some fear ♪ Of a simple thing he cannot comprehend ♪ While they try to tear the mountains down to bring in a couple more ♪ More people, more scars upon the land ♪ And the Colorado Rocky Mountain high ♪ I've seen it rainin' fire in the sky ♪ I know he'd be a poorer man if he never saw an eagle fly ♪ Rocky Mountain high ♪ Colorado Rocky Mountain high ♪ I've seen it rainin' fire in the sky ♪ Friends around the campfire and everybody's high ♪ Rocky Mountain high ♪ Rocky Mountain high ♪ Rocky Mountain high ♪ Rocky Mountain high ♪ (VOCALIZING) (MUSIC STOPS, CHEERING STARTS) Far out.
Wow.
And here we are.
♪ It's by far the hardest thing I've ever done (FOLLOW ME PLAYING) ♪ To be so in love with you and so alone ♪ Follow me where I go ♪ What I do, who I know ♪ Make it part of you to be a part of me ♪ Follow me up and down ♪ All the way and all around ♪ Take my hand and say you'll follow me ♪ It's long been on my mind ♪ You know it's been a long, long time ♪ I've tried to find the way that I can make you understand ♪ The way I feel about you ♪ And just how much I need you ♪ To be there where I can talk to you ♪ When there's no one else around ♪ Follow me where I go, what I do ♪ Who I know ♪ Make it part of you to be a part of me ♪ Follow me up and down ♪ All the way and all around ♪ Take my hand and say you'll follow me ♪ (LEAVING ON A JET PLANE PLAYING) ♪ All my bags are packed I'm ready to go ♪ I'm standing here outside the door ♪ I hate to wake you up to say goodbye ♪ But the dawn is breakin' It's early morn ♪ The taxi's waitin' He's blowin' his horn ♪ Already I'm so lonesome I could die ♪ So kiss me and smile for me ♪ Tell me that you'll wait for me ♪ Hold me like you'll never let me go ♪ 'Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane ♪ Don't know when I'll be back again ♪ Oh babe, I hate to go ♪ Now the time has come to leave you ♪ One more time Let me kiss you ♪ Then close your eyes And I'll be on my way ♪ Dream about the days to come ♪ When I won't have to leave alone ♪ About the times, I won't have to say... ♪ JOHN: Everybody.
♪ ...Kiss me and smile for me ♪ Tell me that you'll wait for me ♪ Hold me like you'll never let me go ♪ 'Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane ♪ Don't know when I'll be back again ♪ Oh babe, I hate to go ♪ But, I'm leavin' on a jet plane ♪ Don't know when I'll be back again ♪ Oh babe, I hate to go ♪ (MUSIC STOPS, CHEERING) (SATURDAY NIGHT IN TOLEDO, OHIO PLAYING) ♪ Saturday night in Toledo, Ohio is like being nowhere at all ♪ All through the day how the hours rush by ♪ You sit in the park and you watch the grass die ♪ Ah, but after the sunset, the dusk and the twilight ♪ When shadows of night start to fall ♪ They roll back the sidewalk precisely at ten ♪ And people who live there are not seen again ♪ Just two lonely truckers from Great Falls, Montana ♪ And a salesman from places unknown -ces unknown... ♪ My little vocal repeat, I love that part.
♪ ...All huddled together in downtown Toledo ♪ To spend their big night all alone ♪ You ask how I know of Toledo, Ohio?
♪ Well I spent a week there one day ♪ They've got entertainment to dazzle your eyes ♪ Go visit the bakery and watch the buns rise ♪ Ah, but let's not forget that the folks of Toledo ♪ Unselfishly gave us the scale ♪ No springs, honest weight, that's the promise they made ♪ So smile and be thankful next time you get weighed (CROWD LAUGHING) ♪ And "wive and wet wive", let this be our motto ♪ Let's let the sleeping dogs lie, -ping dogs lie ♪ There it was again... ♪ And here's to the dogs of Toledo, Ohio ♪ Now wait a minute, you folks are way ahead of me on this.
♪ Ladies, we bid you goodbye ♪ JOHN: I love that song I'll tell you.
But I did a concert in Cleveland, Ohio, At a place called Blossom Music Center.
Big mistake on my part.
(CROWD LAUGHING) There was some people in the audience that night, who were from Toledo, and I guess, if the truth be known, they were... they were all offended by the song.
Yeah, I know what you mean.
Well, they came back after the show to tell me about it.
And I...
I kind of apologized to them I said, "gee, "I don't mean to offend anybody by that song."
That is a very funny song.
I think it's very well written.
It's basically true and...
I didn't want to offend anybody but...
These people were upset, they...
They told me about it, in no uncertain terms.
Actually bruised me up a little bit.
They were three of the biggest girls I've ever seen.
(AUDIENCE CHEERING) (MOTHER NATURE'S SON PLAYING) (CHEERING STARTS) ♪ Born a poor, young country boy ♪ Mother nature's son ♪ All day long I'm sitting singing songs for everyone ♪ Sit beside a mountain stream ♪ Watch her waters rise ♪ Listen to the pretty sound of music as she flies ♪ (VOCALIZING) ♪ Find me in my field of grass ♪ Mother nature's son ♪ Swaying daisies sing a lazy song beneath the sun ♪ (VOCALIZING) (HUMMING) ♪ I'm mother nature's son ♪ (MUSIC STOPS) (TODAY PLAYING) ♪ Today, while the blossoms still cling to the vine ♪ I'll taste your strawberries, I'll drink your sweet wine ♪ A million tomorrows shall all pass away ♪ 'Ere I forget all the joy that is mine ♪ Today ♪ I'll be a dandy, and I'll be a rover ♪ You'll know who I am by the songs that I sing ♪ I'll feast at your table ♪ I'll sleep in your clover ♪ Who cares what the morrow shall bring ♪ Today, while the blossoms still cling to the vine ♪ I'll taste your strawberries, I'll drink your sweet wine ♪ A million tomorrows shall all pass away ♪ 'Ere I forget all the joy that is mine ♪ Today ♪ I can't be contented with yesterday's glory ♪ I can't live on promises winter to spring ♪ Today is my moment, now is my story ♪ I'll laugh and I'll cry and I'll sing ♪ Today, while the blossoms still cling to the vine ♪ I'll taste your strawberries, I'll drink your sweet wine ♪ A million tomorrows ♪ Shall all pass away ♪ 'Ere I forget all the joy that is mine ♪ Today ♪ JOHN: Now everybody sing.
♪ Today, while the blossoms still cling to the vine ♪ I'll taste your strawberries, I'll drink your sweet wine ♪ A million tomorrows ♪ Shall all pass away ♪ 'Ere I forget all the joy that is mine ♪ Today ♪ (MUSIC STOPS) (THE EAGLE AND THE HAWK PLAYING) ♪ I am the eagle, I live in high country ♪ In rocky cathedrals that reach to the sky ♪ I am the hawk and there's blood on my feathers ♪ But time is still turning, they soon will be dry ♪ And all of those who see me, all who believe in me ♪ Share in the freedom I feel when I fly ♪ Come dance with the west wind and touch on the mountain tops ♪ Sail o'er the canyons and up to the stars ♪ And reach for the heavens and hope for the future ♪ And all that we can be and not what we are ♪ (MUSIC STOPS) (INAUDIBLE) I know what you folks are thinking.
You folks probably sitting out there thinking.
Sure he writes songs, plays guitar.
Big deal.
The question is can he juggle?
(CROWD CHEERING) (CHEERING INTENSIFIES) (ROCKY MOUNTAIN SUITE PLAYING) ♪ Up in a meadow in Jasper, Alberta ♪ Two men and four ponies on a long, lonesome ride ♪ To see the high country and learn of her people ♪ The ways that they live there, the ways that they die ♪ And one is a teacher, and one a beginner ♪ Just wanting to be there, wanting to know ♪ And together they're trying to tell us a story ♪ That should have been listened to long, long ago ♪ How the life in the mountains is living in danger ♪ From too many people, too many machines ♪ And the time is upon us, today is forever ♪ Tomorrow is just one of yesterday's dreams ♪ Cold nights in Canada and icy blue winds ♪ The man and the mountains are brothers again ♪ Clear waters are laughing, they sing to the skies ♪ The Rockies are living, they never will die (AUDIENCE CHEER AND APPLAUSE) ♪ Up in a meadow in Jasper, Alberta ♪ Two men and four ponies on a long, lonesome ride ♪ (MUSIC STOPS) (ANNIE'S SONG PLAYING) ♪ 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 ♪ 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 ♪ 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 ♪ (MUSIC STOPS, AUDIENCE CHEERING) This next song is a little bit older than the last one but.
Of all the song I've written... this is still my favorite.
Ready back there?
(POEMS, PRAYERS AND PROMISES PLAYING) ♪ I've been lately thinking about my life's time ♪ All the things I've done, how it's been ♪ And I can't help believing in my own mind ♪ I know I'm gonna hate to see it end ♪ I've seen a lot of sunshine, slept out in the rain ♪ Spent a night or two all on my own ♪ I've known my lady's pleasures, had myself some friends ♪ And spent a time or two in my own home ♪ I have to say it now, it's been a good life, all in all ♪ It's really fine to have a chance to hang around ♪ And lie there by the fire and watch the evening tire ♪ While all my friends and my old lady ♪ Sit and pass the pipe around ♪ Talk of poems and prayers and promises ♪ And things that we believe in ♪ How sweet it is to love someone, how right it is to care ♪ How long it's been since yesterday and what about tomorrow ♪ What about our dreams ♪ And all the memories we share ♪ The days they pass so quickly now, nights are seldom long ♪ Time around me whispers when it's cold ♪ The changes somehow frighten me, still I have to smile ♪ It turns me on to think of growing old ♪ For though my life's been good to me there's still so much to do ♪ So many things my mind's never known ♪ I'd like to raise a family, I'd like to sail away ♪ And dance across the mountains on the moon ♪ I have to say it now, it's been a good life, all in all ♪ It's really fine to have the chance to hang around ♪ And lie there by the fire and watch the evening tire ♪ While all my friends and my old lady ♪ Sit and pass a pipe around ♪ And talk of poems and prayers and promises ♪ And things that we believe in ♪ How sweet it is to love someone, how right it is to care ♪ How long it's been since yesterday ♪ And what about tomorrow ♪ What about our dreams ♪ And all the memories we share ♪ (MUSIC STOPS) (AUDIENCE APPLAUDING) (AMSTERDAM PLAYING) ♪ In the port of Amsterdam there's a sailor who sings ♪ Of the dreams that he brings from the wide open sea ♪ In the port of Amsterdam there's a sailor who sleeps ♪ While the river bank weeps to the old willow tree ♪ In the port of Amsterdam there's a sailor who dies ♪ Full of beer, full of cries in a drunken down fight ♪ But in the port of Amsterdam there's a sailor who's born ♪ On a muggy, hot morn ♪ By the dawn's early light ♪ In the port of Amsterdam where the sailors all meet ♪ There's a sailor who eats only fish-heads and tails ♪ He will show you his teeth that have rotted too soon ♪ That can swallow the moon, that can haul up the sails ♪ And he yells to the cook with his arms open wide ♪ Bring me more fish, put it down by my side ♪ And he wants so to belch, but he's too full to try ♪ So he gets up and he laughs and he zips up his fly ♪ In the port of Amsterdam you can see sailors dance ♪ Haunches bursting their pants, grinding woman to paunch ♪ They've forgotten the tune that their whiskey voice croaks ♪ And they're spitting the night with the roar of their jokes ♪ And they turn and they dance and they laugh and they lust ♪ To the rancid sounds of the accordion's burst ♪ Then it's out into the night with their pride in their pants ♪ And a slut that they tow underneath the street lamps ♪ In the port of Amsterdam there's a sailor who drinks ♪ And he drinks and he drinks and he drinks once again ♪ He drinks to the health of the whores of Amsterdam ♪ Who have promised their love to a thousand other men ♪ And they bargain their bodies and their virtue long gone ♪ For a few dirty coins, And then when he can't go on ♪ He plants his nose in the sky And he wipes it up above ♪ And he splits like I cry for an unfaithful love ♪ In the port of Amsterdam ♪ In the port of Amsterdam ♪ In the port of Amsterdam ♪ (MUSIC STOPS, AUDIENCE CHEERING) (SUNSHINE ON MY SHOULDERS PLAYING) ♪ Sunshine on my shoulders ♪ Makes me happy ♪ Sunshine in my eyes ♪ Can make me cry ♪ Sunshine on the water ♪ Looks so lovely ♪ Sunshine almost always ♪ Makes me high ♪ If I had a day ♪ That I could give you ♪ I'd give to you ♪ A day just like today ♪ If I had a song ♪ That I could sing for you ♪ I'd sing a song ♪ To make you feel this way ♪ Sunshine on my shoulders ♪ Makes me happy ♪ Sunshine in my eyes ♪ Can make me cry ♪ Sunshine on the water ♪ Looks so lovely ♪ Sunshine almost always ♪ Makes me high ♪ Sunshine almost all the time ♪ Makes me high ♪ Sunshine almost always ♪ (MUSIC STOPS) (TAKE ME HOME, COUNTRY ROADS PLAYING) ♪ Almost heaven, West Virginia ♪ Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River ♪ Life is old there, older than the trees ♪ Younger than the mountains, growin' like a breeze ♪ Country roads, take me home ♪ To the place I belong ♪ West Virginia, mountain momma ♪ Take me home, country roads ♪ All my memories gather 'round her ♪ Miner's lady, stranger to blue water ♪ Dark and dusty, painted on the sky ♪ Misty taste of moonshine, teardrop in my eye ♪ Country roads, take me home ♪ To the place I belong ♪ West Virginia, mountain momma ♪ Take me home, country roads ♪ I hear her voice in the mornin' hour, she calls me ♪ The radio reminds me of my home far away ♪ Drivin' down the road, I get a feelin' ♪ That I should've been home yesterday, yesterday ♪ Country roads, take me home ♪ To the place I belong ♪ West Virginia, mountain momma ♪ Take me home, country roads ♪ Now everybody sing.
♪ Country roads, take me home ♪ To the place I belong ♪ West Virginia, mountain momma ♪ Take me home, country roads ♪ Take me home, down country roads ♪ Take me home, down country roads ♪ (MUSIC STOPS) (AUDIENCE CHEERING) We have about 250 more songs we'd like to do I don't see how you can have more fun than this, I'll tell you.
(I GUESS HE'D RATHER BE IN COLORADO PLAYING) ♪ I guess he'd rather be in Colorado ♪ He'd rather spend his time out where the sky ♪ Looks like a pearl after the rain ♪ Once again I see him walkin' ♪ Once again I hear him talking to the stars he makes ♪ And asking them for bus fare ♪ I guess he'd rather be in Colorado ♪ He'd rather play his banjo ♪ In the morning when the moon is scarcely gone ♪ In the dawn the subway's comin' ♪ In the dawn I hear him hummin' ♪ Some old song he wrote of love in Boulder Canyon ♪ I guess he'd rather be in Colorado ♪ I guess he'd rather be in Colorado ♪ I guess he'd rather work out where the only thing you earn ♪ Is what you spend ♪ In the end up in his office ♪ In the end a quiet cough is all he has to show ♪ He lives in New York City ♪ I guess he'd rather be in Colorado ♪ Thank you everybody.
I love you very much.
Goodnight.
(INAUDIBLE) (INAUDIBLE) (AUDIENCE CHEERING)