NJC Guitar Ensemble: Take me home, country roads

Origin
John Denver was sharing the bill at a folk club called the "Cellar Door" in Washington, D.C. with Danoff and Nivert, who worked together under the name of Fat City. After opening night, the three piled into Danoff's car and headed back to his place for an impromptu jam. On the way, there was a crash, and Denver's thumb was broken. He was taken to the hospital, where a splint was applied. By the time they got back to the house, he was, in his own words, "wired, you know."

Danoff and Nivert then told him about a song they'd been working on for about a month. The inspiration had come while they'd been driving to a family reunion of Nivert's relatives in nearby Maryland. To pass the time en route, Danoff had made up a ballad about the little winding roads they were taking. Later, he changed the story to fit that of an artist friend, who used to write to him about the splendors of the West Virginia countryside. The second verse of the tune was a bit risqué -- referring to naked ladies and such -- so the duo reckoned that their song would never get played on the radio.

On his website, Bill Danoff gives that (later discarded) second verse:

In the foothills hidin' from the clouds,
Pink and purple, West Virginia farmhouse.
Naked ladies, men who looked like Christ,
And a dog named Pancho, nibbling on the rice.[1]

They sang the song for Denver and, as he recalled, "I flipped." The three stayed up until 6 a.m., changing words and moving lines around. When they finished, John announced that the song had to go on his next album … and it did.

"Take Me Home, Country Roads" appeared on the LP Poems, Prayers, and Promises and was released as a 45 in the spring of 1971. It broke nationally in mid-April, but moved up the charts very slowly. After several weeks, RCA called John and told him that they were giving up on the single. His response: "No! Keep working on it!" They did, and on August 18 it was certified a million-seller

Lyrics
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 gathered round her
Miners lady, stranger to blue water
Dark and dusty, painted on the sky
Misty taste of moonshine
Teardrops in my eye

CHORUS
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
And drivin down the road I get a feelin
That I should have been home yesterday, yesterday

CHORUSx2

MP3
link
This is a Bossa Nova version of the song performed by Lisa Ono (a very remarkable artist in this gerne). I think this version is quite close to our arrangement with similar tempo and changes in tempo between different part.

YOUTUBE links

1. Original version by John Denver