Though he’s been dead since 1997, the legacy of John Denver continues to live on. A group of middle school kids recently jammed out to one of his classics.
Videos by American Songwriter
The students requested that the teacher play “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” The teacher regularly plays songs for her students, and this was one was recently requested. The teacher posted the video to X of the kids singing in the background.
She said, “What is it like teaching middle schoolers? My students requested one song today. This is what happened when I played it.”
In response to the video, fans of Denver were happy that the singer was finding new audiences. They found the kids singing the song to be endearing. One person wrote, “I’m so happy to see something wholesome for a change.”
Another commented, “I am so glad we were able to bring you that small amount of joy. God bless you. It will be ok. BIG HUG.”
Another wrote, “This welled my emotions up into my throat. I don’t know why. I’m just so proud of these babies!”
The Staying Power of John Denver
So why has the Denver classic endured for so many years? The song continues to strike a chord thanks to its messages of home. Although the song mentions West Virginia, the tune can really be about anywhere. It makes the listener feel a bit homesick.
“We can think about the song as being about any place – it names West Virginia, but it doesn’t have to,” West Virginia University assistant professor Sarah Morris told CBS. “People take the song and re-appropriate it so that it’s about the place that’s home to them. Change the geographic references, change the lyrics, change the location. But it doesn’t really change the song, and it doesn’t change the meaning of the song.”
Even Brad Paisley has his own thoughts, telling the outlet that the song is one of his favorite. He said the tune takes on a new meaning when you strike out on your own and move away.
“I think once you move away, the song takes on way more just character and depth,” Paisley said. “You hear that on the radio and you’re not in West Virginia, like, you hear that in your car and it comes on, and when you hear that iconic acoustic guitar part – ‘driving down the road I get a feeling that I should have been home yesterday.'”
[Photo by Tony Russell/Redferns]
