OT - Am I Gettin Old?, John Denver on PBS and I like it Options

[seanery]

There's a John Denver special on PBS right now and I like it...it reminds me of simpler times. Am I getting old, or just sentimental? (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/wacko.gif)

[Thorshammer]

I know he was a little corny, But you have to remember the times were different then. Through song he connected with many (me for one) and saved several. One of the best stories is told by his former wife, Annie. a year after John was killed in a plane accident (Burt Rutan Long EZ) a young woman wrote her and let her know she (the young girl) had planned on killing herself one evening. After having a final meal with her parents, she went to her room and prepared her concoction of sleeping pills, barbituates and arsenic. She was depressed and just as she picked up her pills a John Denver song called Poems, Prayers and Promises came on the radio, She listened to his words and choose NOT to go through with it. I feel few song writers really truly have this type of inspiration in their words. Many can easily preach hate,rape,death,adultery and because their lyrics are shocking young people swoon.

This man, albeit in a sappy way moved us by the millions, yet thought his life was a total failure. This was a great American and in his words I found a solid pathway as I matured. Many of his words I put to use everyday. His search for grace was never found. I hope mine is, and my son follows. For some of you that do not know who he was, he was part hippy, part naturalist,part adventurer and tremendously talented. His own adultery cost him the absolute love of his life. The woman (Annie) he used as much of his inspiration. He was a hopeless romantic that worked with everyone from George Burns, Jaques Coustou (SP) to the Muppets.

If you could'nt stomach Disco or Acid rock (as it we called in those days) yet you still wanted inspiration, maybe JD was your cup of tea. He was the number one instrumental/Vocalist in the seventies and into the eighties. after all of his success, he died doing what he loved, flying planes. He was survived by his wife Annie, whom is now a shrink, and two children in their 20's. Please read the following, it saved a young girls life.

POEMS PRAYERS AND PROMISES:

I've been lately thinkin' about my lifes time
All the things I've done and how it's been
and I can't help beliving in my own mind
I know I'm gonna hate to see it end

I've seen alot of Sunshine
slept out in the rain
Spent a night or two all on my own

I've known my ladies pleasures
Had my self some friends
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
Lie there by the fire, Watch the evening tire
While all my friends, and my old lady sit and pass the pipe around

And talk of Poems, 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
What about tomorrow?

And what about our dreams and all the memories we share

The days the pass so quickly now
Nights are seldom long
Time around me whispers when it's cold

Changes somehow frighten me
still I have to smile
It turns me on to think of growing old

For though my lifes been good to me
there's still so much to do
So many things my mind has never known

I'd like to raise a family,
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 a chance to hang around
Lie there by the fire and watch the evening tire
While all my friends, and my old lady sit and pass the pipe around

And talk of Poems, 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
What about tomorrow?
And what about our dreams and all the memories we share

.......................
Grace, pure and simple. We all need some.

Erik Madsen