My wife was watching PBS last night, and they were playing a documentary on Peter Paul & Mary. That got me to thinking that I always liked the song, "Leaving On A Jet Plane". This song was the last big hit for PP&M; released on a 1969 single (45). PP&M originally released this song on their 1967 album, Album 1700. PP&M first heard this song when they received a Christmas gift from John Denver in 1966; the self published album, John Denver Sings. This song wasn't a big hit for PP&M when they released it on their 1967 album, but it went to #1 on the charts when they released it as a single in 1969; John Denver followed suit by releasing the song on his first commercial album; the 1969 release, Rhymes & Reasons.
After I put "Leaving On A Jet Plane" on my website, I told my wife, and added that PP&M didn't write this song, but they covered it after John Denver wrote it in 1966. Lorraine (my wife) told me that that's one of the things she remembers about PP&M; everybody back in the 60s complained that PP&M were mainly a cover group (you could say the same thing about Judy Collins, but nobody ever has, besides Joni Mitchell). At that point I decided to put the original John Denver recording on my website, and his 1969 re-release.
John Denver also had his fair share of controversy. John Denver didn't write Country Roads! Country Roads was one of JD's biggest hits, but the song was originally written by Bill Danoff and his wife, Taffy Nivert. The Danoffs (friends of JD) approached JD after one of his concerts, and told him about a song they had written, but felt they needed help polishing it. The Danoffs also wanted a big name performer to do their song, so it would get some recognition. JD removed a line from the song that he felt was out of place and also "polished up" the rest of the song. JD also hired the Danoffs to play on his next album (the one that featured Country Roads); Poems, Prayers & Promises. The back of the cover of PP&P also gives the Danoffs credit as the song writers (but also has "Denver" listed as the 3rd writer) for Country Roads; i.e., they got royalties (JD helped the Danoffs; he didn't rip them off). Yet, there is still controversy about credit for this song not going to the right people; there's a rumor that Bill Danoff got this song from a lady who sold songs like shareware (try before you buy) - the same rumor says that John Denver paid her money, too.
If you goto my homepage you'll find Country Roads in my music dropdown list, besides the other aforementioned songs in this blog. After hearing (I never actually watched it) the PP&M documentary mentioned at the beginning of this blog, I didn't plan on posting as many songs as I did. I thought it might be interesting to some of my visitors who listen to my music list to read how I come up with my music selections.