Rhymes & Reasons
His first commercial solo album, with his own recording of Leaving on a Jet Plane among songs by Tom Paxton, Jerry Jeff Walker and the Beatles.
John Denver, 1969
- Released
- 14 October 1969
- Studio
- RCA Studios, New York City
- Label
- RCA Victor
- Producer
- Milton Okun
- Length
- 37:28
Milton Okun produced and arranged it at RCA's New York studios, with Jim Crotty and John Woram engineering. Denver wrote or co-wrote four of the songs, among them the title track, Daydream and Leaving on a Jet Plane, and the rest came from writers including Tom Paxton, Mason Williams, Jerry Jeff Walker and Lennon and McCartney. Daydream and Leaving on a Jet Plane were issued as singles in October 1969, and the second did not chart. The album reached 148 on the Billboard 200 and 21 in the UK. Legacy reissued it on CD in 2005 with two bonus tracks.
Track listing
- The Love of the Common People4:06
- Catch Another Butterfly2:31
- Daydream2:54
- The Ballad of Spiro Agnew0:15
- Circus2:37
- When I'm Sixty-Four2:02
- The Ballad of Richard Nixon0:05
- Rhymes & Reasons3:15
- Yellow Cat2:52
- Leaving on a Jet Plane3:37
- (You Dun Stomped) My Heart2:41
- My Old Man4:34
- I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free3:49
- Today Is the First Day of the Rest of My Life (Sugacity)2:10
Personnel
- John Denver vocals, guitar, arranger
- Stan Free organ
- Paul Griffin keyboards
- Herbie Lovelle drums
- Teddy Sommer drums
- George Marge baritone saxophone
- Paul Prestopino guitar, autoharp, mandolin
- Albert Richmond French horn
- Russ Savakus bass
- Marvin Stamm flute, trumpet
- Eric Weissberg banjo, steel guitar
- Milton Okun producer, arranger
More from John Denver
Poems, Prayers & Promises (1971), John Denver's Greatest Hits (1973)
Sources
- Rhymes & Reasons (John Denver album), Wikipedia
- John Denver discography, Wikipedia