Back Home Again by John Denver

Album: Back Home Again (1974)

Charted: 5

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John Denver wrote "Back Home Again" about that feeling of being on the road and missing the simple pleasures of life at home, like spending time with friends and family and enjoying home-cooked meals. Denver's songs often reflected these values, but they had the adverse effect of making him more popular, putting more demands on his time and pushing him out on tour for longer periods. The year after the song was released, he embarked on a lengthy world tour with a private plane ("the starship") and a big crew. This time away afflicted his personal life and caused tension with his wife, Ann Martell, the subject of "Annie's Song." They ended up divorcing in 1982.
"Back Home Again" is the title track to John Denver's eighth album, released in 1974. His first song to make a big impact was "Take Me Home Country Roads" in 1971. In 1973 he had a #1 hit with "Sunshine On My Shoulders," but 1974 was his breakout year, with "Annie's Song" and "Thank God I'm A Country Boy" going to #1, and Denver starting a run of TV specials.
Denver's producer, Milt Okun, shared his thoughts on "Back Home Again" in the liner notes of the John Denver Definitive All-Time Greatest Hits compilation: "That song came out of John being on the road so often and that feeling of being back home again. I loved the lyric - that's one of the nicest songs he wrote. John loved being on the road. Actually, he loved singing for people. If he could have stayed home and had 10,000 in the living room every night, he would have loved that more. But it's sad that all that travel broke up his marriage. There was a price to pay."
"Back Home Again" went to #5 on the Hot 100 but was Denver's first #1 on the Country chart, as that audience embraced him. Most of them did, anyway. When he won the CMA for Entertainer Of The Year Award in 1975, Charlie Rich, who announced it, set fire to the card before calling Denver's name.

Denver landed two more #1 hits on the Country chart: "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" and "I'm Sorry."

Comments: 1

Dan Case from Perry, NyThe “Sunshine” in the lyric “And your mother called last Friday Sunshine made her cry…” is referring to Denver’s 1973 single “Sunshine On My Shoulders“ which went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the U.S. in early 1974.

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