By Karen Kier
Pharmacist on behalf of the ONU HealthWise team
In 1971, songwriter and recording artist John Denver released an album titled Poems, Prayers & Promises. On this album, he had a release called Sunshine on My Shoulders. The length of this song on the album precluded its play on the radio so the single was remixed with one less verse and released in 1974. The song hit number one on the U.S. and Canadian charts.
John Denver was known for his acoustic folk music and was one of the best-selling artists in this genre. He recorded over 300 songs in his lifetime with approximately 200 being written by the artist himself. Denver’s songs transcended multiple genres and he could be heard on different types of radio stations. Many of his hits are still played today such as Take Me Home, Country Road and Rocky Mountain High. Country Roads was adopted in 2007 as the official state song of West Virginia, while Colorado legislated Rocky Mountain High as one of their official songs in 2007.
