Rhinofy-Colorado Songs Primer

"Rocky Mountain High"
John Denver

Love him or loathe him, if you're not enamored of this song you're not a friend of mine.

From the acoustic intro you're immediately transported to a place of fresh air where your troubles have been left behind.

We all want to be born again, we all want to find the key to every door, and despite having such a poignant message, what really makes this track soar is the sound and the indelible chorus, with the way it gets quiet just before the title words are sung.

"Rocky Mountain High" is one of those tracks you can never burn out on, that you never tire of hearing, that makes you go out and buy the album containing it just to hear it, just to be able to play it over and over again.

I did.

"Rocky Mountain Way"
Joe Walsh

It looked like he was toast, that leaving the James Gang was a decision akin to Shelley Long leaving "Cheers," his first album had "Turn To Stone," but it got little airplay, Joe was in a funk and then he dropped this.

"Spent the last year Rocky Mountain way"

People who'd never been higher than sea level could and did sing every word. On this track alone, Joe was back and bigger than ever. Never argue with the power of a hit.

Or a riff.

This was the first track to popularize the use of the voice box, but it would have been gigantic without it, talk about capturing magic in a bottle.

"Colorado"
Linda Ronstadt

This Rick Roberts penned tune was on Linda's first Asylum album, the one that was going to make her a star.

Alas, it did not happen, that didn't occur until the next LP, which came out on her old label Capitol.

The LP has a genius version of Neil Young's "I Believe In You," a complete misreading of Randy Newman's "Sail Away," another take on "Love Has No Pride," that Bonnie Raitt debuted, and one of the first covers of the Eagles' "Desperado," but I find this to be the most memorable track on the album.

"But I'm tired of that race
It was much too fast a pace
And I think I've found my place
Colorado, I want to come home"

This was still the seventies, pre Internet, pre airline deregulation, pre no cost long distance, Colorado was still off the grid, celebrities had not yet discovered Aspen, you could truly retreat to the Rocky Mountain state, slow down and live an alternative lifestyle.

"Boulder Skies"
Pure Prairie League

"Colorado canyon girl could set me free"

Never underestimate the power of Craig Fuller's voice. It closes you immediately. And many baby boomers know this song by heart, because it followed "Amie" on side two of Pure Prairie League's breakout album, "Bustin' Out."

It's all about the sound.

Especially in the fast-paced world of today, we want something that puts our mind on the back porch of life with a beer in our hand, reflecting on what has happened and is yet to be.
"
Boulder Skies" does this.

"Man Of Constant Sorrow"

"I'll say goodbye to Colorado
Where I was born and probably raised"

Covered by everybody from Bob Dylan to Dan Tyminski (who, alas, changes it to "Kentucky"), my favorite version of "Man Of Constant Sorrow" is contained on Rod Stewart's debut album.

This is not the prancing peacock of today, he was completely unknown in America when this album was released, and to drop the needle was a revelation, it was so intimate.

And who knew you pronounced it RAD instead of ROD.

I laughed at him, figured he was English and he didn't know. But the truth is everybody who lives in the state pronounces it his way.

"Rocky Mountain Breakdown"
Poco

Jim was gone and Richie too, the act had not yet switched to ABC and had hits, but this is pure Poco and fans know it and it's contained in Epic's superb Poco compilation, "The Forgotten Trail."

"Colorado Christmas"
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

Written by the long forgotten but undeservedly so Steve Goodman, this is a Christmas song you might have never heard, but should.

"But all along the Rockies you can feel it in the air
From Telluride to Boulder down below"

Makes you want to hop a plane to the mountains immediately!

"The Bitch Is Back"
Elton John

Huh?

Don't you remember, the album was named CARIBOU!

That's right, that was the cool place to cut your LP back in the early seventies, at James William Guercio's Caribou Ranch in Nederland, Colorado. Walsh recorded there, Joe's producer Bill Szymczyk cut Rick Derringer's "Rock & Roll Hoochie Koo" there too, Supertramp did "Even In the Quietest Moments," and of course multiple Chicago LPs were constructed at that high altitude.

Meanwhile, this was a huge hit when I lived in the mountains. Albeit in the Wasatch, in Utah.

"Get Out Of Denver"

Made famous, of course, by Bob Seger, he and his manager are too ignorant to be on Spotify, so I'm including Dave Edmunds's glorious take.

"Grand Junction"
Poco

Was it metaphorical or was it really about the western Colorado burg? I'm not sure!

But it tears right along on Poco's fantastic initial LP.

"No More Buffalo"
James McMurtry

"We headed south across those Colorado plains
Just as empty as the day"

Not about the mountains, but the half of Colorado that's flat, that people forget about, this track elicits the feeling of that landscape.

"I Know You Rider"
Grateful Dead

Most famously on the live album "Europe '72," many people have cut it and it contains the line:

"I'd shine my light through cool Colorado rain"

"When It's Springtime In The Rockies"
Gene Autry

"When it's springtime in the Rockies
I'll be coming back to you
Little sweetheart of the mountains
With your bonnie eyes of blue"

Yes, Colorado and its topography have been inspiring songwriters for eons, even back to the Singing Cowboy. We all yearn for the simple life and the clean air.

And a multitude of acts have emanated from the state, from Lothar and the Hand People to the Samples to Big Head Todd to the Fray and...

I'm sure you've got your own favorites, but this is a start!

Spotify playlist: http://spoti.fi/1pT15Ea


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