'MY SONGS TOUCH ME; I TRY TO TOUCH PEOPLE'
by Peter Vaughan

Minneapolis Star Staff Writer
11/19/70

     John Denver is a singer of songs, a minstrel, a poet, a 
creator of rhymes. But he wants to be remembered most as a 
human being who cares about other human beings.
     I you have heard Peter, Paul and Mary or John Denver sing 
"Leaving, On A Jet Plane" and it has touched you into 
remembering a sad parting, long forgotten, then Denver is 
happy.
     He wrote the song four and a half years ago. Peter, Paul 
and Mary put it on an album shortly thereafter.  It remained 
there, relatively unnoticed, until it was released as a single 
a year ago.  It sold two million copies.
     "When I wrote it I had been with the Mitchell Trio for 
about a year. There were a lot of one night concerts and a 
great deal of traveling. It was very difficult to take 
somebody you loved along because the whole business could be 
incredibly boring. 
     "I enjoy getting to know people and I would never have 
time. I think that's sad. So here was something for anyone who 
has to say good-by, for whatever period of time, to someone 
you care for very deeply.  "I am very gratified to think that 
two million people shelled out the money for that song. I hope 
that many of them were touched by the sentiment in the song" 
Denver said.
     At 26, Denver is reaching what he considers a critical 
point in his career as a folk singer and song writer. He views 
music, his and that of others, as a medium through which he 
can communicate to people in all levels of the community.
     "All the songs I do touch me in some way. I try to do 
something more than just entertain. I try to touch people."  
"I want them to say something more than 'What a pretty song!' 
I want them to say 'Why, that is something I have felt'" he 
said.
     "Music, popular music, has had an incredible influence in 
our world in the last few years," Denver said.
     He pointed out that the rock culture that sprouted 
following the success of the Beatles brought long hair, 
sideburns and drugs.  "Drugs are now very much a part of life. 
Either we solve the problem or we learn to live with it. It is 
just a fact of life now."  
     "Music is the best means of communicating between the 
generations. By generations, I don't mean just parents and 
their children but between young people of different ages."  
"The areas in which we can learn to compromise and live in 
peace with each other are limited but music is part of 
them...and I am proud to be a part of that."
     "I don't think I am that good a song writer or that good 
a singer, but I can give people an idea of what is important 
in my life.  I have a lot of ideas and I am willing to share 
those. If people don't feel the way I do, then i am not going 
to push it down their throats" Denver said.
     Denver has lived in Edina for the past two years although 
his roots are in the Southwest.  He is the son of an Air Force 
Lieutenant Colonel and spent his early years in New Mexico, 
Arizona, Alabama and Japan.  
     Music came to John Denver at 10 in much the same way as 
it comes to many children.  His grandmother gave him her own 
guitar made in 1910.  He took lessons but rebelled at the 
daily practicing.  "It was a drag and a waste of money, so I 
quit.  But I guess it instilled something because I began 
playing on my own."  "I discovered that playing made it easy 
to make friends and that this was very pleasing to me" Denver 
explained.
     He played in trios, as part of rock band and on his own. 
When he was 20 years old and attending Texas Tech he found 
that he was enjoying entertaining more than school.  "I 
dropped out in my junior year. I was working my way through 
school with my music and found it was a lot more enjoyable 
than school.  "So I took a semester off to find out what I 
could do or get it out of my system. I took $125 and went to 
the West Coast."
     There he worked as a draftsman during the day, auditioned 
at clubs, got enough work to quit the day job and was on his 
way.  Denver does a few club dates now but concentrates on 
concerts at colleges where he feels his particular skills show 
to best advantage.  He is giving one of his few local 
performances Saturday as part of a Junior League benefit at 
the Radisson South.  He views his first venture into the 
monied and middle age (to him) Junior Leagers with some 
trepidation.  "I am going to be scared stiff before that 
concert" he said.  However, Denver views the concert as an 
opportunity to bring his own message to a group of people who 
probably haven't heard it before.  He readily admits that he 
considers it his right and duty to bring his views of current 
affairs to his audiences.  "Certainly, I am political. I feel 
you have a responsibility to say what you feel about what is 
going on."  
     Denver's view of the world is essentially pacifistic. 
There is no reason for anyone killing in this world, he says.  
The songs he likes are the songs he sings and he can relate 
them instantly to his own life. "When I'm 64" is a great song. 
It's a great love song because it is about an aspect of love 
that most lovers don't think about. I've got a wife (Annie) 
and we are very much in love. Sometimes I think of her as a 
grandmother. She is going to be so great. It really turns me 
on" he said.
     Annie is from St. Peter, Minnesota. Denver met her at a 
concert. They married three and a half years ago and moved to 
Minnesota so that she could continue her college studies.