Дорога домой, кантри-роудс: История одной песни Джона Денвера

1971 single by John Denver

"Take Me Home, Country Roads", also known simply as "Country Roads", is a song written by Bill Danoff, Taffy Nivert and John Denver. It was released as a single performed by Denver on April 12, 1971, peaking at number two on Billboards US Hot 100 singles for the week ending August 28, 1971. The song was a success on its initial release and was certified Gold by the RIAA on August 18, 1971, and Platinum on April 10, 2017. The song became one of John Denver's most popular songs. It has continued to sell, with over 1.6 million digital copies sold in the United States. In 1998, the 1971 recording by John Denver was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. The song is considered a symbol of West Virginia. In March 2014, it became one of the four official state anthems of West Virginia. In 2023, the song was selected by the Library of Congress for inclusion in the National Recording Registry.

Inspiration for the title line had come while Taffy Nivert and Bill Danoff, who were married, were driving along Clopper Road in Montgomery County, Maryland to a gathering of Nivert's family in Gaithersburg, with Nivert behind the wheel while Danoff played his guitar. "I just started thinking, country roads, I started thinking of me growing up in western New England and going on all these small roads," Danoff said. "It didn't have anything to do with Maryland or anyplace." To Danoff, the lyric "(t)he radio reminds me of my home far away" in the bridge is quintessentially West Virginian, an allusion to when he listened to the program Saturday Night Jamboree, broadcast from Wheeling, West Virginia, on WWVA at his home in Springfield, Massachusetts during his childhood in the 1950s. Danoff was influenced by friend and West Virginian actor Chris Sarandon and members of a West Virginia commune who attended Danoff's performances. When Danoff and Nivert ran through what they had of the song they had been working on for about a month, planning to sell to Johnny Cash, Denver decided he had to have it, which prompted them to abandon plans for the sale. The verses and chorus were still missing a bridge, so the three of them went about finishing. Nivert got out an encyclopedia to learn more about West Virginia. The first thing she encountered was the rhododendron, the state flower, so she kept trying to work the word Rhododendron into the song. Rhododendron was the title that Nivert had written down on the lyric sheet, which they later sent to ASCAP. When they finished, on the morning of Wednesday, December 30, 1970, Denver announced that the song had to go on his next album. The next day was Denver's 28th birthday. They recorded it in New York City in January 1971. "Take Me Home, Country Roads" is written in the key of A major.

"Take Me Home, Country Roads" appeared on the LP Poems, Prayers & Promises and was released as a 45 in the spring of 1971. Original pressings credited the single to "John Denver with Fat City". It broke nationally in mid April but moved up the charts very slowly. After several weeks, RCA Records called John and told him they were giving up on the single. His response: "No! Keep working on it!" They did, and the single went to number 1 on the Record World Pop Singles Chart and the Cash Box Top 100, and number 2 on the U. S. Billboard Hot 100, topped only by "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" by The Bee Gees. On August 18, 1971, it was certified Gold by the RIAA for a million copies shipped. The song has since become an anthem of the Brisbane Lions and is sung by the crowd every time Lions player Charlie Cameron kicks a goal. The song was chosen by Cameron to be played in reference to his country roots.

"Take Me Home, Country Roads" received an enthusiastic response from West Virginians. On November 1, 2017, the West Virginia Tourism Office announced it had obtained the rights to use "Take Me Home, Country Roads", in its marketing efforts. "'Country Roads' has become synonymous with West Virginia all over the world," said West Virginia Tourism Commissioner Chelsea Ruby. "It highlights everything we love about our state: scenic beauty, majestic mountains, a timeless way of life, and most of all, the warmth of a place that feels like home whether you've lived here forever or are just coming to visit." The opening phrase of the song, "Almost heaven", became a primary tourism office slogan. The song is the theme song of West Virginia University, and it has been performed during every home football pregame show since 1972. The song is played for other athletic events and university functions, including after football games, for which the fans are encouraged to stay in the stands and sing the song along with the team. On September 6, 1980, at the invitation of West Virginia Governor Jay Rockefeller, songwriters Danoff, Nivert, and Denver performed the song during pregame festivities to a sold out crowd of Mountaineer fans. This performance marked the dedication of the current West Virginia University Mountaineer Field and the first game for head coach Don Nehlen. The popularity of the song inspired resolutions in the West Virginia Legislature to adopt "Take Me Home, Country Roads" as an official state song. On March 7, 2014, the West Virginia Legislature approved a resolution to make "Take Me Home, Country Roads" an official state song of West Virginia, alongside three other pieces: "West Virginia Hills", "This Is My West Virginia", and "West Virginia, My Home Sweet Home". Governor Earl Ray Tomblin signed the resolution into law on March 8, 2014. The song was played at the funeral for West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd at the state capitol in Charleston, West Virginia on July 2, 2010. The Mountain State Brewing Company based in Thomas, West Virginia, produces an amber ale named "Almost Heaven", which it says is "named after John Denver's ode to West Virginia, 'Country Roads'".

Certification Table Entry|region=United States|title=Take Me Home, Country Road|artist=John Denver|type=single|award=Platinum|relyear=1971|certyear=2017|salesamount=1,591,000|salesref= This version was a chart success in Europe, reaching number one in Scotland, number two in Germany and Ireland, and the top 10 in Austria, Denmark, and the United Kingdom.

Olivia Newton John released a cover version in January 1973 that reached number 6 in Japan and number 15 in the UK. It was the lead single from her third studio album, Let Me Be There. This version, as well as the song itself, features prominently in the Japanese animated film, Whisper of the Heart.

Jamaican reggae group Toots and the Maytals recorded a cover version for their 1975 U. S. re release of their 1973 album Funky Kingston. Listed on the album as "Country Road," the lyrics are altered slightly to refer to the group's home country of Jamaica with specific references to the island's West end.

American singer songwriter Lana Del Rey released a piano cover of the song on December 1, 2023.