(The Hit Hammer is where I'm reviewing each #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Starting from when the chart started in 1958 and eventually working my way to the present. To see my inspiration and more information about this blog, please CLICK HERE)
John Denver - "Annie's Song"
Hit Number 1: July 27, 1974
Stay at Number 1: 2 Weeks
Some people say they randomly come up with love songs. They're just sitting there one day, and they'll tell you that it just "came to them." I've always thought that was a load of crap. No one randomly comes up with a song about anything, you'd think there has to be something to help inspire them to write a song. For John Denver, his inspiration to write "Annie's Song" was a little more complicated, and he could never use the excuse of it randomly coming to him. He wrote the song on a ski lift in a matter of 10 minutes, inspired by all the beauty around him that made him think of his wife. That all might sound sweet, but Denver's real life marriage was pretty rocky at times. It was more back and forth than anyone's 401k.
Denver had been married to Annie Martell since 1967, and things went pretty well for the first few years. While it's rightfully never been disclosed what the hell happened, Denver and Martell had their first big fight, and whatever it was that the two were fighting about ended up getting so bad that they separated. That didn't last long after Denver decided to go skiing, and took that famous trip to the top on a ski lift. As he was riding up, he felt as if the nature around him was "filling up his senses." He felt at peace, and he began to feel as if the argument between him and Martell was stupid, and never needed to happen. He began to connect everything around him to his wife; the trees, the snow and especially the mountains in general. He wanted to patch up everything he had with Martell, and so he wrote the song which was plainly called "Annie's Song".
Clearly, Denver's attempt at rekindling his marriage worked about as well as it could have, or at least for another 8 years before him and Martell got divorced. (More on that later) This whole story behind "Annie's Song" sounds like something straight out of some corny, generic romantic love story you'd see in a movie, and it basically is. However, the song that Denver managed to come up with in just 10 minutes is so sincere in its message and delivery, that it would have been difficult to imagine it not working. The thing you have to understand is that Martell, like Denver, was a very outdoorsy woman. (I mean, you'd have to be if you were gonna marry John Denver right?) She'd been with him on many camping trips, and was also on the trip to the Rocky Mountains when Denver was inspired to write "Rocky Mountain High", which is probably the greatest John Denver song ever. (It peaked at #9 in 1973. It's a 10) So when Denver started comparing Martell to everything great about the great outdoors, it appealed to her. "Annie's Song" literally saved their marriage.
Denver pressed all the right buttons when he made "Annie's Song". I've never tried it, but it can't be easy trying to create a sincere love song to try to win your wife back. So, Denver made a love song involving all things nature, cause that was his wheelhouse. That was his comfort zone. And he surrounded his words with a gentle guitar riff, subtle strings and murmuring backing vocalists that don't do much except go "mmm" behind him. It's far from being an incredible song, but the most appealing thing about it is Denver's display of raw emotion. Listening to "Annie's Song", I can tell that is a man who clearly loves his wife, and he doesn't want her to go away. There's a good deal of description too. Denver compares his wife to a night in a forest, mountains in Spring time, a walk in the rain, a storm in the desert and a sleepy blue ocean. The guy went all out for this. It's not an "in your face" kind of song, but it's definitely beautiful. It's got everything you would want in a slow ballad.
Though "Annie's Song" helped for the time being, it wasn't enough for the long run. Things got pretty tense for Denver and Martell in 1982, which Martell says was due to them being a young couple that just couldn't handle all of Denver's fame anymore. Denver's no longer with us to give us his side of the story, but what we do know is that he got so pissed that he took a chainsaw to their bed, cutting it in half. It's hard to imagine the same guy singing "Annie's Song" doing something so savage like that, but it really happened. The two divorced the same year. That somewhat tarnishes the beauty of "Annie's Song" overall, but if you're looking at the song simply based off of what it stood for at the time, it's one that deserves some respect. I usually don't give good reviews to slow ballads like this, but "Annie's Song" is one that's hard not to enjoy.
GRADE: 8/10
JUST MISSED:
I'll probably piss some people off with this one. Elton John's "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" peaked at #2 behind "Annie's Song". It's a pretty good song, but I've always thought it was overrated. It's a 7.
(Interestingly enough, this same song will appear in this blog later on when Elton John remade the song with George Michael. But that's a story for a different time.)
10 ALERT!!!:
Steely Dan's weird little mix of a jazz, rock and soul banger "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" peaked at #4 behind "Annie's Song". You might tell yourself it's not your kind, but you don't even know your mind. And you could have a change of heart once you listen to it. It's a 10.
IN POP CULTURE:
Here's a cover of "Annie's Song" that Honey Ryder did for their YouTube channel back in 2012, which includes their very own music video. I highly suggest watching it, it's pretty cool and very well done.
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