Wednesday, October 12, 2005

This day in music history.

October 12, 1997, John Denver was killed off the coast of Monterey, California while piloting a Rutan Long-EZ, an experimental Fiberglas airplane. Denver was recognized not only for his musical ability but also for his humanitarian work. He worked extensively on conservation projects and helped to create the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. His music is timeless, he became one of the world's best-known and best-loved performers, one of the few western singers widely known in the non-European world including Africa, India and South-East Asia. John had 14 gold albums and 8 platinum albums in the U.S alone.
Calypso by John Denver (This song has been on 17 different albums)
To sail on a dream on a crystal clear ocean
To ride on the crest of a wild raging storm
To work in the service of life and the living
In search of the answers to questions unknown
To be part of the movement and part of the growing
Part of beginning to understand
Like the dolphin who guides you
You bring us beside you
To light up the darkness and show us the way
For though we are strangers in your silent world
To live on the land we must learn from the sea
To be true as the tide
And free as the wind-swell
Joyful and loving in letting it be
Aye, calypso, the places you've been to
The things that you've shown us
The stories you tell
Aye, calypso, I sing to your spirit
The men who have served you
So long and so well