John Denver's Rocky Mountain High adopted by Colorado as State Song

[Janice]

John Denver's Rocky Mountain High adopted by Colorado as state song

DENVER — The halls of the Colorado Capitol building rang with campfire tunes Monday as both houses of the Legislature heard and passed a joint resolution making John Denver's "Rocky Mountain High" an official state song alongside "Where the Columbines Grow."

"Rocky Mountain High' has been the unofficial state song for 30 years. This was long overdue," said the resolution's primary sponsor, Bob Hagedorn of Aurora.

"For tens of millions of people worldwide, this song was the initial contact with Colorado," he told senators, noting that its lyrics introduce listeners to the state's rugged beauty. "This is a great opportunity for the promotion of Colorado domestically and internationally."

Hagedorn dismissed the idea that lyrics in the song describing a "high" refer to or encourage drug use, suggesting instead that they refer to the elation one feels while enjoying spectacular places.

"We are high on Colorado," primary House sponsor Nancy Todd of Aurora agreed.

A choir singing "Kumbaya" kicked off legislative proceedings and was followed in both houses with versions of Denver's beloved "Rocky Mountain High" after the joint resolution passed. Musician Jim Salestrom, a longtime friend and fan of John Denver who performs at Aspen's yearly John Denver celebration, strummed and sang the tune live for the House of Representatives.

Denver became a local institution when he made Aspen his home in the late 1960s. In 1974, Denver was named Colorado's poet laureate. He and friend Tom Crum created the Windstar Foundation, a nonprofit environmental education center in Old Snowmass, in 1976.

Denver died in a plane crash off the California coast in 1997. This year is the 10th anniversary of his accident.

With a brief reprieve from brow-furrowing issues like environmental protections and education, the mood in both houses was more merry than sober as lawmakers discussed adopting "Rocky Mountain High."

"If I had any hair, I'd part it in the middle and say 'far out,'" Sen. Steve Ward said in an address to the Senate floor.

Despite some lawmakers' insistence that the song's use of the word "high" does not necessarily refer to drugs, others on the House floor snickered when speakers referred to the measure as "the joint resolution."

One representative who could not be identified pointed out the verse which refers to tearing down the mountains to make room for "more people, more scars upon the land." "Is this song anti-homebuilder?" he quipped with a grin.

Indeed, not everyone was high on making "Rocky Mountain High" co-official. Eight senators and 10 representatives voted against the measure.
"I'm a huge John Denver fan ... he was a musical pioneer. But the veiled drug reference is not the best signal," said nay-voting Sen. Josh Penry of Fruita.

Some members of the public also objected.

Eighty-year-old Denver resident and songstress Mary Collett came to perform and dispense copies of her own Colorado anthem, "Colorado, U.S.A.," to any lawmakers she could snag Monday morning.

"I think it's very sad and very negative," she said of the newly passed resolution. "Too many people didn't want it" because Denver's song refers to "being high on marijuana and the drug scene of the '70s," she argued, noting that "there are other songs out there that are really great, but they (lawmakers) didn't give anyone else a chance."

The Senate State Veterans and Military Affairs Committee, of which Hagedorn is a member, briefly discussed the measure on the floor instead of holding a public hearing — effectively barring comment from citizens on the song's adoption by the state. The move ensured a speedy process and the resolution passed quickly with a large majority in both the Senate and the House.

Senate co-sponsor Gail Schwartz of Snowmass got the outcome she wanted. Denver "has left us with the ability to celebrate what we feel is important about Colorado — our love of landscape and the backcountry," she said of the newly adopted state song. A longtime friend of Denver's family, Schwartz added, "I think he'd be honored and delighted" that "Rocky Mountain High" is finally official.

"That is very cool. He'd be very honored. We are very proud. I am going to call my mom and tell her," said Ron Deutschendorf, Denver's brother, told the Associated Press upon hearing the news. John Denver was born Henry John Deutschendorf and he changed his name in 1969.