"Back Home Again" is a popular song written and performed by the American singer-songwriter

John Denver Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. (December 31, 1943 – October 12, 1997), known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, actor, activist, and humanitarian whose greatest commercial success was as a solo singe ...

. "Back Home Again" was released as a single from his album of the same name in 1974.

Background

"Back Home Again" peaked at number five on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in November of that year; it was Denver's fifth Top 10 hit on the pop chart. "Back Home Again" topped the

adult contemporary chart The Adult Contemporary chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary radio stations in the United States. The chart is compiled based on airplay data submitted to ''Billboard'' by sta ...

for two weeks. The single was the first of three number ones on the country music chart where it stayed for a single week. The single was certified a

gold record Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile meta ...

by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

. The song won a

CMA Award The Country Music Association Awards, also known as the CMA Awards or CMAs, are presented to country music artists and broadcasters to recognize outstanding achievement in the country music industry. The televised annual presentation ceremony f ...

for Denver in 1975 in the category "Song of the Year"; he was also named "Entertainer of the Year" at the same ceremony, prompting

country pop Country pop (also known as pop country or urban cowboy) is a fusion genre of country music and pop music that was developed by members of the country genre out of a desire to reach a larger, mainstream audience. Country pop music blends genres ...

singer

Charlie Rich Charles Allan Rich (December 14, 1932July 25, 1995) was an American country music singer, songwriter, and musician. His eclectic style of music was often difficult to classify, encompassing the rockabilly, jazz, blues, country music, country, sou ...

to light the envelope on fire after reading that Denver had won—in an apparent insult to Denver's musical style and image. ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' called it a "laid back and mellow song, with some fine arranging by

Lee Holdridge Lee Elwood Holdridge (born March 3, 1944) is a Haitian-born American composer, conductor, and orchestrator. A 18-time Emmy Award nominee, he has won two Primetime Emmy Awards, two Daytime Emmy Awards, two News & Documentary Emmy Awards, and one S ...

Chart performance

Weekly Charts

Year-end charts

References

1974 singles John Denver songs Songs written by John Denver 1974 songs Song recordings produced by Milt Okun RCA Records singles {{1970s-pop-song-stub