"Leaving on a Jet Plane" is a song written and recorded by 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 ...

in 1966, originally included on his debut demo recording ''John Denver Sings'' as "Babe I Hate To Go". He made several copies and gave them out as presents for Christmas of that year. Denver's then producer

Milt Okun Milton Theodore Okun (December 23, 1923 – November 15, 2016) was an American arranger, record producer, conductor, singer and founder of Cherry Lane Music Publishing Company, Inc. Okun transformed the careers of a dozen or more major U.S. a ...

convinced him to change the title and was renamed "Leaving on a Jet Plane" in 1967. In 1969, simultaneous to the success of the

Peter, Paul and Mary Peter, Paul and Mary was an American folk group formed in New York City in 1961 during the American folk music revival phenomenon. The trio consisted of tenor Peter Yarrow, baritone Paul Stookey, and contralto Mary Travers. The group's reper ...

version, Denver recorded the song again for his debut studio album, '' Rhymes & Reasons'', and it was released as a single in October 1969 through

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also ...

. Although it is one of John Denver's best known songs, his single failed to enter the charts. "Leaving on a Jet Plane" was re-recorded for the third and final time in 1973 for ''

John Denver's Greatest Hits ''John Denver's Greatest Hits'' is American singer-songwriter John Denver's first compilation album, released in late 1973 for the holiday shopping season. A version known as ''The Best of John Denver'' with the same track listingOriginal LP la ...

'', the version that also appears on most of his

compilation album A compilation album comprises tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several performers. If by one artist, then generally the tracks were not originally intended for rel ...

Background

John Denver, then a relatively unknown musician in the Los Angeles folk scene of 23 years old, had written the song during a layover at Washington Airport in 1966. In one of

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering ...

specials, Denver said about the song: Though not written about the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

, the Peter, Paul and Mary cover of the song was interpreted by at least one writer to be a protest song about a soldier leaving his partner, unsure if he would return.

Certifications

Peter, Paul and Mary version

The most well known version was recorded by American folk group

, for their 1967 studio album, '' Album 1700'', and Warner Bros.- Seven Arts released it as a single in 1969 after being one of four songs on a promo EP in 1967. John Denver was a close friend of theirs and they shared the same producer in that time,

. It was Peter, Paul and Mary's biggest (and final) hit, becoming their only No. 1 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. The song also spent three weeks atop the

easy listening 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 ...

and was used in commercials for

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The song also topped the charts in Canada, and reached No. 2 in both the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

and

Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is the Republic of Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) and compiled on their behalf by the Official Charts Company. Chart rankings are bas ...

in February 1970. In fact, it was the only version of the song that charted. ''

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 onli ...

'' described this version as "stunning material" with "an especially fine

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orche ...

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

All-time charts

Lawsuit

In the 1980s, the song prompted litigation involving the British group New Order. The band's single "

Run 2 "Run 2" is a song by English rock band New Order. It was released by Factory Records on 28 August 1989 as the third and final single from their fifth studio album, '' Technique'' (1989). The album version was listed as simply "Run". Overview "Ru ...

" (1989) was the subject of a lawsuit brought by Denver, who argued that its wordless guitar break was based on his "Leaving on a Jet Plane". The case was settled out of court, and Denver subsequently received a co-writer credit for the song.

References

External links

* *
Leaving On A Jet Plane
at 45cat.com {{authority control 1966 songs 1969 singles John Denver songs Peter, Paul and Mary songs Songs written by John Denver Song recordings produced by Milt Okun Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles RPM Top Singles number-one singles RCA Records singles Warner Records singles Songs about parting