"Rocky Mountain High" is a
folk rock
Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers suc ...
song written by
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 ...
and
Mike Taylor and is one of the two official
state songs of Colorado.
Recorded by Denver in 1972 it is the title track of the 1972 album ''
Rocky Mountain High
"Rocky Mountain High" is a folk rock song written by John Denver and Mike Taylor and is one of the two official state songs of Colorado. Recorded by Denver in 1972 it is the title track of the 1972 album '' Rocky Mountain High'' and rose to No. ...
'' and rose to No. 9 on the US Hot 100 in 1973. Denver told concert audiences in the mid-1970s that the song took him an unusually long nine months to write. On April 10, 2017, the record was certified Gold by the
Recording Industry Association of America
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 ...
for sales exceeding 500,000 digital downloads.
Members of the
Western Writers of America
Western Writers of America (WWA), founded 1953, promotes literature, both fictional and nonfictional, pertaining to the American West. Although its founders wrote traditional Western fiction, the more than 600 current members also include historian ...
chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.
Background and writing
"Rocky Mountain High" was primarily inspired by John Denver's move to
Aspen, Colorado
Aspen is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 7,004 at the 2020 United States Census. Aspen is in a remote area of the Rocky Mounta ...
, three years before its writing and by his love for the state. The seventh stanza makes reference to the destruction of
the mountains' beauty by commercial tourism. The song was considered a major piece of 1970’s pop culture and became a well-associated piece of Colorado history.
The song briefly became controversial that year when the U.S.
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...
was permitted by a legal ruling to
censor music deemed to promote
drug abuse
Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, is the use of a drug in amounts or by methods which are harmful to the individual or others. It is a form of substance-related disorder. Differing definitions of drug abuse are used in public health, ...
. Numerous radio stations cautiously banned it until Denver publicly explained that the "high" was his innocent description of the sense of peace he found in the Rockies. In 1985, Denver testified before Congress in the
Parents Music Resource Center
The Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) was an American committee formed in 1985 with the stated goal of increasing parental control over the access of children to music deemed to have violent, drug-related or sexual themes via labeling albums ...
hearings about his experience:
''
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 ...
'' said that the song "sparkles with sincerity and beautiful lyrical images."
In popular culture
After years as an unofficial anthem for Colorado, on March 12, 2007, the
Colorado General Assembly
The Colorado General Assembly is the state legislature of the State of Colorado. It is a bicameral legislature that was created by the 1876 state constitution. Its statutes are codified in the ''Colorado Revised Statutes'' (C.R.S.). The ses ...
made "Rocky Mountain High" one of two official state songs, sharing the honor with "
Where the Columbines Grow
"Where the Columbines Grow" is one of the two official state songs of the U.S. state of Colorado. It was written and composed by Dr. Arthur John Fynn in 1911, and was adopted on May 8, 1915. In the early to mid-2000s, there was debate over repla ...
".
In late 2007, the John Denver Sanctuary in Aspen drew some controversy after the last lines of the song were removed from the "Rocky Mountain High" stone.
The song was also heard in "
Final Destination
''Final Destination'' is an American horror franchise that includes five films, two comic books, and nine novels. It is based on an unproduced spec script by Jeffrey Reddick, originally written for ''The X-Files'' television series, and was d ...
" as a sign which was heard before each character dies.
Chart performance
References
{{Authority control
1972 songs
1972 singles
John Denver songs
Songs about Colorado
Music of Colorado
Symbols of Colorado
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...
Songs written by John Denver
Song recordings produced by Milt Okun
RCA Victor singles
Environmental songs
Songs about mountains