''Spirit'' is the 11th studio album 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 ...

. It was released in August, 1976. After the full-blown success of ''

Windsong ''Windsong'' is the ninth studio album recorded by American singer-songwriter John Denver, which was released in September 1975. Denver's popularity was at its peak by this time. The album contained the songs " I'm Sorry" and " Calypso," wh ...

'' and its accompanying hit singles, this album began a downward chart trend for the singer, although he continued to have hits on the

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

charts. "Baby, You Look Good to Me Tonight" reached #65 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100, as well as reaching the Top 40 on the U.S. and Canadian Country and AC charts. This album was re-released with bonus tracks.

Track listing

Side one

# "Come and Let Me Look in Your Eyes" (Denver, Joe Henry) - 3:47 # "Eli's Song" (Jack Williams) - 3:58 # "Wrangle Mountain Song" (Denver) - 3:10 # "Hitchhiker" (Denver, Steve Weisberg) - 3:10 # "In the Grand Way" (John Sommers) - 3:39 # " Polka Dots and Moonbeams" ( Johnny Burke,

Jimmy Van Heusen James Van Heusen (born Edward Chester Babcock; January 26, 1913 – February 6, 1990) was an American composer. He wrote songs for films, television and theater, and won an Emmy and four Academy Awards for Best Original Song. Life and care ...

) - 3:08

Side two

# "It Makes Me Giggle" (Denver) - 3:16 # "Baby, You Look Good to Me Tonight" ( Bill Danoff) - 2:45 # " Like a Sad Song" (Denver) - 3:41 # "

San Antonio Rose "San Antonio Rose" is a swing instrumental introduced in late 1938 by Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys. Quickly becoming the band's most popular number, Wills and band members devised lyrics, which were recorded on April 16, 1940, and release ...

" (

Bob Wills James Robert Wills (March 6, 1905 – May 13, 1975) was an American Western swing musician, songwriter, and bandleader. Considered by music authorities as the founder of Western swing, he was known widely as the King of Western Swing (although S ...

) - 2:40 # "Pegasus" (Denver, Joe Henry) - 3:20 # "The Wings That Fly Us Home" (Denver, Joe Henry) - 4:11

CD bonus tracks

# "Whose Garden Was This" (

Tom Paxton Thomas Richard Paxton (born October 31, 1937) is an American folk singer-songwriter who has had a music career spanning more than fifty years. In 2009, Paxton received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

) # "The Game Is Over" (Denver, Jean Pierre Bourtayre, Jean Marcel Bouchety) # "

Eleanor Rigby "Eleanor Rigby" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1966 album ''Revolver''. It was also issued on a double A-side single, paired with " Yellow Submarine". The song was written primarily by Paul McCartney and credited to L ...

" (

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

) # "Old Folks" (

Jacques Brel Jacques Romain Georges Brel (, ; 8 April 1929 – 9 October 1978) was a Belgian singer and actor who composed and performed literate, thoughtful, and theatrical songs that generated a large, devoted following—initially in Belgium and France, l ...

Gerard Jouannest Gerard is a masculine forename of Proto-Germanic origin, variations of which exist in many Germanic and Romance languages. Like many other early Germanic names, it is dithematic, consisting of two meaningful constituents put together. In this ca ...

, Jean Corti, Eric Blau, Mort Shuman) # Medley: "

Golden Slumbers "Golden Slumbers" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1969 album ''Abbey Road''. Written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney, it is the sixth song of the album's climactic B-side medley. The song is follow ...

" (

); "Sweet Sweet Life" (Denver); "Tremble If You Must" (Paul Potash) These bonus tracks were originally released in 1970 as Side 2 of the ''

Whose Garden Was This ''Whose Garden Was This'' is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter John Denver, consisting mainly of cover songs. It was released in October 1970. This album was subsequently re-released as bonus tracks on re-releases of the albu ...

'' album.

Personnel

*John Denver – guitars, vocals *Steve Weisberg – electric and acoustic guitars, dobro, pedal steel guitar, backing vocals * Hal Blaine – drums, percussion *Dick Kniss – bass *John Sommers – acoustic guitar, banjo, fiddle, backing vocals *All songs arranged by John Denver, Dick Kniss, Steve Weisberg, John Sommers and Hal Blaine * Lee Holdridge – orchestral arrangements, conductor *Starland Vocal Band - backing vocals on "Baby, You Look Good to Me Tonight" and "Polka Dots and Moonbeams" *Children's Choir on "Pegasus" from St. Mel's School, Woodland Hills, California ;Technical *Milton Okun – Producer *Kris O'Connor – Assistant producer *Richard Simpson – Mastering Engineer *Mickey Crofford – Engineer *Artie Torgersen – Assistant Engineer *Lynne Morse – A&R Coordination *Jerry Weintraub – Personal management *Source: Notes on original "Spirit" Album Sleeve 1976 RCA Records, NY

Charts

References

John Denver albums 1976 albums Albums arranged by Lee Holdridge Albums produced by Milt Okun RCA Records albums {{1970s-folk-album-stub