In these troubled times I have found solace in the music of John Denver. Not only was he an incredible songwriter and singer but - bear with me here - I think his music and lyrics contain the answers to the existential questions facing the human race right now.
Like many artists of his generation, John was searching for meaning, but rather than finding it in drugs or religion or politics, it was right in front of him - in love (both romantic and familial), nature, and home.
It's Up To You seems to me to be an exemplary feminist love song - he doesn't want to own his partner, he wants her to flourish, be free, and choose him for all the right reasons.
In Annie's Song (surely one of the most romantic songs ever written), he wants to give himself to his partner, but he doesn't demand the same in return.
He's inspired by the fish in the water and the birds in the air to live in the moment and surrender himself to life, wherever it may take him.
He sees himself in nature. He knows that all living beings are part of nature and connected to each other - "I love the life around me/I feel a part of everything I see".
He's "so tired of big cities and so tired of big city ways", because they involve a dislocation of humans from nature.
He writes of mining and air pollution being crimes against something sacred - nature again.
He isn't concerned with material possessions. Yes, he flies off on a jet plane in pursuit of his career, because we're all hypocrites in a world powered by money and fossil fuels, but he is sad about it, and longs to return home to the things that really matter.
He preaches tolerance and acceptance: "Rejoicing in the differences/There's no one just like me/Yet as different as we are, we're still the same."
In short, he seems to embrace some key insights of spiritualism in his music. Despite all this, he is not a hippy. In fact he could be the ultimate voice of white rural America. I wish they would listen to him now.
He's inspired by the fish in the water and the birds in the air to live in the moment and surrender himself to life, wherever it may take him.
He sees himself in nature. He knows that all living beings are part of nature and connected to each other - "I love the life around me/I feel a part of everything I see".
He's "so tired of big cities and so tired of big city ways", because they involve a dislocation of humans from nature.
He writes of mining and air pollution being crimes against something sacred - nature again.
He isn't concerned with material possessions. Yes, he flies off on a jet plane in pursuit of his career, because we're all hypocrites in a world powered by money and fossil fuels, but he is sad about it, and longs to return home to the things that really matter.
He preaches tolerance and acceptance: "Rejoicing in the differences/There's no one just like me/Yet as different as we are, we're still the same."
In short, he seems to embrace some key insights of spiritualism in his music. Despite all this, he is not a hippy. In fact he could be the ultimate voice of white rural America. I wish they would listen to him now.
