Okay, I considered this one last night, but then ended up a mile or two away with my selection of “Rhythm of the Night”, but I really love this song and it kept popping back into my head today, so … time to share it and give my own head a break!
John Denver (born Henry John Deutschendorf Jr.) wrote this for his then-wife Ann Martell after their first separation and near break up of their marriage in 1974. He said that it was one of the fastest songs he ever wrote, composing it in about 10 minutes while he was riding on a ski lift in Aspen, Colorado. Denver was reflecting on all the joy he found in his marriage and his relief that they were back together. According to Denver …
“Suddenly, I’m hypersensitive to how beautiful everything is. All of these things filled up my senses, and when I said this to myself unbidden images came one after the other. All of the pictures merged and I was left with Annie. That song was the embodiment of the love I felt at that time.”
Annie recalled the day Denver wrote the song …
“It was written after John and I had gone through a pretty intense time together and things were pretty good for us. He left to go skiing and he got on the Ajax chair on Aspen mountain and the song just came to him. He skied down and came home and wrote it down… Initially it was a love song and it was given to me through him, and yet for him it became a bit like a prayer.”
Despite all that, they divorced in 1982.
I did not know that the song was adopted by Sheffield United Football Club, from Sheffield, England. The first few lines are played to a home crowd at the beginning of each half of the game, the fans then sing along but with altered words that relate to the Club.
The song was John Denver’s second number-one song in the United States, occupying that spot for two weeks in July 1974, and went to number one in the United Kingdom, where it was Denver’s only major hit single.
Annie’s Song
John Denver
You fill up my senses
Like a night in a forest
Like the mountains in springtime
Like a walk in the rain
Like a storm in the desert
Like a sleepy blue ocean
You fill up my senses
Come fill me again
Come let me love you
Let me give my life to you
Let me drown in your laughter
Let me die in your arms
Let me lay down beside you
Let me always be with you
Come let me love you
Come love me again
You fill up my senses
Like a night in a forest
Like the mountains in springtime
Like a walk in the rain
Like a storm in the desert
Like a sleepy blue ocean
You fill up my senses
Come fill me again
Songwriters: John Denver
Annie’s Song lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, BMG Rights Management