Country Roads, Take Me Home...

Posted by Jordan

Few people have heard the un-released original recording of John Denver's 1971 hit, "Country Roads."  You may not believe this, but it was actually written about Cache Valley Utah!  But for "greater commercial appeal," the subject of the song was later changed to the more sentimental and nostalgic West Virginia. 

Okay, so that may be partially to entirely fabricated, but here are the original lyrics (at least as I envision them):

Almost heaven, Logan Utah
Wellsville Mountains, Little Bear River
Life is old there, older than the trees
Younger than the mountains, growing like a breeze

Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
Northern Utah, mountain mamma
Take me home, country roads

All my memories, they gather 'round her
Farmer's lady, stranger to big cities
Cold in winter, haze inverted sky
Taste of Aggie Ice Cream, and cow poop in my eyes

Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
Northern Utah, mountain mamma
Take me home country roads

The last verse--unchanged from my "original version"--is the one I've had playing in my head every day for the last year in Denver:

I hear her voice, in the morning hour she calls me
The radio reminds me of my home far away
And drivin' down the road, I get a feelin'
That I should have been home yesterday, yesterday...

Yes, we know we haven't been gone for long.  But those who knew why we left Logan in the first place are not surprised: After one year living in the Denver metro, we have packed up our apartment and moved back home to Northern Utah.

It was necessary for us to leave for many reasons, some of which we did not find out until we got there.  We gained experiences over the last year that we couldn't have had any other way, and made friends that otherwise we might never have known existed.  I'm grateful for these things, which we will take with us...

But there's no place like home.  There's no place like home.  There's no place like home.

It's so good to be home.