City of New Orleans

[ggould]

I was at a dinner/music soiree tonight at some friends' place, and one of my friends really likes John Denver, and brought a bunch of his songs.  About all I can really stomach is "Leaving on a Jet Plane," mainly because of Peter, Paul, and Mary, and give JD props since he wrote it.

We sang "City of New Orleans" written by Steve Goodman, but I feel Arlo Guthrie's version was more famous than John Denver's.  You guys know charts real well, can you help me find out the truth?

[RGMike]

I was at a dinner/music soiree tonight at some friends' place, and one of my friends really likes John Denver, and brought a bunch of his songs.  About all I can really stomach is "Leaving on a Jet Plane," mainly because of Peter, Paul, and Mary, and give JD props since he wrote it.

We sang "City of New Orleans" written by Steve Goodman, but I feel Arlo Guthrie's version was more famous than John Denver's.  You guys know charts real well, can you help me find out the truth?

Arlo's single hit #18 in 1972 -- the only pop hit version. Willie Nelson took it to #1 on the country chart in '84.  I wasn't even aware Mr Denver had covered it.

I liked Denver's early stuff; "Rocky Mtn High" and "Farewell Andromeda" (aka Welcome to the Morning) appealed to me as a 17-18-year-old since I was very much into the whole '70s singer-songwriter thing.  Of course, once he became a superstar with "Sunshine on my Shoulders" and all that followed, it was not considered hip to like the guy.

[ggould]

I was at a dinner/music soiree tonight at some friends' place, and one of my friends really likes John Denver, and brought a bunch of his songs.  About all I can really stomach is "Leaving on a Jet Plane," mainly because of Peter, Paul, and Mary, and give JD props since he wrote it.

We sang "City of New Orleans" written by Steve Goodman, but I feel Arlo Guthrie's version was more famous than John Denver's.  You guys know charts real well, can you help me find out the truth?

Arlo's single hit #18 in 1972 -- the only pop hit version. Willie Nelson took it to #1 on the country chart in '84.  I wasn't even aware Mr Denver had covered it.

I liked Denver's early stuff; "Rocky Mtn High" and "Farewell Andromeda" (aka Welcome to the Morning) appealed to me as a 17-18-year-old since I was very much into the whole '70s singer-songwriter thing.  Of course, once he became a superstar with "Sunshine on my Shoulders" and all that followed, it was not considered hip to like the guy.

Thanks a lot.  I guess what I need to do to be complete is find some way to access John Denver sales for the album(s) the song was on.  What resource do you use for that kind of info?

[Gazoo]

Arlo's single hit #18 in 1972 -- the only pop hit version.

As a minor addendum: Steve Goodman's own rendition of the song "bubbled under" at #113 in January 1972, according to The Buddah Box.

Sales info is trickier to come by: with a Billboard subscription, you can get access to that kind of data, but I don't know how to do so for free.  And I don't own any album chart encycs -- but I can tell you that the following JD singles are certified gold, reflecting sales of at least 500,000 copies:

Take Me Home, Country Roads
Sunshine On My Shoulders
Annie's Song
Back Home Again (nb: I have never heard this song)
Thank God I'm a Country Boy
I'm Sorry / Calypso (double-sided single, but only side A is certified gold; I don't know how this works; further, I've never heard either side of this either.)

P.S.  I don't care how uncool he was, his Christmas disc with the Muppets is my favorite holiday record of all.

[RGMike]

Arlo's single hit #18 in 1972 -- the only pop hit version.

As a minor addendum: Steve Goodman's own rendition of the song "bubbled under" at #113 in January 1972, according to The Buddah Box.

Sales info is trickier to come by: with a Billboard subscription, you can get access to that kind of data, but I don't know how to do so for free.  And I don't own any album chart encycs -- but I can tell you that the following JD singles are certified gold, reflecting sales of at least 500,000 copies:

Take Me Home, Country Roads
Sunshine On My Shoulders
Annie's Song
Back Home Again (nb: I have never heard this song)
Thank God I'm a Country Boy
I'm Sorry / Calypso (double-sided single, but only side A is certified gold; I don't know how this works; further, I've never heard either side of this either.)

P.S.  I don't care how uncool he was, his Christmas disc with the Muppets is my favorite holiday record of all.

guess I'm buying you JD's greatest hits for Xmas!