Released June 1974 Length 2:58 | Genre Folk rock, country Label RCA | |
B-side "Cool An' Green An' Shady" Format 7", 12", Maxi, Vinyl record, CD single, cassette single, digital download | ||
"Annie's Song" (also known as "Annie's Song (You Fill Up My Senses)") is a folk rock and country song recorded and written by singer-songwriter John Denver. The song was released as a single from Denver's album, Back Home Again. It was his second number-one song in the United States, occupying that spot for two weeks in July 1974. "Annie's Song" also went to number one on the Easy Listening chart. Billboard ranked it as the No. 25 song for 1974.
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It went to number one in the United Kingdom, where it was Denver's only major hit single (many of Denver's American hits were more familiar in the UK through cover versions by other artists). Four years later, an instrumental version also became flutist James Galway's only major British hit.
Background
"Annie's Song" was written as an ode to Denver's wife at the time, Annie Martell Denver. Denver "wrote this song in July 1973 in about ten-and-a-half minutes one day on a ski lift" to the top of Ajax Mountain in Aspen, Colorado, as the physical exhilaration of having "just skied down a very difficult run" and the feeling of total immersion in the beauty of the colors and sounds that filled all senses inspired him to think about his wife. Annie Denver recalls the beginnings: "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."
"The first time I heard 'Annie's Song,' I told John it had the same melody as Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony, Second Movement," says Milt Okun. "He walked over to the piano, sat for an hour and came back, and the only thing remaining from Tchaikovsky was the first five notes. It was fantastic."
Ville Valo version
On July 4, 2016, Ville Valo, vocalist of rock band HIM, released a Finnish-language translation of "Annie's Song", titled "Olet mun kaikuluotain". The song had previously been performed in Finnish in 1976 by Freeman, with lyrics by Hector. Ville Valo's version was released as a tribute to Finnish label Love Records, who celebrated their 50th anniversary in 2016. Valo's version was also the first release from the label in over 30 years. Valo commented on the song, stating "'Kaikuluotain' is a childhood favorite of mine, to the beat of which many a sleepless night ended up in tears. To this day it gives me cold shivers and goosebumps." Valo's "Olet mun kaikuluotain" also received a music video, directed by Ykä Järvinen. Released on July 11, 2016, the video features scenes of Valo walking around Helsinki, done in tribute to Aki Kaurismäki's film Calamari Union.
Other notable cover versions
Glen Campbell recorded a version of the song but was not released until 1995 on his album The Essential Glen Campbell Volume Three.
American punk rock band Me First and the Gimme Gimmes covered the song on their album Love Their Country in 2006.
British folk trio Honey Ryder covered "Annie's Song" as a single in December 2012.
British musical theatre actor Daniel Boys covered the song on his 2009 debut album "So Close".
In the UK the song was used as the basis for "The Greasy Chip Butty Song", primarily associated with fans of the football team Sheffield United F.C..
Karel Gott covered the song in Czech language as "Když Milenky Pláčou".