B-side "The House Song" Format 7" Length 3:27 | Released October 1969 Genre Folk | |
Label Warner Bros.-Seven Arts 7340 | ||
"Leaving on a Jet Plane" is a song written by John Denver in 1966 and most famously recorded by Peter, Paul and Mary. The original title of the song was "Babe, I Hate to Go", as featured on his 1966 studio album John Denver Sings, but Denver's then producer Milt Okun convinced him to change the title.
It turned out to be Peter, Paul and Mary's biggest (and final) hit, becoming their only #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States. The song also spent three weeks atop the easy listening chart and was used in commercials for United Airlines in the late 1970s. The song also topped the charts in Canada, and reached #2 in both the UK Singles Chart and Irish Singles Chart in February 1970.
In 1969, John Denver recorded a version of the song for his debut solo album, Rhymes & Reasons, and re-recorded it in 1973 for John Denver's Greatest Hits. His version was featured in the end credits of The Guard.
Cover versions
The song was also recorded in 1967 by the Chad Mitchell Trio and then later that same year by Spanky and Our Gang. It was performed for the very first time live at The Cellar Door in Washington, D.C. in 1966 by the Chad Mitchell Trio, with Denver substituting for Chad Mitchell.
In 1968 Welsh vocal harmony group Y Triban recorded a Welsh language version entitled "Gadael", with words by Caryl Owen, for their EP "Paid A Dodi Dadi Ar Y Dôl", on the Cambrian Records label. The following year they recorded the original song, in English, as a single for the same label.
In the 1980s the song prompted litigation involving the British group New Order. The band's single "Run 2" (1989) was the subject of a lawsuit brought by John Denver, who argued that its wordless guitar break was based on his "Leaving on a Jet Plane". An out-of-court settlement ensured that the song would never be re-released in its original form.