Prisoners
1972 · RCA Victor LSP-4731 · New York City, New York
- Artist
- John Denver
- Title
- Prisoners
- Release
- Rocky Mountain High
- Year
- 1972
- Label
- RCA Victor # LSP-4731
- Format
- LP · Album
- Language
- English
- Country
- New York City, New York, USA
- Songwriter
- John Denver
- Genre
- Singer Songwriter · Singer Songwriter · Country Pop
- Primary theme
- Home Front Perspective / Soldier's Perspective
Annotation — US Domestic Perspective Songs
John Denver, born Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr., in Roswell, New Mexico (31 December 1943), became a hugely successful country pop singer/songwriter in the early 1970s. Throughout his career he sold over 33 million records. He died in Monterey, California (12 October 1997). (1) In 1971 he covered the Vietnam War song "Readjustment Blues" on the album Aerie (RCA Victor # LSP-4607), about a veteran, adjusting from the life of a soldier to civilian society, as well as encountering major cultural and political changes in the US. Originally written by Bill Danoff of the folk rock duo Fat City, on their 1971 album Welcome to Fat City (Paramount Records # PAS 6028). This Denver cover became a more well-known and popular version. In 1972 he released the prisoner of war (P.O.W.) song "Hard Life, Hard Times (Prisoners)" (RCA Victor # 74-0801). It featured on the album Rocky Mountain High (RCA Victor # LSP-4731), under the track name "Prisoners". He spoke about it on the Tonight Show on 19 September 1972, a US television show hosted by Johnny Carson. (2) He said "I wrote it in January. The single is called 'Hard Life, Hard Times' but...on the album it's called 'Prisoners'. It's about…
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
About the artist
John Denver born in Roswell, New Mexico, USA