Hello All,

What's that pairing all about?...bear with me, I'll get to it. Just watched, "John Denver-A Song's Best Friend" on PBS and it brought back some fond memories.

Burl Ives, "Big Daddy", was and still is a favorite. An icon of my childhood. We had his record "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly" OH MY, did I play THAT record. (not forgetting "Big Rock Candy Mountain and others). Can still sing every line AND with a smile as that's a treasured memory of a little boy's delight in an absurdity. The man was multi talented and enormous in more than girth. Never understood why he hasn't been given his due.

He retired to a small town in Wa (Anacortes). A place where I had my first and best, to this day, licorice ice cream. Blacker than sin it was, and we never visited without partaking of that pleasure.

Anyway, my friend Russ lived for a time there, right across the street from Burl and his wife. Russ had two small children and one day Burl invited them over. Per Russ, he was a sweet old man with NO pretensions who loved children and delighted in playing games with them, reading to them, and laughing like only a fat man can. A friendship developed and he and his wife babysat many times for Russ's kids. He became Grandpa Burl. Once autographed a book as a gift. Russ said he "put it away" until the kids could appreciate it. Think I might have done the same.

When Burl died it became apparent that the whole town had come to regard him as Grandpa Burl too. A memorial service was held in a large local auditorium. Russ told me, Jon, I HAD to go. The audience was greeted with an announcement that there would be a guest host. NOBODY knew who it was going to be, and out walked John Denver (probably flew there himself). No publicity, no fanfare...he JUST...SHOWED...UP. Just being there was a statement in itself, and he told them Burl had been a major influence in his career. Can you not imagine Burl singing "Inch By Inch", or "Grandma's Featherbed", or "Thank God I'm a Country Boy"...I can!

Now, I always regarded John Denver as a wonderful singer/composer. Not a crazy fan, but I liked him. Russ told me: the audience was mesmerized, he held them in the palm of his hand. A total professional showman with wit, class, sincerity, and an obvious appreciation for the legacy being celebrated. My esteem for him rose beyond what I can explain.

A joyous remembrance and I only wish I could have been there. Russ says he can't think of one without the other. I think I'm there too.

And..."that's the end of the story"...told ya I'd get there.

Best,

Jon

Dude, great post!

Think I'm partial to the Little White Duck & Froggy Went a' courting.

Also, from all account either Denver had the world's best PR person or he was a class act. My guess is the latter.

John Denver was a government hit man. 

Quote:
  I hope you were just kidding.  Shoulda put a smilie face after that.

   Jon has already painted a beautiful picture of Burl Ives.   Here is John's bio:

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Linda

That's a splendid story, Jon, and confirms much of what I've heard about both these fine gentlemen.

I'm going to be talking to my mother on the phone tomorrow, and I intend to read her this--she's always been a fan of both Burl Ives and John Denver, and I know it'll tickle her.

Thank you.

Best wishes,

George

superhawk2300 wrote on Sep 22^nd, 2008 at 11:11am:

Get used to it.

just found this. quite a list

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Jon, I just saw the first part of your post. My joke wasn't really about JD, more a joke about that urban legend. for those that do not know, and apparently this is less famous than I thought, but there are urban legnds about John Denver being a governemnt hit man or a ex-vietnam sniper.

Thats about as likely as Jim Henson being a CIA agent. 

I will forever be sad about Jim Henson........

I will try to respect the laws of proper smiley placement a little more carefully in the future, though I have never been one for being overtly PC.

johnny - My wife got me that same set years ago for xmas. My fav is the one with Alice Cooper and Marty Feldman in it.

Fozzie - "Genie with the light, brown bear". Man that is funny stuff! WAKA WAKA

Well with words like "gooch" whadda you expect!?!? 

got it superhawk ...I too was thinking of Grandma's Featherbed on The Muppets Show...best adult "kids" show I've ever seen...

Regards,

Jon

i remember the "grandmas featherbed" episode. i can remember grandma singing along and laughing. man those were some good times. grandma was always pretty hip.