About the song

Written and performed by John Denver in 1975, “Fly Away” featured the vocals of English-Australian artist Olivia Newton-John.

Released as a single from the Windsong album, “Fly Away” peaked at number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It spent two weeks atop the adult contemporary chart in 1976. In addition, it became Denver’s sixth number one on this chart. “Fly Away” also peaked at number 12 on the country chart.

^{Olivia Newton-John/fiveaa.com.au}

An ode of longing…

The song is an ode to longing for simpler times and a simpler way of life. This was one of Denver’s bigger hits when his career was at his peak. It’s a song about loneliness and the longing to escape from it, which is what the title refers to.

Rolling Stone magazine remarks,

“At this point, John Denver albums are as numerous as potted plants in the apartments of these urbanites, and both are symptoms of the same longing. The singer acknowledges his average listener in ‘Fly Away.'”

John Denver’s death, 22 years after “Fly Away”

John Denver was one of the most successful singers and songwriters in the history of music. His songs topped not only the country music charts but also the pop, adult contemporary and easy listening charts.

Twenty-two years after recording “Fly Away,” Denver passed away. Surprisingly, his death was related to flying away — plane crash. 

Denver was an avid amateur pilot, and he died when the plane he was flying crashed on October 12, 1997, in Pacific Grove, California. Reports indicate that Denver didn’t have enough fuel in his main tank when he left the airport, and probably hit the right rudder when he tried to switch to the backup tank, crashing into the Pacific ocean.

^{John Denver/billboard.com}

Here are the lyrics of the song and try to sing with it.

All of her days have gone soft and cloudy, all of her dreams have gone dry.
All of her nights have gone sad and shady, She’s getting ready to fly.
Fly away, fly away, fly away.

Life in the city can make you crazy for sounds of the sand and the sea.
Life in a high-rise can make you hungry for things that you can’t even see.
Fly away, fly away, fly away.

In this whole world there’s nobody as lonely as she,
there’s nowhere to go and there’s nowhere that she’d rather be.
She’s looking for lovers and children playing, she’s looking for signs of the spring.
She listens for laughter and sounds of dancing, she listens for any old thing.
Fly away, fly away, fly away .

In this whole world there’s nobody as lonely as she,
there’s nowhere to go and there’s nowhere that she’d rather be.
All of her days have gone soft and cloudy, all of her dreams have gone dry.
All of her nights have gone sad and shady, She’s getting ready to fly.
Fly away, fly away, fly away, fly away.

Where are my days, where are my nights? Where is the Spring? I wanna fly, I wanna fly.

_{Watch John Denver and Olivia Newton-John perform “Fly Away.”}

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