That John HAD to sing. Not that he minded singing them. It’s just that you could tell that the audience was waiting for them and sometimes he’d make them wait until the end of the show. Pirates of Stone County Road, July You’re A Woman, Daydream Believer, California Bloodlines- which he didn’t always do but one that I was always waiting for- and this song, Mother Country.

John wrote so many songs. I’ve watched him do set lists. I’ve even written a few of them for him. When Tim Riley and his Merry Men got the lyrics database online it allowed John to do songs that he had long ago forgotten. But John loved to sing some of the early songs.

Here he is doing Mother Country. This is from a live recording from either TV or radio. I believe that it was from one of his Tonight show appearances and I swear that I can hear John Denver singing with him on the final chorus.

Mother Country