John Denver - The Wise Owl Coffeehouse, Cincinnati, OH, 5-10-1969

This is the third and final of the 1969 solo acoustic concerts I'm posting. If you're going to listen to just one, you might want to check out this one, because at an hour and forty minutes it's the longest of the bunch by half an hour.

I'm already written what these are about in the blog posts for the two previous concerts in this series. I'm summarize very briefly here: these concerts stand out for their remarkable sound quality, since they're excellent soundboard bootlegs. All but three of the songs are covers.

I find this to be an interesting peek at someone who was just another little known folk singer at the time, but who would soon become a household name. When this concert took place he'd just signed the record contract for his first solo album. It wouldn't be until 1971 when he had his first hit with the number one hit "Take Me Home, Country Roads." However, one could already hear his exceptional talent and charisma in this concert. And although there are only three original songs here, one of them is "Leaving on a Jet Plane," which would be a number one hit for Peter, Paul and Mary later in 1969.

Even though this concert is an hour and forty minutes long, it's not the whole thing. As with the other two 1969 concert recordings, the person who recorded it has only made some of the songs available to the public. There are 24 songs here, but setlist.fm lists 12 more songs played that evening.

One interesting aspect of the concert is how much he was into the Beatles. Of course, it probably was hard to find someone who didn't enjoy the Beatles in 1969. But in addition to the three Beatles songs on this recording, he played four more: "Blackbird," "Hey Jude," "Here, There and Everywhere," and "Lady Madonna." I'm sure that was unusual for a folk singer in that era, or any era. Perhaps his love of the Beatles helps explain his own later success as a songwriter.

This is a list of the original artists for each song:

01 Ann - Billy Ed Wheeler / Kingston Trio
02 It's a Sin to Tell a Lie - Billy Mayhew
03 Today - New Christy Minstrels
04 The Wherefore and the Why - Gordon Lightfoot
05 Everybody's Talkin' - Fred Neil
06 The Bells of Rhymney - Pete Seeger
07 [You Dun Stomped] My Heart - Mason Williams
08 Catch Another Butterfly - Mike Williams
09 Rhymes and Reasons - John Denver
10 What's That I Hear - Phil Ochs
11 Leaving on a Jet Plane - John Denver
12 You Certainly Have Got a Pretty Fantastic Bod - Michael Peter Smith
13 When I'm 64 - Beatles
14 Civil War Trilogy- First Battalion - Yes I See - Two Brothers - Bob Gibson
15 Business Goes on as Usual - Chad Mitchell Trio
16 What a Friend We Have in Congress - Pete Seeger
17 Games People Play - Joe South
18 Eleanor Rigby - Beatles
19 But You Know I Love You - Mike Settle and Pierre Delanoe
20 Bookends - Simon & Garfunkel
21 Old Folks - Jacques Brel
22 Amsterdam - Jacques Brel
23 In My Life - Beatles
24 Today Is the First Day of the Rest of My Life - John Denver

Here's the usual song list:

01 talk (John Denver)
02 Ann (John Denver)
03 It's a Sin to Tell a Lie (John Denver)
04 Today (John Denver)
05 talk (John Denver)
06 The Wherefore and the Why (John Denver)
07 Everybody's Talkin' (John Denver)
08 The Bells of Rhymney (John Denver)
09 [You Dun Stomped] My Heart (John Denver)
10 talk (John Denver)
11 Catch Another Butterfly (John Denver)
12 talk (John Denver)
13 Rhymes and Reasons (John Denver)
14 What's That I Hear (John Denver)
15 Leaving on a Jet Plane (John Denver)
16 You Certainly Have Got a Pretty Fantastic Bod (John Denver)
17 talk (John Denver)
18 When I'm 64 (John Denver)
19 talk (John Denver)
20 Civil War Trilogy- First Battalion - Yes I See - Two Brothers (John Denver)
21 Business Goes on as Usual (John Denver)
22 talk (John Denver)
23 What a Friend We Have in Congress (John Denver)
24 Games People Play (John Denver)
25 Eleanor Rigby (John Denver)
26 talk (John Denver)
27 But You Know I Love You (John Denver)
28 Bookends (John Denver)
29 talk (John Denver)
30 Old Folks (John Denver)
31 talk (John Denver)
32 Amsterdam (John Denver)
33 talk (John Denver)
34 In My Life (John Denver)
35 talk (John Denver)
36 Today Is the First Day of the Rest of My Life (John Denver)
37 talk (John Denver)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/7oDm38gk

PJ of the "Albums I Wish Existed" blog helped me with the album cover yet again. Like the other two in this series, there don't seem to be any good color photos of him in concert in 1969, so this one dates to 1970.