Almost heaven, West Virginia,
Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River.
Life is old there, older than the trees, younger than the mountains
growin' like a breeze.
Take me home, country roads to the place I belong.
West Virginia, Mountain momma, take me home Country
roads
All my mem'ries, gather round her, miner's lady, stranger to blue water.
Dark and dusty, painted on the sky, misty taste of moonshine teardrop in
my eye.Chorus
I hear her voice in the morning hour she calls me,
the radio reminds me of my home far away
and driving down the road I get a feeling
that I should have been home yesterday, yesterday.Chorus
"Take Me Home, Country Roads" was written by the husband and wife team Taffy Nivert and Bill Danoff (who also wrote "Afternoon Delight"). They were driving to a family reunion in Gaithersburg Maryland while husband bill was playing guitar and thinking of growing up in New England and all the small roads. It didn't have anything to do with Maryland or anywhere in particular. He didn't want to write it about Massechusetts, since he didn't think the word was musical. They planned on selling it to Johnny Cash, but John Denver heard it and was determined that it should be his and he persuaded them not to sell it to Cash. The verse and chorus were still missing a bridge, so the three of them finished.
In 2014, the West Virginia Legislature approved a resolution to make the song their official State Song along with three other pieces.
They found out that the rhododendron is the state flower and kept trying to fit rhododendron into the title... but that didn't end up working out.
In 2017, the West Virginia Tourism Office announced it had obtained the rights to use the song in their marketing.
