This poignant song foreshadowed the end of John Denver's marriage. The song is one of his better songs lyrically and the tune supports the words perfectly. Denver's tragic death in a plane crash shocked his fans, but as any artist hopes to, John left behind a brilliant body of work.
This song is a nice one to put on your playlist on a cold winter evening. You can almost feel the warm Shanghai breezes wafting through your living room.
Born Henry John Deutchendorf, John was the son of a U.S. Air Force
officer. At age eleven, his grandmother gave him her guitar. He took
guitar lessons and joined a boys’ choir. At age
twenty he changed his name to John Denver and began to pursue a career
in music. Peter, Paul & Mary picked up and made a hit with his song
"Leaving on a Jet Plane". The success of that song led to John catching a
spot in the Chad Mitchell Trio. When they disbanded Denver took off on
his own and he managed to catch the social, charitable and environmental
sentiments of the 70s and 80s.
Here's a live version of Shanghai Breezes from John's later career:
