Billboard #1 Hits: #332: “Annie’s Song”- John Denver. July 27, 1974. #1 for 2 weeks in Billboard Hot 100.
- Single: “Annie’s Song”- John Denver
- Record Company-RCA
- Genre: Folk Rock
- Written by John Denver
- Time: 2:58
- B-side:”Cool an’ Green an’ Shady”
- Album- Back Home Again
- Grade: B
- Peaked at #1 2 weeks in Billboard Hot 100. #1 in UK Singles Chart #1 in Canada.
John Denver’s second #1 hit- he was riding high on the singles chart in the mid-70’s. It also went to #1 in the UK- which was odd for Denver- it was his only major hit in the UK. Denver wrote “Annie’s Song” in about ten minutes one day on a ski lift in Aspen, Colorado. It was an ode to his wife at the time Annie Denver. This is just off the top of my head I am sure there is more- Denver writes this for his wife, Billy Joel writes “She’s Always A Woman” for his wife, George Harrison writes “Something” inspired by his wife Pattie and a decade or so later Eric Clapton writes “Wonderful Tonight” about Pattie- all the marriages end in divorce. Any of the examples?
slicethelife 
Who did Ray Davies write, “I Go to Sleep” for?
Regardless of how the marriage ended, “Annie’s Song” remains one of the most beautiful pieces of music in my memory. Small wonder that it was played during so many weddings in the 1970s.
from an NPR interview between Terry Gross and Ray Davies, about “I Go to Sleep” (and other songs)
https://www.npr.org/2014/12/25/372906846/naive-yet-revolutionary-ray-davies-on-50-years-of-the-kinks
GROSS: But it’s about obsession with a girl. I mean, they both are.
DAVIES: They are, yes. But “I Go To Sleep” is about someone on a journey and missing somebody. And sleep has always been a big issue in my life because I’m a very bad sleeper even since I was a baby. I was born just postwar. And there were still what they call doodle bugs being sent from Germany to bomb England. So it was the tail-end of the Second World War, 1945. So – and apparently, I was a really bad sleeper. And so sleep is a constant recurring theme in my music.
My parents both spoke of doodlebugs. They would listen to them fly overhead but if their engines stopped you knew you were in trouble.
I know some folks make fun of John Denver. I actually think he was pretty talented and wrote some nice songs, including this tune.
I love Denver’s music. I know a lot of people can’t stand him.