John Denver's "Country Roads" Sung in Japanese is Completely Charming


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And I'm not entirely sure why. But I couldn't help but grin through this entire performance. It's by the band Goose House, which added a banjo to its normal repertoire. This version of the song is just a bit different from this performance of it by John Denver while touring in Japan. No matter who sings it or where, everyone wants to go back home to West Virginia.

-via American Digest


Comments (5)

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Newest 5 Comments

This has got to be a cover of the version used in Whispers of the Heart, a beautiful Japanese coming-of-age film from Studio Ghibli. This song was at the heart of that story. The main character, a teenage girl, re-writes the lyrics into something more fit for Japan and Japanese people. The act was a symbol of taking what the world gave her and making it her own.
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The "Whisper of the Heart" version was great, though it was a cover of Olivia Newton-John's cover of John Denver.

Yes the lyrics is the one in Whisper of the Heart. I've watched the movie more than ten times, since I first got a fansubbed VHS tape in 1996. I have the Japanese version of Country Road burned in my memory. Beautiful anime, it's my second favorite Ghibli movie (after Ocean Waves).

(I just checked Wikipedia, it has an audio clip of Shizuku singing the Japanese version of Country Road.)
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