Poems, Prayers & Promises

Poems, Prayers & Promises is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter John Denver, released on April 6, 1971, through RCA Records. The album was recorded in New York City, and produced by Milton Okun and Susan Ruskin. Poems, Prayers & Promises was Denver's commercial breakthrough, and contains several of his most popular songs, such as "Poems, Prayers, and Promises", "My Sweet Lady", "I Guess He'd Rather Be in Colorado", "Sunshine on My Shoulders", and "Take Me Home, Country Roads", which would become one of Denver's signature songs. "The Box", which concludes the album, is a poem by Kendrew Lascelles illustrating the futility of war.

Poems, Prayers & Promises
Studio album by John Denver
Released	April 6, 1971
Recorded	1970–1971
Studio	RCA (New York City)
Genre	Country folk pop rock
Length	37:57
Label	RCA
Producer	Milton Okun Susan Ruskin
John Denver chronology
Whose Garden Was This (1970) Poems, Prayers & Promises (1971) Aerie (1971)
Singles from Poems, Prayers & Promises
"Take Me Home, Country Roads" Released: April 12, 1971 "Sunshine on My Shoulders" Released: October 22, 1973

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[1]
Christgau's Record Guide	C^[2]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	^[3]
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide	^[4]
The New Rolling Stone Record Guide	^[5]

The album peaked at number 15 on the Billboard 200.^[6]

Track listing

Side one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Poems, Prayers and Promises"	Denver	4:04
2.	"Let It Be"	Lennon-McCartney	3:38
3.	"My Sweet Lady"	Denver	4:23
4.	"Wooden Indian"	Denver	1:38
5.	"Junk"	Paul McCartney	1:40
6.	"Gospel Changes"	John W. Williams	3:24

Side two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Take Me Home, Country Roads"	Bill Danoff Taffy Nivert Denver	3:08
2.	"I Guess He'd Rather Be in Colorado"	Bill Danoff Taffy Nivert	2:07
3.	"Sunshine on My Shoulders"	Denver Richard Kniss Mike Taylor	5:12
4.	"Around and Around"	Denver	2:16
5.	"Fire and Rain"	James Taylor	3:44
6.	"The Box"	Kendrew Lascelles	2:44

Personnel

• John Denver – guitars, vocals

Musicians Gary Chester – drums Bill Danoff – vocals, guitar Dick Kniss – double bass Taffy Nivert – vocals Frank Owens – piano Mike Taylor – acoustic guitar Eric Weissberg – banjo, steel guitars

Production Ray Hall – recording engineer Jean Kaplow – production assistant Milton Okun – producer Don Wardell – executive producer

Charts

Chart (1974/75)	Peak position
Australia (Kent Music Report)^[7]	41

References

1. "AllMusic Review by Sharon Mawer". AllMusic. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
2. "Robert Christgau: Album: John Denver: Poems, Prayers and Promises". www.robertchristgau.com.
3. Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 2. MUZE. p. 855.
4. MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. 1999. p. 329.
5. The New Rolling Stone Record Guide. Random House. 1983. p. 136.
6. "John Denver". Billboard.
7. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 87. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.