Poems, Prayers & Promises

Poems, Prayers & Promises is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter John Denver. It was released in April, 1971. This album was Denver's commercial breakthrough, and contained 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 Studios A and B, New York City
Genre	Folk
Length	37:57
Label	RCA Records
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]

Track listing

Side one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Poems, Prayers and Promises"	Denver	4:04
2.	"Let It Be"	John Lennon Paul McCartney	3:38
3.	"My Sweet Lady"	Denver	4:23
4.	"Wooden Indian"	Denver	1:38
5.	"Junk"	McCartney	1:40
6.	"Gospel Changes"	Jack 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"	Danoff Nivert	2:07
3.	"Sunshine on My Shoulders"	Denver Richard Kniss Mike Taylor	5:10
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)[3]	41

References

1. https://www.allmusic.com/album/r5445
2. Christgau review
3. 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.