Grace
What does a classroom after hours, a long stretch of road leading back home, and a bridge over frozen water all have in common? In my eyes, these are liminal spaces of great importance. Liminal spaces are moments tinged by a transitory haze, places that border the realms of the physical and the metaphorical. They are like a question in the form of water vapor, a quiet world caught in transition, and a place where endless snow meets eternity. It is within these suspended moments that music finds a new kind of power, bridging the gap between what is felt and what is said. In listening to how John Denver expresses his love in “Annie’s Song,” I find his usage of natural imagery evokes an intense personal reflection that parallels existing in between places, physically and spiritually.
When I listen to John Denver’s “Annie’s Song,” I am brought back to a few finite moments in my life where the infinite felt possible. In college, I had a close friend who shared many laughs and late nights with me. Still, there were feelings that we couldn’t communicate to each other that were either too personal or complicated to explain. Somewhere between those awkward moments, music served as a guiding voice. Then, in early December, there was a moment where I found my own voice. I asked my friend if she wanted to be my girlfriend. While we hadn’t been formally dating, there must have been something she saw in me. Like a couple of kids whispering to each other in class, she said yes. That was when time stood still and we embraced. Music must have found its way into my heart, because it began to steady and beat in rhythm with hers. This harmony is beautifully captured by John Denver in the following lyrics:
You fill up my senses
Like a night in a forest
Like the mountains in springtime
Like a walk in the rain
Like a storm in the desert
Like a sleepy blue ocean
In these lyrics, John Denver frames his own spiritual revival using natural imagery caught in transition. These physical experiences of being immersed in a forest at night or near mountains in the spring are analogous to the revitalization he experiences simply being around his partner, Annie Martell Denver. Annie recalls that this song “was written after John and I had gone through a pretty intense time together and things were pretty good for us… Initially it was a love song and it was given to me through him and yet for him it became like a prayer.” Through attaching words like night, springtime, walk, storm, or sleepy, John Denver creates moments of reflection and transcendence where love feels as accessible as replaying a memory. By repeating these lines later in the song, this feeling of revival echoes that of a prayer. This is a refrain at both the start and end of the song, linking to biblical themes of cyclicality and thereby implying a return to a primal state akin to being in love.
The biblical interpretation of grace is primarily understood as God’s unmerited favor and love. Meaning, we are fundamentally undeserving of grace and yet we are blessed with grace. This fortune is how I feel having found love all those years ago. Grace, to me, is both the person I love and the feeling that she embodies. Someone who, when I’m around her, makes anything feel possible, and without whom life feels unimaginable. That I wake up to this blessing each day and consider her anything other than a miracle is inconceivable. John Denver expresses a similar depth of devotion in the lyrics below:
Come let me love you
Let me give my life to you
Let me drown in your laughter
Let me die in your arms
Let me lay down beside you
Let me always be with you
Through this verse, John Denver voices his affection for his partner using lines that capture a life of love, laughter, and eternal devotion. By repeating “let me…,” the song creates a romantic longing that’s paired with messages carrying a religious undertone. Following the line “… die in your arms” with “… lay down beside you” and “… always be with you” suggests John Denver desires to have his body buried beside his partner’s and his spirit reunited with hers in heaven forever. Together, these lines show that love is more than something physical. Love is deeply spiritual. Love is a saving grace.
