John Denver: Whose Garden Was This

Perhaps John Denver's worst-selling album, Whose Garden Was This, is largely a record of cover songs, starting(?) with the Tom Paxton-penned environmentalist anthem that is the title track and including Denver versions of such songs as the Band's "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," Jerry Jeff Walker's "Mr. Bojangles," and The Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby" and "Golden Slumbers." Denver's own contributions included the awkward "I Wish I Could Have Been There (Woodstock)." Though Denver tried in a sleeve note to weave all this into a theme, something about "all the things that change as we grow older," in fact, Whose Garden Was This was an expendable collection of second-rate Denver songs and first-rate songs done better by others. Not surprisingly, it missed the charts.
-- William Ruhlmann, All-Music Guide

Denver's horrible version of "Dixie..." is also available as a bonus track on the 1998 CD re-issue of the compilation LP John Denver (BMG/RCA, 1979).

Tracks

1. Tremble If You Must
2. Sail Away Home
3. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down (J.R.Robertson)
4. Mr Bojangles
5. I Wish I Could Have Been There
6. Whose Garden Was This
7. Game is Over
8. Eleanor Rigby
9. Old Folks Medley:
   • Golden Slumbers
   • Sweet Sweet Life
   • Tremble If You Must (Reprise)
10. Jingle Bells