Leaving On A Jet Plane: Jim Moran With Dave Batti

Jim Moran of The Chilly Winds folk group performs his own arrangement of the John Denver classic “Leaving On A Jet Plane” at the Mountain Music Festival in Manitou Springs, Colorado, accompanied by Dave Batti on bass. Denver was casting about for some traction in the world of professional popular music in 1966 when he wrote this song, titling it at the time “Oh Babe, I Hate To Go.” He was a replacement member in the soon-to-be-defunct Mitchell Trio, as the boom in acoustic pop folk music was waning at the time. But it wasn’t quite finished as a popular art form. Milt Okun, a former folksinger himself and legendary manager of the Mitchell Trio and (among others) folk royalty Peter, Paul, and Mary, had taken a special interest in the young singer/songwriter, seeing a potential in his extraordinary onstage warmth as a performer as well as his considerable if still-developing abilities as a singer, guitarist – and composer. Okun suggested Denver rename the song to something less clichéd, suggesting “Leaving, On A Jet Plane” complete with the comma that is usually now omitted from the title. More importantly, Okun brought the song to Peter, Paul and Mary, who were so enamored of it that they recorded it almost immediately, included it on their 1967 Album 1700, and released it as a single. It shot to #1 on the Billboard charts, the only single by PP&M ever to reach that lofty position, and was one of the best selling 45 rpm records of that year. The song also established John …
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