A song about West Virginia became a home anthem for people far beyond the state, even though one of its writers had never been there.

The first line of John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” calls West Virginia “Almost Heaven.” But Bill Danoff told correspondent Conor Knighton he had not been to the state before he wrote it.

“Had you ever been to West Virginia before you wrote the song?” Knighton asked.

“No,” Danoff said. “Well, in my dreams!”

Danoff and his then-girlfriend and bandmate, Taffy Nivert, played a rough draft of “Country Roads” for John Denver after a gig in Washington, D.C.

“John’s biggest contribution to anything at that point was just his enthusiasm: ‘Well, let’s finish it!'” Danoff laughed. “You know, at 1:00 in the morning, 1:30, you know? ‘Let’s get it!'”

The three stayed up late working on the version that became a hit 55 years ago.

Danoff said the timing mattered.

“When it came out in ’71, you know, the Vietnam War was really rockin’. And we had, oh, hundreds of thousands of troops over there. So, coming home was a big, big deal.”

It was a song about home, but not Danoff’s own.

“You’re from Massachusetts. Could it just as easily have been, ‘Almost heaven, Massachusetts’?” Knighton asked.

“Yeah, except I didn’t like that word!” Danoff replied.

Danoff said “West Virginia” sounded good, and West Virginians embraced the song despite what the story described as questionable geographic accuracy. The Blue Ridge Mountains and Shenandoah River mentioned in the lyrics are barely within the state’s borders.

Students at West Virginia University sing it after victories. It is also a staple at wedding receptions.

Its reach outside West Virginia has been even broader. The song has appeared in “The Office” and at Germany’s Octoberfest. During this year’s World Cup, it was the anthem of the U.S. team.

“We can think about the song as being about any place, it names West Virginia, but it doesn’t have to,” said West Virginia University assistant professor Sarah Morris, who has written about the song’s global impact.

“People take the song and re-appropriate it so that it’s about the place that’s home to them,” Morris said.

“So, they just swap in their own geographic references?” Knighton asked.

“Change the geographic references, change the lyrics, change the location. But it doesn’t really change the song, and it doesn’t change the meaning of the song.”

A version by Toots and the Maytals was a hit in Jamaica. In Hawaii, it became “West Makaha.” The song is also popular in Japan, where the anime film “Whisper of the Heart” centers on a teenage girl who translates “Country Roads.”

Country star Brad Paisley, who grew up in Glen Dale, West Virginia, said the song changed for him after he moved away.

“It’s the rare song that isn’t just singing about something, it’s causing it,” Paisley said.

“I think once you move away, the song takes on way more just character and depth,” he said. “You hear that on the radio and you’re not in West Virginia, like, you hear that in your car and it comes on, and when you hear that iconic acoustic guitar part, ‘driving down the road I get a feeling that I should have been home yesterday.'”

Morris said the song speaks to a long-running feeling in West Virginia.

“Leaving and homecoming has always been something that West Virginians have experienced. But we’ve been at a loss in our population since 1950. So, I think it’s a perennial mood for West Virginians.”

Knighton said he feels that pull himself.

“I grew up in the capital city of Charleston,” he said. “I learned to ride my bike on country roads. I left the state after high school, but I’m still nostalgic for it. It’s like the song says, ‘All my memories gather round her.'”

Morris linked that feeling to a Welsh concept.

“One of the things that I’ve been thinking about is a Welsh concept called hiraeth, this deep longing for someplace that you can’t quite name, that’s home but maybe more. It’s maybe a place that you’ve never been, or the home that you’ve only dreamed of. It’s this deep pull toward place.”

For Danoff, that is why the song has lasted.

“The place really is immaterial. It’s ‘the place I belong.’ I think that’s the key line. That’s what people are looking for in their lives.”

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