Don’t be surprised if fans at Chiefs-Dolphins game start singing a John Denver song

There is a distinct possibility that the 48,000 fans expected at Sunday’s Chiefs-Dolphins game in Frankfurt, Germany could break out into song.

One song in particular.

During last year’s Buccaneers-Seahawks game at the Allianz Arena in Munich, the sell-out crowd belted out “Take Me Home, Country Roads.”

Turns out that particular song is a favorite among Germans.

Hallie Rawlinson wrote in 2018 about Oktoberfest for Deutsche Welle. She made her first trip to Munich for the festival and noted she heard bands play “a special mix of folk songs and German party hits.”

That included “Take Me Home, Country Roads.”

“What really struck me as hilarious was when the band struck up a verse of ‘Country Roads’ by John Denver and everyone sang along perfectly,” Rawlinson wrote. “There is just something about everyone singing and drinking together that makes a tent full of thousands feel like a huge group of friends ... especially when the song is about a place near home.”

Maybe that kinship is why Germans love it so.

Bill Danoff, who co-wrote the song with Taffy Nivert, was asked by the Washington Post a decade ago why the song is so popular in Germany.

Danoff was blunt.

“I have no idea,” Danoff said. “I’ve never been to Germany.”

OK, then.

But that Post story noted the song has been “a sing-along favorite at Munich’s Oktoberfest, a nostalgic touchstone bound to bring Germans to their feet whenever it’s played.”

Nostalgia can be a strong emotion, especially for sports fans, so don’t be surprised to hear a John Denver song being belted out by fans during the Chiefs’ game on Sunday.