♫ Take It Easy ♫

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, History, music

A day or two ago, I played a song from 1972 … I had sort of played that game of “close your eyes, spin the wheel, and wherever your finger is pointing when the wheel stops …” and came up with First Time Ever I Saw Your Face by Roberta Flack.  Most of you liked it just fine, but our friend Clive wasn’t all that thrilled with it.  So, I asked him what HE was listening to in 1972, and he mentioned the Eagles first album, so I took yet another stroll down memory lane and … oh yeah, there were some good ones on that album!  Tonight’s song is the first on the album and maybe the best, though I like several of the others as well.  Turns out, this is one of the few songs I don’t seem to have played on my music posts yet, so …

Here’s what SongFacts has to say about this one …

Jackson Browne started writing “Take It Easy” for his first album, but he didn’t know how to finish it. At the time, he was living in an apartment in the Echo Park section of Los Angeles, and his upstairs neighbor was Glenn Frey, who needed songs for his new band – the Eagles.

Frey heard Browne working on the song (he says that he learned a lot about songwriting by listening to his downstairs neighbor work), and told Jackson he thought it was great. Browne said he was having trouble completing the track, and played what he had of it. When he got to the second verse, Frey came up with a key lyric: “It’s a girl, my lord, in a flatbed Ford, slowing down to take a look at me.”

Browne turned the song over to Frey, who finished writing it and recorded it with the Eagles, who used it as the first song on their first album, and also their first single. Frey says Browne did most of the work on the song and was very generous in sharing the writing credit. He described the unfinished version of the song as a “package without the ribbon.”

Glenn Frey’s changes to this song included stretching out the “E” in “Easy.” He considered the song one of the most important Eagles tracks, and a great introduction to the group on their first album. In an interview with Bob Costas, he said the song represented “America’s first image of our band with the vistas of the Southwest and the beginnings of what became country-rock.”
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Thanks to the line, “Standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona,” music lovers have made this Southwest town a popular stop on their road trips. Winslow is on Route 40 in northern Arizona, making it a great place to stop if you’re traveling from California to New Mexico.

While it might not be the actual corner where Jackson Browne was standing, the city designated the corner of West 2nd Street and North Kinsley Avenue in downtown Winslow as “Standin’ On The Corner Park.” Officially opened in 1999, the park has become a popular tourist destination and hosts a festival every year. A mural with the name of the town, and with a statue of a guy standing on the corner have filled many Flickr feeds. When the mural was damaged by fire in 2004, the Eagles donated a signed guitar that was raffled off to help repair it.

According to Glenn Frey, the message of this song is, “You shouldn’t get too big too fast.”
Jackson Browne released his own version of “Take It Easy” on his second album, For Everyman, in 1973. He and the Eagles each issued their debut albums in 1972; Browne was the first to have a hit, charting with “Doctor My Eyes” a few months before the Eagles landed with “Take It Easy.”
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Take It Easy

Eagles

Well I’m a-runnin’ down the road try’n to loosen my load
I’ve got seven women on my mind
Four that want to own me, two that want to stone me
One says she’s a friend of mine

Take it easy, take it easy
Don’t let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy
Lighten up while you still can
Don’t even try to understand
Just find a place to make your stand, and take it easy

Well, I’m a standin’ on a corner in Winslow, Arizona
Such a fine sight to see
It’s a girl, my Lord, in a flat-bed Ford
Slowin’ down to take a look at me
Come on, baby, don’t say maybe
I gotta know if your sweet love is gonna save me
We may lose and we may win, though we will never be here again
So open up I’m climbin’ in, so take it easy

Well, I’m a runnin’ down the road tryin’ to loosen my load
Got a world of trouble on my mind
Lookin’ for a lover who won’t blow my cover, she’s so hard to find
Take it easy, take it easy
Don’t let the sound of your own wheels make you crazy
Come on baby, don’t say maybe
I gotta know if your sweet love is gonna save me

Oh, we got it easy
We oughta take it easy

31 thoughts on “♫ Take It Easy ♫”

    • Ha ha … you are living in a small drawer, Michael! How many people live in your village? But come on over … I’ll help you find some of those wide open spaces you’re seeking! xx

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    • You’re quite right … that one is before even my time, but I recognized the sound as being something my parents likely listened to. And I recognized that beloved ol’ RCA dog!!! And I noticed on the picture of the record it said “Speed: 78 rpm” … and THAT brings back memories!!! Thanks for the fun!

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  4. The Eagles are okay, this song too, but I like my rock raunchy, and with a message of some kind. For me The Eagles were never a message band. Life was never “easy,” so I never found The Eagles realistic. But they were okay for winding down time, which for me never lasted more than a few minutes. No musical journey from this song.

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    • Yeah, I know you do, which is why I said the other night that I thought you probably didn’t like most of the same music as I do, for I don’t like my rock loud and raunchy. I like soft, like Phil Collins, like … well, you know my ‘go-to’ guys!

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  5. Pingback: TAKE IT EASY. |jilldennison.com | Ramblings of an Occupy Liberal

  6. You knew I’d like this one! A great start to a great album, and a great band career. I loved this one the first time I heard it and couldn’t begin to count the number of times I’ve played it over the past fifty years. It would make a good name for a blog, too 😉

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          • I started in 2012 sharing my experience of depression and have always done mental health posts along the way. I changed the tagline to reflect the growing emphasis on music, which has also been there from early days. I changed the title in 2013 to reflect how I wanted my retirement to be.

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            • I just went in search of and found one of your first posts — Part I. Words fail me, my friend. You have been through so much, and as I was reading that post, I just kept thinking how glad I am that you’ve persevered. I have a close friend who is bipolar and his down spells are … devastating and to me, frightening. I am sometimes what I refer to as depressed, but I have never been through anything close to what you or he have gone through. My heart goes out to you, my friend, and I send a big hug across the pond for you. I plan to read Parts II & III soon, but my time was limited tonight, it being nigh on 2:00 a.m. already.

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              • Thank you for seeking that out. It took me a while to commit the experience into the public domain but I was much more active on Twitter in those days and had a regular circle of Twitfriends who were very supportive. It resulted in many sharing that they also suffered and were helped by knowing they weren’t alone – which is why I did it.

                Do please let me know what you think if you get to read the rest. I am mulling over a new mental health post at present – prompted by a song, of course – so your interest is timely.

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                • I can only imagine. I’m not sure I could ever have taken such personal memories public, but I’m glad you did, and you have to wonder how many people have taken comfort in reading of your experiences and knowing that they are not alone.

                  I definitely will let you know … I didn’t get any reading done today, but hopefully over the weekend. I’ll be looking for your soon-to-be post that was prompted by … what song?

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                  • I had a lot of encouragement and when people tell you your words are ‘inspiring’ it does make it feel worthwhile.

                    Please don’t hold your breath for that post. It will probably be some time next week, and I’m as certain as I can be that you won’t know the song!

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                    • I’m glad to know you had encouragement. I know I always feel a bit more … worthy … when someone tells me that I helped them understand something, or gave them inspiration or motivation.

                      Oh don’t worry … I cannot hold my breath for more than 6 seconds without nearly choking to death, so I shan’t be holding my breath! Hmmmm … now I’m intrigued about the song and hoping I do know it!

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                    • As I said in that piece, the blog started at the suggestion of my counsellor, who told me he found my writing ‘inspiring.’ It does help when someone says something like that, doesn’t it.

                      I tried working on the post today but it just didn’t feel right. I’ll go back to it next week, after I’ve don’t the regulars for Sunday and Tuesday. I’d bet most of what I have on your not knowing the song, and probably not the band, either 😉

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                    • Yes, it really does! It’s rather like … an affirmation that what you’re doing matters. And it’s always a good feeling to find that you’re not alone, not the only one who feels this way, or who is going through it.

                      It works that way … sometimes I start a post late at night and I’m gung ho, but the next day when I come back to it, it just doesn’t click, so I set it aside. Sometimes I come back to it, other times I look at it 3 months later and wonder what the heck I was thinking! I’d bet you’re probably right that I don’t know the song or the band … you know my tastes and knowledge (or lack thereof) pretty well by now!

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                    • Exactly that, and it encourages you to keep going even if, like me, you stray a long way from original intentions.

                      I’m being unfair to you. They are a bit of a niche band who will probably be unfamiliar to many who read my posts, so you won’t be alone in that!

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                    • It does … it’s really amazing how much just a few words can make such a difference. And as for straying from our original intentions — our goals often change as we grow and our circumstances change. We have to be flexible, not rooted so deeply that we can’t sway with the wind.

                      Nah, you’re not being unfair to me! My musical knowledge compared to yours, Keith’s, rawgod’s and others is small! I am more limited, in part because I typically only listen to what I already know I like. You’ve opened a few doors and I peek through them … and I’m enjoying that experience!

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                    • Fair point – a justification I use for how my blog has developed over time.

                      I think you do yourself an injustice, and the song I’ll be featuring is largely unknown so you’ll be in good company when I get to it!

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                    • After commenting last night, I remembered where my own blog began and how it has evolved. It began as just a venue for the book reviews I was writing back in 2012. I published them on several sites, but was frustrated that I wasn’t getting many views, so my then 17-year-old granddaughter said, “Granny, why not start a blog?” My reply was “What’s a blog???” 🤣 It remained a source for book reviews and an occasional opinion piece. Sometimes 3 posts a month, sometimes none. By early 2015, though, I was opining more and was up to some 30 followers! I thought I had hit the big time! Then came June 2015 when Donald Trump threw his hat in the ring, and Filosofa’s Word went full-on political blog! My how times change, eh?

                      I’m heading over to check it out in just a bit!

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                    • Indeed they do change, and it’s probably as well that we change with them rather than stagnate! Posting frequency is one of the major changes for me – they are much more frequent these days.

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