Tag Archives: Jack Tempchin

♫ Swayin’ to the Music (Slow Dancing) ♫

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I really thought that tonight’s song dated back much further than it does, but it is not such an old song after all, having only been released in 1977, the year my youngest son was born … not long ago at all!  I have a treat for you tonight, for I have a video of an interview with the songwriter who explains what inspired him to write the song.

Initially titled Slow Dancing, this a song written by Jack Tempchin for the band Funky Kings (of which Tempchin was a member).  Tempchin also wrote Peaceful Easy Feeling for The Eagles, and co-wrote a number of other songs, and was voted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2019.  The Funky Kings version reached only #61 on the U.S. charts, but it was Johnny Rivers’ recording of this song that sent it soaring up the charts to ultimately land at #3 in Canada and #10 in the U.S.  As best I can tell, it didn’t chart in the UK, but perhaps they don’t like slow dancing?

Here is the promised interview with Jack Tempchin, followed by the song …

Swayin’ to the Music
Johnny Rivers

It’s late at night and we’re all alone
Just the music on the radio
No one’s comin’, no one’s gonna telephone
Just me and you and the lights down low

And we’re slow dancin’, swayin’ to the music
Slow dancin’, just me and my girl
Slow dancin’, swayin’ to the music
No one else in the whole wide world just you, girl

And we just flow together when the lights are low
Shadows dancin’ all across the wall
Music’s playin’ so soft and slow
Rest of the world so far away and small

When we’re slow dancin’, swayin’ to the music
Slow dancin’, just me and my girl
Slow dancin’, swayin’ to the music
No one else in the whole wide world

Hold me, oh, oh, oh, hold me
No never let me go

As we dance together in the dark
So much love in this heart of mine
You whisper to me, hold you tight
You’re the one I thought I’d never find

Now we’re slow dancin’, swayin’ to the music
Slow dancin’, just me and my girl
Slow dancin’, swayin’ to the music
No one else in the whole wide world

Slow dancin’, swayin’ to the music
Slow dancin’, just me and my girl
Slow dancin’, swayin’ to the music
No one else in the whole wide world
Whole wide world

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Jack Tempchin
Swayin’ to the Music lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc

♫ Peaceful Easy Feeling ♫

Posted on by under music

Last night of Eagles Week!  I hope you’ve all enjoyed it … I know I have.  Tonight’s song has a bit of an interesting origin …

A San Diego singer-songwriter named Jack Tempchin wrote this song sometime around 1969. One night after a club gig in nearby El Centro, he waited around trying to hook up with a waitress, but she left and never came back. With no ride home, he crashed on the floor of the club, but couldn’t sleep. To kill the time, he grabbed his guitar and started composing this song, writing lyrics on the back of one of his flyers.

He finished the song in stages, and made his way to Los Angeles, where he hung out at the Troubadour along with Glenn Frey, Jackson Browne, J.D. Souther and various other up-and-comers in the West Coast music scene. He was staying with Browne one day when Frey came over and heard Tempchin playing the song. Tempchin made a cassette recording for Frey, who came back the next day with a demo he had worked up with his band that had been backing Linda Ronstadt – the band that would soon become the Eagles.

Peaceful Easy Feeling was included on the Eagles debut album and released as the third single. Tempchin went on to write Already Gone for the Eagles and helped Frey write his solo hit You Belong To The City.  The flyer Tempchin used to start writing the lyrics is now in the Grammy Museum.

This song, like all of those on the Eagles first two albums, was recorded in London, which was a way to minimize distractions for the band.  According to Don Henley …

“They packed us off to England and stuck us in this little apartment, picked us up, took us to the studio, and then we’d go back to this little apartment and drink ourselves to sleep. Then we’d get up the next day and do it all again.”

Jack Tempchin finished writing this song while waiting for his order (a Polish dog) at the Der Wienerschnitzel restaurant in San Diego. On December 1, 2012, the mayor of San Diego declared it “Peaceful Easy Feeling Day” in the city to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the song’s release. The ceremony was held at the restaurant, which marked the table where Tempchin wrote it with a plaque. Tempchin was also given a golden wiener, of which he is quite proud: “Lots of people have Grammys, but they don’t have a solid gold wiener.”

Peaceful Easy Feeling
Eagles

I like the way your sparkling earrings lay
Against your skin so brown
And I want to sleep with you in the desert night
With a billion stars all around

‘Cause I got a peaceful easy feelin’
And I know you won’t let me down
‘Cause I’m already standin’
On the ground

And I found out a long time ago
What a woman can do to your soul
Aw but she can’t take you any way
You don’t already know how to go

And I got a peaceful easy feelin’
And I know you won’t let me down
‘Cause I’m already standin’
On the ground

I get this feelin’ I may know you
As a lover and a friend
This voice keeps whisperin’ in my other ear
Tells me I may never see you again

‘Cause I get a peaceful easy feelin’
And I know you won’t let me down
‘Cause I’m already standin’
I’m already standin’
Yes, I’m already standin’
On the ground

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Jack Tempchin
Peaceful Easy Feeling lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc