Eagles - Take It Easy

Jackson Browne wrote started writing this song 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 that 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 that 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."

Lyrics

Well I'm runnin' down the road tryin' to loosen my load I've got seven women on my mind Four that wanna own me two that wanna 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 make your stand 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 flatbed 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 Take it easy Alright

Well I'm 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 them old wheels drive you crazy Come on baby Don't say maybe I gotta know if your sweet love is gonna save me Ooh-ooh ooh-ooh ooh-ooh ooh-ooh ooh-ooh ooh-ooh ooh-ooh ooh-ooh ooh-ooh ooh-ooh ooh-ooh ooh-ooh ooh-ooh ooh-ooh ooh-ooh ooh-ooh