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
Well you know we got it easy
We oughta take it easy
Yeah
Songwriters: JACKSON BROWNE / GLENN FREY
Take It Easy lyrics © Sony/ATV Harmony, Swallow Turn Music, COPYRIGHT CONTROL (NON-HFA), SONGS OF UNIVERSAL, INC., MUSIC CORP. OF AMERICA, INC.