Eagles Debut Single 'Take It Easy' Turns 50

Eagles first ever record ‘Take It Easy’ came out on 1 May 1972, 50 years ago. The song as written by Glenn Frey and Jackson Browne before either of them found fame. Jackson started to write the song but couldn’t finish it. Frey lived in the same apartment block in Echo Park, California.

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Browne recorded his version of the song for his second album ‘For Everyman’.

‘Take It Easy’ was recorded in London by Glyn Johns, who had been working with The Beatles, and had just finished producing The Who’s ‘Who’s Next’ and The Faces ‘A Nod Is As Good As A Wink To A Blind Horse’. Johns also produced the next Eagles album ‘Desperado’.

While ‘Take It Easy’ is today considered a classic, Eagles weren’t that big in their early years. The debut album ‘Eagles’ peaked at no 22 in the USA, ‘Desperado’ at no 41 and the third album ‘On The Border’ at 17. That despite the songs ‘Take It Easy’, ‘Witchy Woman’, ‘Peaceful Easy Feeling’, ‘Tequila Sunrise’, ‘Desperado’, ‘Already Gone’, and ‘Best of My Love’, all staples of an Eagles live show today, were from those three albums.

Eagles didn’t have their first real hit album until ‘One Of These Nights’ finally went to no 1 in 1975.

‘Take It Easy’ fell outside the Australian Top 40, peaking at no 49. It failed to chart at all in the UK.

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