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.