It was released on May 1, , and peaked at No. Jackson Browne later recorded the song as the lead track on his second album, For Everyman , and released it as a single as well, although it did not chart. Jackson Browne originally began writing "Take It Easy" in for his own eponymous debut album but was having difficulty finishing the song. Browne's friend Glenn Frey β who lived in the same Echo Park , California, apartment building as Browne β had heard an early version and later asked Browne about it.
Browne then played the unfinished second verse that begins with "Well, I'm a-standin' on a corner in Winslow, Arizona It's a girl, my lord, in a flatbed Ford, slowin' down to take a look at me. Browne told a version of the story in a radio interview: "I knew Glenn Frey from playing these clubs β we kept showing up at the same clubs and singing on the open-mic nights.
Glenn happened to come by to say 'hi,' and to hang around when I was in the studio, and I showed him the beginnings of that song, and he asked if I was going to put it on my record and I said it wouldn't be ready in time.
He said 'well, we'll put it on, we'll do it,' 'cause he liked it," Browne explained. And after a couple of times when I declined to have him finish my song, I said, 'all right. Go ahead and finish it. Do it. And, what's more, arranged it in a way that was far superior to what I had written. Bass player Randy Meisner sings the harmony vocal in the second verse with Frey, with drummer Don Henley harmonizing in the chorus, on the line "Though we will never be here again. So open up, I'm climbin' in.
The track's producer Johns said: "On 'Take It Easy' I got Bernie to play double-time banjo; they all thought it was a bonkers idea but it worked.
