1972 Classic Rock Hit Was Released 54 Years Ago Today

The Eagles' hit "Take It Easy" turned 54 on May 1, 2026. The beloved track, off the band's first record, 1972's Eagles, was originally a single that came out a month before the album, as reported by Best Classic Bands.

Jackson Browne, who collaborated with the Eagles, and the band's late singer, Glenn Frey, penned the rock classic, which evokes images of a man traveling while trying to ignore issues within his life, romantic and otherwise.

In an interview for his 1994 documentaryJackson Browne: Going Home, Browne discussed coming up with the song. Browne explained that he "had started to write" the tune, knowing Frey was interested in it.

He said that after Frey had repeatedly asked him to give him a finalized version of "Take It Easy," he allowed the singer, who died in 2016 at the age of 67, to complete the tune. Browne shared that Frey wrote the verse wherein the narrator excitedly shares he's being looked at by a woman driving a Ford flatbed truck in Winslow, Arizona.

"I mean that's like a real, you know, that's a transformation made right there. I mean I dug the fact that all these women in Arizona were driving trucks. That appealed to me," said Browne.

The "Doctor My Eyes" singer also complimented Frey's arrangement of the song.

"He had the four great singers, this huge bank of voices that could come in and he had that to work with and when they worked out the song and suddenly had this ... arrangement sense that was just so great," said Browne in his documentary.

Billboard reported that Browne sang "Take It Easy" shortly after Frey died at a June 2016 concert. While speaking to the audience, he explained the song's significance in his and Frey's friendship.

"Here's a song that I've been singing every night for a while. I didn't always sing it because it was such a famous song, I figured, you know, if people heard me sing it they'd come away thinking, ‘nah, and then he sang an Eagles cover,'" said Browne to his fans, per Billboard. "I wrote this song with Glenn Frey. It's a song that I started, but I didn't finish it. Even if I had finished it by myself, it wouldn't be the song that it is and it wouldn't be the song that we all love."

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This story was originally published May 1, 2026 at 12:15 PM.