Don Henley Explained The Eagles’ ‘Take It Easy’
Classic rock and country music converged in a major way in the 1970s when country rock was born. One of the defining songs of the subgenre is The Eagles’ “Take It Easy.” A member of the band connected its lyrics with some of the giants of the American literary tradition.
Don Henley said The Eagles’ ‘Take It Easy’ is about trying to find your home
The Eagles aren’t usually seen as one of the more literate bands out there, but looks are deceiving. During a 2016 interview with Rolling Stone, The Eagles’ Don Henley discussed the literature that helped inspire “Take It Easy.” “Great American writers from Thomas Wolfe to Jack Kerouac to Wallace Stegner have addressed this theme of the restlessness of the American spirit, of our need to keep moving, especially from east to west, in search of freedom, identity, fortune and this illusive thing we call ‘home,'” Henley said.
“There’s a thought-provoking quotation from Thomas Wolfe’s famous novel You Can’t Go Home Again: ‘Perhaps this is our strange and haunting paradox here in America — that we are fixed and certain only when we are in movement. At any rate, that is how it seemed to young George Webber, who was never so assured of his purpose as when he was going somewhere on a train. And he never had the sense of home so much as when he felt that he was going there. It was only when he got there that his homelessness began,'” Henley continued.
Why The Eagles’ music resonated
The ironic thing about “Take It Easy” is that, despite its title and its relaxing sound, the tune has a heavy heart. It’s about starting a relationship with a stranger on the road. The narrator doesn’t know if his new lover can save him. He’s just desperate to know if she can.
The writers of the song were clearly trying to find a peace of mind that seemed out of reach. For a band that peaked during the fun-loving 1970s, the decade of glam rock, funk, and disco music, they never seemed to be having much fun in their music. Their tunes are full of diabolical women, creepy hotels, and 1950s icons who died in tragic car accidents. Perhaps The Eagles got popular because some people were sick of how carefree and frivolous a lot of top 40 music was during the 1970s.
‘Take it Easy’ was a breakthrough
“Take It Easy” was The Eagles’ first hit. It reached No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed on the chart for 11 weeks. The track appeared on the album Eagles. That record climbed to No. 22 on the Billboard 200 and lasted on the chart for 49 weeks. While the album Eagles was not a huge hit on its own, it paved the way for The Eagles to release far more popular albums.
Two other hits came from the album Eagles: “Witchy Woman” and “Peaceful Easy Feeling.” The former reached No. 9 and spent 13 weeks on the chart. The latter reached No. 22 and stayed on the chart for 12 weeks.
“Take It Easy” is a great song and it’s part of a quintessentially American tradition.
