• Writers: Jackson Browne and Glenn Frey
• Producer: Glyn Johns
• Recorded: 1972, Olympic Sound Studios, London
• Released: June 24, 1972
• Players:
  Glenn Frey — lead vocals, guitar
  Bernie Leadon — guitar, banjo, vocals
  Randy Meisner — bass, vocals
  Don Henley — drums, vocals
• Album: Eagles (Asylum, 1972)
• Also On:
  Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 (Asylum, 1976)
  The Eagles Live (Asylum, 1980)
  Hell Freezes Over (Geffen, 1994)
  The Eagles: Selected Works 1972-1999 (Elektra, 2000)
• Eagles guitarist Bernie Leadon named the group from Hopi Indian lore, where, he said, “the eagle is considered a most sacred animal. It symbolizes the highest spirituality and morals. I would hope that the music would soar that high.”
• “Take It Easy” spent eight weeks on the pop chart, peaking at Number 12.
• Cowriter Jackson Browne recorded his own version of “Take It Easy” on his 1973 album For Everyman. In April 1974, he released “Take It Easy” as a single, but it wasn’t a hit.
• Due to its distinctive musical sound and lyric, and the images of both the Eagles and Browne, “Take It Easy” came to symbolize the laid-back style of California rock, to the point that Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes copped a riff from the song on the 1981 live album Reach Up And Touch The Sky, after joking about the difference between themselves and the Eagles.
• On the 1993 Eagles country music tribute album Common Threads, Travis Tritt covered “Take It Easy.” He also reunited the group — singer-guitarist Glenn Frey, singer-drummer Don Henley, singer-guitarist Joe Walsh, singer-bassist Timothy B. Schmit, and guitarist Don Felder — for a music video of the song, which preceded their 1994 reunion tour.

FAST FORWARD:

• The Eagles broke up after Frey left the group in 1981.
• All of the members went on to solo careers, with Henley’s being the most successful.
• The group reunited in 1994 for an MTV special, a live album called Hell Freezes Over, and a world tour that lasted two years.
• The Eagles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.
• The Eagles album Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975, which includes “Take It Easy,” has been certified for sales of more than 29 million copies, making it the top-selling album in U.S. history, ahead of Michael Jackson‘s Thriller. Hotel California has been certified at 16 times platinum, making the Eagles the only act in history to have two albums topping 16 million shipments.
• Guitarist Don Felder was fired from the Eagles in early 2001.