Recently, Professor of Rock took a deep dive behind the genesis of “Take It Easy,” the 1972 song co-written by Jackson Browne that became a key hit single for the Eagles and their first.
The host touches on obscure facts behind the tune, then wraps it up in a poignant way with memories about his late father.
Thanks to the memorable line “Well, I’m a standin’ on a corner in Winslow, Arizona, and such a fine sight to see / it’s a girl, my Lord in a flatbed Ford slowin’ down to take a look at me,” a cottage industry sprung up in that Route 66 town.
The Standin’ on a Corner Park, which opened in 1999 at the corner of eastbound Route 66 and Kinsley Avenue, contains a flatbed Ford, a big mural and a statue of a troubadour musician.
A statue of “Take It Easy” co-writer and Eagles co-founder Glenn Frey was added in 2016 after his death.
The corner remains one of the most-photographed places on the Mother Road. And the song remains popular on virtually all road-trip playlists.
(Hat tip to Steven Varner; image of Standin’ on a Corner Park in Winslow, Arizona, by Kent Kanouse via Flickr)
… and the Take It Easy song makes a full circle when Glenn Frey finally records Get Your Kicks On (Route 66) before he passed away…
The actual
Comer was in Flagstaff that he wrote about. It is the current location of the Dog House. Switzer Canyon and Art 66.