10 Classic Rock Songs That Were Written For Someone Else
6. Take It Easy - Jackson Browne
The entire songwriting scene in '70s LA felt like the Wild West from time to time. For as many songwriters were out in the wild, you didn't really have to worry about who was covering your song, with hundreds of bands playing clubs like the Troubadour with the same songs in their respective setlist. It might pay well when you're the songwriter, but Jackson Browne really found himself in a rut until the Eagles upended his song.
After cutting his teeth in LA for nearly half a decade, Take it Easy had all the trappings to be a hit, with Jackson polishing the segments he had to a tee. The only problem? He was stuck in the second verse. Since he started off the first line with standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona, he needed something that would connect to the rest of the song that didn't sound too clunky.
That's when Glenn Frey came into the picture. Having been roommates with Jackson for a little while, Glenn filled in the rest of the lyrics pretty much on the spot about coming across a girl in a flatbed Ford and wanting to catch up with her later down the line. With most of the track completed, Glenn ended up using this song to kick off the Eagles' career, opening up their first album like a ray of sunshine. Even if Jackson may have been salty that his song got jacked by Glenn, he's always been upfront that he could never have written a line like what Glenn did if he tried.