Around the early 1970s, Jack Tempchin was playing guitar and singing in coffee houses in San Diego when he got a gig in El Centro, California. It was his first time in the desert, and the sky inspired him to come up with the line “Peaceful Easy Feeling” for a song. He continued working on the song back in San Diego.
While attending a street fair, Tempchin saw a beautiful woman with tan skin and turquoise earrings. While he did not speak to her, he put her in the opening stanza of the song he was writing on his $13 Stella guitar:
I like the way your sparkling earrings lay, Against your skin, it’s so brown. And I wanna sleep with you in the desert tonight With a billion stars all around.
The Eagles
After finishing the last verse at a Der Weinerschnitzel fast food restaurant in San Diego, Tempchin was hanging around with a number of up-and-coming singer-songwriters. He was staying with Jackson Browne when Glenn Frey overheard Tempchin playing the song.
Frey liked the tune and told Tempchin that he had a band called “the Eagles” that had only been together eight days. Tempchin gave Frey permission for his band to work up the song and the rest is history.
A few months later, Frey played for Tempchin the band’s version of the song with Frey singing lead vocal. Tempchin loved it.
The tune ended up on the Eagles’ first album, Eagles (1972), and it was released as a single in December 1972. It went to #22 on the charts. Tempchin heard his song on the radio for the first time as it played on a small transistor radio on top of a refrigerator in the house of someone he met while taking a road trip.
Anyone who was around in the 1970s can probably sing along to the song, which was everywhere on the radio. The film The Big Lebowski (1998) even played off the song’s ubiquitousness when the Dude heard the song playing in a cab and complained about the Eagles. The cab driver then threw him out of the cab.
Tempchin After “Peaceful Easy Feeling”
As for Tempchin, he continues to write and perform. He co-wrote other songs for the Eagles, including “Already Gone.” And his songs have been covered by others, including “Slow Dancin’ (Swayin’ to the Music),” a 1979 hit for Johnny Rivers.
Tempchin tells more of the interesting story behind “Peaceful Easy Feeling” in a post on No Depression and on his website. The site also features stories from fans about what the song means to them.
You have heard the original version by the Eagles, so now give a listen to the songwriter singing his song. You may hear Tempchin sing “Peaceful Easy Feeling” from his recent CD Live At Tales from the Tavern (2012) above or watch him sing the song in the video below.
Inspirations for the Song
It is interesting to think of the woman who inspired the opening of the song, never knowing it. Like everyone else, she must have heard the song many times, never knowing that it is her in those lines.
Tempchin has explained, “I guess I was trying to distill the beauty of every girl I saw into words on paper and then into a song.” So, maybe it is appropriate that there is no one person out there claiming the song.
Real people and relationships are messy, so it is only an idealized lover that eternally can inspire lines like: “‘Cause I get a peaceful easy feeling/ And I know you won’t let me down.”
And that is the story behind the song. What is your favorite memory of hearing “Peaceful Easy Feeling”? Leave your two cents in the comments.
This week on September 22, Bruce Springsteen joined Jackson Browne to sing “Take It Easy” with Browne. On stage at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, New Jersey, the Boss looked both bemused and relaxed, perhaps because he was so close to his home. In other words, he was taking it easy too.
Browne wrote “Take It Easy” with Glenn Frey, who sang lead vocals when The Eagles made it a hit in 1972 and put it on their debut Eagles album that year. Browne also released his version of the song on For Everyman in 1973. The song remains associated with both The Eagles and Browne, but this week, Springsteen enjoyed bringing some Winslow, Arizona to New Jersey.
Springsteen may have looked extra happy onstage because the next day was his sixty-sixth birthday on September 23.
I recently discovered that YouTube features a number of full high quality performances from past Glastonbury Festivals in England. Some of the clips are of individual songs instead of full performances. There are some good ones of Paul Simon, Johnny Cash, Buddy Guy, The Gaslight Anthem, Neil Young, Jackson Browne, Regina Spektor and OK Go.
For one that you might not expect, check out this 2011 performance by Don McLean, who of course performs “Vincent” and “American Pie.” Here is “Vincent.”
And here is “American Pie.”
To see Glastonbury performances from the other performers, head over to this YouTube link.
What is or favorite YouTube concert? Leave your two cents in the comments.
I do not quite get the album art on Worried Man (2012), the debut full-length CD by Andrew Combs. Is he cold? Is it supposed to be a picture of a “Worried Man”? I do not think the album cover adequately prepared me for what to expect when I heard the music. One thing I do know, though, is that it is the best album by a new artist I have heard in a long time.
Because Worried Man came out in October 2012, I realize I am a little slow in discovering Andrew Combs. But seeing a video of Andrew Combs performing on the Twang Nation website recently led me to check out his album. Listening to Worried Man starting with the first track of “Devil’s Got My Woman” has been one of those periodic experiences that restores my faith in new music.
Combs, who is originally from Texas and now resides in Nashville, wrote all of the songs on the album, and he sings with an ache in his voice in the best country and Americana tradition. The album includes heartbreak, whiskey, and pedal steel, and the title track reminds one of an old murder ballad (even if the violence stops short of killing). You can hear the influences of Combs’s heroes who include Harlan Howard, Willie Nelson, Mickey Newbury, Guy Clark, Jackson Browne, and Tom T. Hall. Combs pulls off connecting to these past influences while also sounding modern at the same time, as he does in this performance of “Please, Please, Please.”
Every artist is different, of course, but for comparison purposes, a lot of the songs remind me of another artist I like a lot, Slaid Cleaves. “Please, Please, Please” sounds like it could be a great Heartbreaker-era Ryan Adams track. The song “Worried Man” sounds like it is off of the album of another Texan, Ray Wylie Hubbard . For now, Andrew Combs has made a stream of the album available so you can listen for yourself below Check it out.
Combs, who released the album on his own Coin Records, also co-produced the album with Mike Odmark. Singer-songwriter Caitlin Rose adds her voice to several of the tracks. I look forward to more music from Andrew Combs, whatever the cover looks like. What is your favorite track off of Worried Man? Leave your two cents in the comments.
There are numerous songs about being in love. And there are almost as many songs about being hurt or angry at the end of a relationship, like No Doubt’s “Don’t Speak,” Coldplay’s “The Scientist,” Adele’s “Someone Like You,” Justin Timberlake’s “Cry Me a River,” and Alanis Morissette’s “You Oughta Know.” There are also songs about leaving a loved one, like Lynyrd Skynyrd’s classic “Free Bird” and Dolly Parton’s and Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You.” But few songs focus on the personal healing process when the post-relationship hurt and anger start to drift away. There are some such songs, and artists like Willy Porter and the Cowboy Junkies have addressed the slow process of recovery after a relationship’s end.
Heartbreak Recovery & Heartbreak
There are a number of reasons why few songs capture this post-relationship self-discovery state. That stage is not as exciting as love or anger, and not everyone goes through it. One may skip or block out that stage or maybe never fully reach that level of forgiveness necessary to be at peace.
But the post-relationship self-discovery stage is a wonderful step in one’s growth. It is just as important as other emotions because this step is about coming to terms with finding oneself as someone no longer defined by the former love/anger/hate.
A few popular songs come close to addressing this relationship stage without fully addressing it. For example, Kelly Clarkson has made her career on relationship ending songs like “Don’t Waste Your Time.” But her pop songs often focus on the anger.
Similarly, some of the lyrics of Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide” seem to be about this stage (“Well, I’ve been afraid of changing / Because I, I built my life around you”). But Stevie Nicks has explained the song is more about career and life directions. In “Missing You,” John Waite protests that he does not miss his love, but it is clear that the singer is still heartbroken and has a ways to go.
A major difference between the heartbreak recovery songs and heartbreak songs is the focus of the song. The songs written about the immediate end of a relationship focus on the other person, often having “you” in their title (“Since You’ve Been Gone,” etc.). The songs about healing and recovery are more about the singer, i.e., “I” or “me.”
“I’m Alive”
Jackson Browne captures this healing process in “I’m Alive.” The song appeared on his 1993 break-up album of the same name that was released after the end of a relationship.
Browne’s “I’m Alive” only covers the start of the transition from anger and hurt to the recognition of being alive (“I’m gonna have to block it out somehow to survive / ’cause those dreams are dead / And I’m alive.” It is one of my favorite Jackson Browne songs.
“Angry Words”
Two other songs go even deeper into end-of-relationship healing, including one by Willy Porter, a singer-songwriter from Wisconsin. Willy Porter’s “Angry Words,” from Dog-Eared Dream (1994), does an excellent job of capturing that feeling of relief where, after a relationship has ended, one wakes up one morning realizing life goes on.
I have cursed your name a thousand times or more; Your photograph lies deep at the bottom of my drawer; But when I looked at it this morning, I had no angry words to say, no angry words to say.
“Angry Words” has similarities to Gloria Gaynor’s classic “I Will Survive” and Elton John’s “I’m Still Standing.” But whereas Gaynor’s and John’s songs are about empowerment and surviving after a bad relationship, Porter’s song is about getting to that stage. Porter is not trying to prove anything to his lost love or convince himself he is fine. He is sorting through who he is and who he is going to be.
In “Angry Words,” the singer refers to “The coffee maker that you gave me it finally broke down.” The coffee maker reference shows time has passed while also symbolizing that the singer has reached a stage of breaking where he is building himself again: “I learned a little ’bout forgiveness, learned a little ’bout sin/ A little ’bout the soul of a man living within this skin.”
And that is what the stage of forgiveness is all about: learning about yourself and not letting the angry words dictate who you are.
“Sun Comes Up”
A song with a similar theme from the woman’s point of view is “Sun Comes Up, It’s Tuesday Morning” by the Cowboy Junkies with lead singer Margo Timmins. “Sun Comes Up” is a highlight from the band’s 1990 The Caution Horses album.
The singer in “Sun Comes Up” is not quite at the stage as the singer in Willy Porter’s “Angry Words.” But she struggles to find peace.
The singer in “Sun Comes Up” meets her friend Jen for lunch. She sees that her friend has been battered by a boyfriend or husband, so she remembers there are worse things than loneliness.
The singer then stops herself from calling her former lover. She reminds herself, “And anyways I’d rather listen to Coltrane / Than go through all that shit again.”
At the end, the singer is still struggling, but she realizes there are some simple benefits to being on your own, even if you miss the person you once loved.
Yeah, sure I’ll admit there are times when I miss you, Especially like now when I need someone to hold me; But there are some things that can never be forgiven; And I just gotta tell you, That I kinda like this extra few feet in my bed.
I love the line about the extra few feet in bed, because it is such a small thing. But the first step toward happiness is appreciating the small things.
After the song ends, I imagine some more time will pass, her coffee maker will break down, and she will end up with no angry words. And then, like the singer in “Angry Words,” she will not be “afraid of a new love that could be starting.”
The Power of Music
You know that the sophisticated and mature people in these songs will be okay, even as the songs provide insight to the listener too. On YouTube under one of the live videos of “Sun Comes Up, It’s Tuesday Morning,” someone confessed, “There were at least 5 years of my life that I would not have survived if it weren’t for this song.”
It is amazing what music can do for us, and I wish more songwriters would explore this stage of love. But we are lucky to have so many songs covering the stages of love. For all the lovers, the broken-hearted, and the healing hearts, may you find your song.
Check out a live version of the Cowboy Junkies’ “Sun Comes Up,” and an additional solo live version of Willy Porter’s “Angry Words” with some great guitar work. Can you think of any other songs fit this category of heartbreak recovery songs and coming to peace about lost love? Leave a comment.
album that year. Browne also released his version of the song on 
in 1973. The song remains associated with both The Eagles and Browne, but this week, Springsteen enjoyed bringing some Winslow, Arizona to New Jersey.
