Take It Easy

Browne began the song in 1971 for his own debut album but stalled after the line about standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona. Frey, who lived in the same Echo Park apartment building, finished the verse with the girl in the flatbed Ford, and Browne, pleased with the result, suggested they finish the song together. Browne later said Frey finished it in spectacular fashion. It was recorded at Olympic Studios in London with Glyn Johns, with Frey on lead vocal, Meisner on the second verse harmony and Leadon on lead guitar and banjo. Johns said the band thought his idea of a double-time banjo was bonkers, but that it worked.

Released on 1 May 1972 as their debut single, it peaked at 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 on 22 July 1972. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame lists it among its 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. Bud Scoppa wrote in Rolling Stone in 1972 that it was simply the best sounding rock single of the year so far. Billboard ranked it number three, and Rolling Stone number two, in later lists of the band's greatest songs. In 1999 the town of Winslow put up a bronze statue and mural at Standin' on the Corner Park, and in 2016 added a statue of Frey.

Live

Early live shows began with an a cappella verse of Silver Dagger as an introduction. All seven Eagles played it at the 1998 Rock Hall induction, and in February 2016 the band, with Leadon, Steuart Smith and Browne, played it at the Grammys in honor of Frey. Travis Tritt's 1993 version for the tribute album Common Thread brought the five Long Run-era members together in its video, and led to the reunion.