This, That, and the Other

My theme for this year’s A to Z Blogging Challenge is classic rock songs. Each day during the month (except for the first four Sundays, I will post a classic rock song: a video from YouTube, along with a brief bit of background about the song and the recording artist(s).

This is much more difficult than I thought it would be. For every letter of the alphabet there are dozens of fantastic classic rock songs to choose from and picking just one song for each letter is maddening. But this is what I signed up for.

My P song is “Peaceful Easy Feeling” from The Eagles.

“Peaceful Easy Feeling” was written by Jack Tempchin and recorded by the Eagles. It was the third single from the band’s 1972 debut album, Eagles. The single reached number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, number 20 on the Billboard Easy Listening chart, and is one of the band’s most popular songs.

San Diego singer-songwriter Jack Tempchin wrote this song sometime around 1969. One night he waited around trying to hook up with a waitress at a club where he was performing, but she left and never came back. He crashed on the floor of the club and, to kill the time, he grabbed his guitar and started composing this song, writing lyrics on the back of one of his flyers.

He finished the song in stages, and made his way to LA, where he hung out at the Troubadour along with Glenn Frey, Jackson Browne, J.D. Souther, and various other up-and-comers in the West Coast music scene. He was staying with Browne one day when Frey came over and heard Tempchin playing the song. Tempchin made a cassette recording for Frey, who came back the next day with a demo he had worked up with his band that had been backing Linda Ronstadt, the band that would soon become the Eagles.

“Peaceful Easy Feeling” was about a girl, with Glenn Frey singing about how he’d love for things to work out with her, but thinks she’ll probably leave in the end. He’d be okay though, since he has a peaceful, easy feeling and he won’t let her ruin it no matter what happens. Tempchin said of the song, “It’s not a love song exactly. The guy’s going, ‘Hey, either way it’s going to be fine.’”

Tempchin went on to write “Already Gone” for the Eagles and helped Frey write his solo hit “You Belong To The City.” The flyer Tempchin used to start writing the lyrics is now in the Grammy Museum.

Here are the lyrics to “Peaceful Easy Feeling”

I like the way your sparkling earrings lay
Against your skin so brown
And I want to sleep with you in the desert night
With a billion stars all around

'Cause I got a peaceful easy feelin'
And I know you won't let me down
'Cause I'm already standin'
On the ground

And I found out a long time ago
What a woman can do to your soul
Aw but she can't take you any way
You don't already know how to go

And I got a peaceful easy feelin'
And I know you won't let me down
'Cause I'm already standin'
On the ground

I get this feelin' I may know you
As a lover and a friend
This voice keeps whisperin' in my other ear
Tells me I may never see you again

'Cause I get a peaceful easy feelin'
And I know you won't let me down
'Cause I'm already standin'
I'm already standin'
Yes, I'm already standin'
On the ground

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