“It’s a line. From a song. From, like, forty years ago. About this guy…who’s standing on a corner. THIS corner…” Rimkus said to his 14 year old daughter. She stared back blankly at him, slightly incredulous at this reasoning for the detour on the family spring break road trip. Rimkus continued, a bit more animated… or desperate; “…and uh, this girl, driving a truck sees him!” The Rimkus daughter backs slowly away, maybe slightly wierded out, and slips into the gift shop across the street to look at ubiquitous silver and turquoise “Indian” jewelry and giant “AZ #1!” Foam fingers.
Rimkus watches her, then steps into the queue of a few other 50-60 year olds waiting to get their picture taken at this holy site. When he’s up and next to the bronze statue, Mrs. Rimkus snaps the picture, smiles sadly at him, then drifts off to join the daughter in the shop which pipes all the songs of The Eagles (not just THAT one. Fortunately) softly out over the intersection of the old Route 66.
Rimkus wanders off across that corner, looking back and realizing the backing mural with imagery reflecting the song’s story, is painted on free standing brick wall. A facade. Appropriate, he supposes cynically. At least the flatbed Ford parked staged in front of it is real. Kind of makes it work even.
Glenn Frey and Jackson Browne penned that 70s hit that help vault the Eagles into the stratosphere. Wikipedia tells Rimkus that Frey finished the crucial line that “made the song work” – like that old red truck sitting there.
And standing on his own corner, across the street, Rimkus thinks of the brilliance of great writers of stories, poems, songs; able to reach out in the air and pluck just the right word, phrase or couple lines to pin that universal, exhilarating and fleeting feeling of,…POTENTIAL! Will she/he slow down, take a second look? See where it might lead?
A small breeze, baked by that sidewalk on a corner in Winslow, Arizona wafts upward to gently slap – or pat – Rimkus’ out of the reverie and remind him that yes, it DOES happen. So with a light step, taking it easy, Rimkus heads into the gift shop, after a girl who slowed down to take a look at him many years ago. And even stopped.
[Ed. Note: The all-important Winslow, Arizona lyrics start below at 1:11. There are clearer versions of “Take it Easy” out there, but the haircuts and rainbows on this 1974 live take are so precious that I had to use it. Superstar singer-songwriter Jackson Browne joins the Eagles in this vid, playing the grand piano and harmonizing. He’s not always visible, but he’s there behind the band and the camera finds him occasionally.]
Eagles – Take it Easy
Well, I’m running down the road
Tryin’ to loosen my load
I’ve got seven women on
My mind,
Four that wanna own me,
Two that wanna stone me,
One says she’s a friend of mineTake it easy, take it easy
Don’t let the sound of your own wheels
Drive you crazy
Lighten up while you still can
Don’t even try to understand
Just find a place to make your stand
And take it easyWell, I’m a standing 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
Come on, baby, don’t say maybe
I gotta know if your sweet love is
Gonna save me
We may lose and we may win though
We will never be here again
So open up, I’m climbin’ in,
So take it easyWell I’m running down the road trying to loosen
My load, got a world of trouble on my mind
Lookin’ for a lover who won’t blow my
Cover, she’s so hard to find
Take it easy, take it easy
Don’t let the sound of your own
Wheels make you crazy
Come on baby, don’t say maybe
I gotta know if your sweet love is
Gonna save me, oh oh oh
Oh we got it easy
We oughta take it easy
