As the counter at the top tells you, I have been running this series for quite a while – just over six years, in fact – and I cannot believe that I have never chosen today’s theme for one of these posts. It is part of the name of my blog – borrowed from a favourite song – and there are loads of songs with it in their title. So, for what will definitely be the first but not the last time, I give you easy songs. And a word of apology for some at the beginning: this won’t ever include The Commodores. Just so you know. You are, of course, perfectly welcome to listen to that one, but just not here. Clear? OK, let’s get going.

There is really only one place I could begin, isn’t there:

The Eagles began in early 1971, when Linda Ronstadt and her then-manager John Boylan recruited local musicians Glenn Frey and Don Henley for her band. Henley had moved to Los Angeles from Texas with his band Shiloh to record an album produced by Kenny Rogers, and Frey had come from Michigan and formed Longbranch Pennywhistle; they had met in 1970 at The Troubadour in Los Angeles and became acquainted through their mutual record label, Amos Records. Randy Meisner, who had been working with Ricky Nelson’s backing band, the Stone Canyon Band, and Bernie Leadon, a veteran of the Flying Burrito Brothers, also later joined Ronstadt’s group of performers for her summer tour promoting her Silk Purse album.

Given Linda’s involvement in the band’s formation, and the fact that Jackson Browne has a co-writer credit for the song – he started writing it and Glenn finished it – that seems a fitting performance with which to begin this set. It is absolutely magical, and takes me right back to those days, when that album really was the soundtrack to my uni days (I started there in 1972, just after it was released). And all that hair, too! I was similarly coiffeured back then – clearing out a cupboard some years later we came across my uni ID card, and showed it to my daughter, who was probably about five. We asked her who it was, and after careful consideration she replied ‘It‘s got Daddy’s eyes.’ That debut album, entitled simply Eagles, was released on 1 June 1972, beginning my long love of the band. It reached #22 in the US but didn’t chart here. This track was released a month earlier as a single, getting to #12 in the US. Again, it didn’t chart here – it took a while for the mainstream UK record-buying public to catch onto the band.

I played a song by this next band last week, and remarked then that they have a very special place in my heart. In comments chats I mentioned to a couple of you that you would be hearing them again this week, and here they are:

I told the story last week of why Great Lake Swimmers are so special to me – here, if you missed it. Easy Come Easy Go was a track on their fifth album, New Wild Everywhere, which was released in April 2012. It only made the charts in their native Canada, at #33,  but is a lovely album, and this song is a particular favourite – which probably explains why I have played it several times before! It was released as a preview track for the album in January 2012 and was the #1 song on the CBC Radio 3 R3-30 singles chart for the week ending on February 25. Some music is just too good for the charts, though!

Another of my favourite bands is up next. I’ve played them on a number of occasions but I think this is a first for this particular song:

The Chicks released Easy Silence on their seventh album, Taking The Long Way, in May 2006, their first release since the furore that blew up around them in 2003 after Natalie Maines commented on the then President, Dubya, in disparaging terms that didn’t go down well with those who would nowadays be considered part of the MAGA movement. The response was extreme, and even included death threats. I saw them play live in September of that year, a few months after she said what she did – also here in London – and to her credit she said that she stood by everything despite the reactions. That brought the house down. The album sold more than 3m copies in the US, 400,000 in Canada and 100,000 here, and went to #1 in both the US and Canada, peaking at #10 here in the UK. It won five Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, Record of the Year, and Song of the Year in February 2007. This track was released as a single, though only in the UK, but didn’t make our charts. But I still love it, and the whole album too.

Having teased you earlier with a little bit of Linda Ronstadt I thought it would be a good idea to give you a full song by her:

It’s So Easy was, as I’m sure you know, written and originally performed by Buddy Holly. Linda Ronstadt released her cover version in September 1977 on Simple Dreams, her eighth album, which made #1 in the US, Canada and Australia, #2 in New Zealand, #8 in The Netherlands, and #15 in the UK. It has sold more than 3m copies in the US, going 3x Platinum. This was the second single from it, released to coincide with the album, and was another big hit for her: #5 in the US, #9 in Canada, #11 in New Zealand and #13 in The Netherlands, but it didn’t make the UK chart. This is probably heresy for some, but I’ve always preferred Linda’s version to the original.

This first set of easy songs has been, well, easy for me to compile. I’m closing today with another old favourite:

Ringo Starr released It Don’t Come Easy as a non-album single in April 1971, and it became a big hit: #1 in Canada, #3 in Australia, #4 in both the UK and the US, #5 in Germany, and other top tens too. It was produced by Ringo’s former Beatles bandmate George Harrison, who also helped write the song, although only Ringo is credited. You can hear George’s trademark guitar sound on the record, and among others involved were Pete Ham and Tom Evans of Badfinger on backing vocals. There is a story that George had offered the song to Badfinger, but they declined to leave the way clear for Ringo, who at the time was struggling to create a post-Beatles image for himself. I’ve always liked the song, and there are a lot of Ringo’s sentiments from that time in the lyrics.

So there you have it. After all this time I have finally got around to what is probably the most obvious theme I could have chosen for one of this series. I hope you enjoyed them, and as I have a long list of other possible candidates – even without The Chin Man – you’ll be hearing more on this subject.

If you are currently experiencing extremely high temperatures, don’t worry – Numpty says it’s a hoax, so that’s OK, isn’t it. I’m off to try to find some shade, and whatever you are doing I hope you are well and happy. Take care 😊

[And as I have taken to doing at the end of these posts, I’m linking to the sites on which I will be sharing this. Firstly, Esme’s Senior Salon Pit Stop, and then Cathy’s Monday’s Music Moves Me. Both are well worth some of your time]