I Will Ease Your Mind Trivia Quiz

Answer: Ringo Starr

When Harrison gave the track to Starr it contained his "scratch track" (a recording used as a reference). Ringo's vocals were added with Harrison's backup. Recorded in 1971, this was Ringo's first big hit and would later be followed by "Photograph" and "You're Sixteen".

Music critic Robert Christgau said that Ringo performed the song "as though he still couldn't quite believe his own good fortune". The song has enjoyed a great "shelf life" as Starr continues to include it in his "All Starr Band" tours and in 2020 Peter Frampton covered it as a tribute to Ringo Starr's 80th birthday.

Answer: Phil Collins

"Easy Lover" was written by Philip Bailey, Phil Collins and bassist Nathan East with vocals provided by Bailey and Collins. Released in 1984 (US) and 1985 (UK) it achieved success on both the Billboard Hot 100 and UK Singles Chart. In a 2016 interview with "Rolling Stone" Collins said the song was born in a jam one night and quickly transformed into verse and chorus. They liked it and recorded it that same night. That was easy!

Answer: Sunday morning

Often misinterpreted as a love song, Richie was actually singing about a sense of relief and calm after a breakup. In an interview with "Spin" magazine Richie stated, "Easy like Sunday morning applies to anybody who lives in a small Southern town. Small Southern towns die at 11:30 p.m. Saturday night.

They roll up the sidewalk. So I kind of got that from my own experiences". Written by Richie and recorded by the Commodores in 1977 it reached number one on the Billboard Hot Soul Singles chart and number four on the Billboard Hot 100.

Answer: Three Dog Night

The song was written by Galt MacDermot, James Rado, and Gerome Ragni, and originally released in 1968 by Lynn Kellogg who played the role of Sheila in the original musical. Three Dog Night's cover version, released in 1969, with lead vocals by Chuck Negron and harmonies with Danny Hutton and Cory Wells quickly soared on the charts. Negron's delivery was hailed by reviewers as "one of music's most powerful statements on a world gone mad".

Answer: Buddy Holly

Written by Buddy Holly and Norman Petty, the song was released by The Crickets. "It's So Easy" is considered by many Holly fans to be one of his best songs. Ironically, even with the snappy chorus and catchy vocals, the song failed to chart until Ronstadt's version came along. Sometimes when performing it she would change the lyrics to "It's so easy to have a hit. All you have to do is recycle it".

Answer: Bobby Sherman

With some help from Sal Mineo in the early 1960s Sherman secured the part of "house singer" on the teen variety show "Shindig". While enjoying a successful recording career he starred on the series "Here Come the Brides". He garnered seven gold singles, one platinum single, and five gold albums. "Easy Come, Easy Go", written by Jack Keller and Diane Hildebrand, was released in 1970 by Sherman. Prior to that Mama Cass Elliot had included it on her "Bubblegum, Lemonade and ... Something for Mama" album released in 1969.

Sherman's version was a hit on both Billboard Hot 100 and Easy Listening charts and it earned him a gold record.

Answer: False

Quite the contrary! While recording the song he eased into an adlib "...like the man said...one more time..." referring to Count Basie's famous tag line in "April in Paris". (His other recordings of the song sometimes included finger snapping to an acoustic bass.)

The songwriters, Marilyn & Alan Bergman and Lew Spence, present at the recording session, were so pleased that Sinatra had chosen to record their song as the title track to his album they had no problem with it! They were particularly impressed by Sinatra's ability to find the perfect wording and rhythm for the tag line (coda).

In 1960 the sheet music published by Barton Music Co. Ltd., London & New York (Sinatra's own publishing company run by two of his friends) used the phrasing "words and music by" and included Sinatra.

On an interesting note, Sinatra did experiment with other tag lines (live during the recording session), which were deemed a bit too suggestive. In the outtakes you can hear him joke that the "bawdy" versions "may get everybody here arrested"!

Answer: Keith Carradine

Keith Carradine performed the song in the 1975 film "Nashville". The sentiment is one of a lover "wearing his heart on his sleeve"; almost pleading with the object of his affection to reciprocate his feelings.

Ironically, Carradine's character in the film, Tom Frank, is a womanizing folk rock singer. During a performance he dedicates the song "to a special someone". The camera then pans the audience and focuses on three different women, one at a time, each of them react thinking she is the subject of the song.

Answer: Jackson Browne

When Browne was having trouble with "Take It Easy" Frey heard it and contributed the lyrics "It's a girl, my lord, in a flatbed Ford, slowing down to take a look at me." Browne ended up giving the song to Frey to finish and he recorded with Eagles. Eagles in turn used it as their first song on their first album and released it as their first single. Frey credited Browne with most of the writing and acknowledged his generosity for sharing the writing credit.

In an interview with "Rolling Stone" Browne stated: "It's a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed Ford, slowin' down to take a look at me is a very Glenn Frey lyric. I didn't even know what a flatbed Ford was, you need a guy like Glenn, who's a 'girl-Ford-Lord' guy. Also he put himself into the song. The girl 'slowing down to take a look at me' - that's pure Glenn Frey."

When on tour with Eagles Frey would often introduce the song by saying "And this is how it all began..."

At the 2016 Grammy Awards Jackson Browne, Don Henley, Bernie Leadon, Timothy B. Schmit and Joe Walsh performed the song as a tribute to Frey who died a month earlier.

Answer: Peaceful Easy

Tempchin finished the song in stages and when Glenn Frey heard it and put together a demo Tempchin was so pleased and impressed he allowed Eagles to record it. Frey certainly seemed to have a knack for recognizing potential. The viewpoint of the song is no matter how the romance works out the singer will be fine because he has that "peaceful easy feeling..."

Tempchin and Frey went on to co-write "Smuggler's Blues" and "You Belong to the City".