Take It Easy On Me
Little River Band's 1982 hit
Hard to believe this is the 3rd (4th in Europe) single released off the Time Exposure album. The legendary George Martin produced this one in his AIR studio on Montserrat1. The band from Melbourne was in a lot of turmoil at this time, having already lost their bassist and soon to lose their lead vocalist in tumultuous fashion. It was part of the last gasp of easy listening country-rock rushing up the charts.2 Soon, Thriller will be released and change everything.
It’s such a lovely song to sing. I’ve always loved the chorus lyrics:
Take it easy on me
It should be easy to see
I'm getting lost in a crowd
Hear me cryin' out loud
Just want you to know
I know that you have to go
It's all up to you but whatever you do
Take it easy on me
The bolded section has stayed with me. As someone who has had mostly unrequited love in her life, when I was younger it was a lifeline to sing. And now I appreciate the maturity of letting go gracefully.
Little River Band still tours today but with none of the original members, or even any Aussies. In 1988, some of the originals returned and set up a holding company with a new management team that held the rights to the name. The guitarist who joined them in 1981 ended up being the last man standing, and then when the original members wanted to tour and reference their history in starting the band, he took them to court. He has the name and while he doesn’t tour himself anymore, he has hired musicians to perform the songs.3
Enjoy your song of the day!
Read about its tragic story here. Or watch the great documentary.
If I’m wrong about this and it continued on, please let me know.
Such an amazing song, especially that bolded lyric! Gosh I love so many of their songs, despite never listening to any of their albums. I don’t know anything about the loss of the bassist or lead singer, will have to do some research on that.
Great song, great undersung band, easy to lose in the mists of time (and the pile of flashy music videos in MTV's '80s discard pile)! While I haven't spent any ink writing about LRB, I've sung a couple of their songs in karaoke a decade ago, and they are fun songs to sing, as you mentioned! I don't think I ever sang this one, but I know I did "Reminiscing" and "Lonesome Loser" (speaking of unrequited love as a life theme)!!!
Glenn Shorrock's tenor range was right in my wheelhouse, which made him fun to sing with no mechanical pitch altering and no straining! I got "introduced" to his LRB replacement, John Farnham, when my fave American Idol runner-up, David Archuleta, did Farnham's "You're the Voice" in 2008."
No one on the panel knew the song, of course, and when Randy Jackson mentioned that he thought it was "John Farnham from Australia," I think Simon managed a grunt. Here's David on that "AI" show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBLDSH4YPfA
I had seen David's turn on "Star Search" about 5 years before, and loved him even then. Thanks for the shout-out, yo!