Easy Livin'

Album: Demons And Wizards (1972)
Charted: 39
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Songfacts®:

  • "Easy Livin" has long been a fun-time party song, a go-to for small-town cover bands on Saturday nights, sure to win over the crowds. It makes sense, as the lyrics seem to about living a comfortable, stress-free life. Like Joe Walsh's "Life's Been Good" and Dire Straits' "Money For Nothing," however, the song is actually meant to be ironic.

    Uriah Heep member Ken Hensley, who wrote this and most of the band's biggest songs, talked to Songfacts about the inspiration for this one.

    "After a few long days in the studio, some of us were sharing a taxi home, and the conversation drifted to the fact that most people see our lives as easy. That we just show up at a venue, play, collect a million dollars and go home!"

    The words "life" and "easy" stuck in Hensley's mind, and that night when he got back to his flat, he wrote "Easy Livin" in "about 15 minutes."
  • Hensley had no idea that "Easy Livin" would be such a hit. He told Songfacts, "I knew we had a great song for the band and it translated into a great live song but, since I never wrote (nor write) with a particular 'destination' in mind, I hardly ever considered that a song may succeed to any extent at all."
  • This was the only Uriah Heep song to crack the Top 40 in the United States. It was an even bigger hit in the Netherlands and Finland, two countries that proved to be longtime bastions of Heep fandom.
  • There's a live version of the song on the 1988 album Live in Moscow that was released as a single in the UK.

Comments: 7

  • Devil Dan from PurgatoryThe ACTUAL WRITERS OF THE SONG said its a farce about being in a rock band being easy with little work. It's irony. Butt make it what you want it to be. Many faithful do that with other things..... a lot.
  • Keith The Elder from Uncanny ValleyI think it is similar to the “Footprints in the Sand” story
  • Harry Lime from Usa WncNo question. This song is about the "easy living" that comes from the Salvation from Jesus. Maybe never easy, but easier if you have inner strength from Him. BTW, Mick Box is the most underrated rock guitarist. Just listen to Salisbury.
  • Im A Believer from This WorldAmen, Brothers and Sisters!
  • Believer from Planet EarthAnonymous I think nails it on the head peace. I've been forgiven since you taken you're place in my heart Thank you Lord.
  • AnonymousA song of salvation!
  • Bill from UsAnd lets not forget the guitar work of Mick Box on any of these songs.
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