Doctor My Eyes

Jackson Browne cut "Doctor My Eyes" for his debut album in the summer of 1971, nearly a year and a half after first recording a demo of it for Criterion Music in early 1971. The original demo was a bleak piece, but Browne revised the lyric before the album session, discarding the most pessimistic lines. The finished version told of a man who had stoically endured life's hardships and now worried he could no longer feel anything, though the ending remained ambiguous. A bridge and third verse were dropped for the album recording, and those lost lyrics survive only on circulating bootlegs of the demo.

The record took on a very different character from the demo. Russ Kunkel played drums and Leland Sklar played bass over a lively 4/4 beat with congas, while Jesse Ed Davis contributed electric guitar, including a much-lauded solo. David Crosby and Graham Nash added backing harmonies that gave the words an emotional edge. The upbeat piano riff and arrangement worked against the desperate message in the lyrics, giving the track a paradoxical feel.

The single debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 80 in spring 1972 and climbed to number 8, while reaching number four in Canada. Browne would not return to the American top 10 until "Somebody's Baby" a decade later. Glenn Frey, who lived in an adjacent apartment while Browne worked on the song over several months, heard him playing piano through the walls every morning, a routine he and JD Souther later described in the 2013 documentary History of the Eagles.