Browne signed with David Geffen's Asylum label in 1971. In fact, Geffen's desire to show Browne's talent to the world is a major reason he launched Asylum, which would become home to the Eagles, Joni Mitchell, Tom Waits and others. Browne's first three albums—Saturate Before Using (1972), For Everyman (1973) and Late for the Sky (1974)—are confessional singer-songwriter classics. From the outset he paid careful attention to the melding of words and music. Browne wasn't a folk purist, and songs like "Doctor My Eyes"—his first single and a Top Ten hit—rocked out in a rolling, Southern California way. Yet his early lyrics took a more genteel, eloquent and even courtly approach than the pop norm. "It was my literary period," Browne told Rolling Stone. "Long-form rambling songs in iambic pentameter with the run-on philosophical attitude. I was searching bleary-eyed for God in the crowds."
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