Browne himself recorded the song on his 1973 For Everyman LP, with an arrangement written by Gregg Allman (who also covered it around the same time on his Laid Back debut solo set). Browne's version differed from Nico's both in style and lyrics. In the latter case several lines were changed or omitted, such as a couple of lyrics about "rambling" and "gambling." This song has continued to be covered by a number of acts including Fountains of Wayne who used it as the B-side of their 1999 single "Troubled Times."

Browne was very young when he wrote this song, but even then, he had a feel for heartbreak. Talking in a radio interview about the first breakup one endures, he said, "That came be the most formative time in your life. Trying to get through your early years is a harrowing experience for a lot of people."

Nico's version of the song has the original lyric:

I've stopped my dreaming
I won't do too much scheming

When Browne released his version, he changed it to the much more hopeful:

I'll keep on moving, moving on
Things are bound to be improving these days

"Over the rest of my teenage years and into my 20s I developed a kind of optimism, a kind of resoluteness, so I changed it to 'I'll keep on moving, keep improving,'" he said. "That's more to me what life is made of, the idea that I'll get through this, I'll continue looking."

Nico's version featured in the 2001 film The Royal Tenenbaums. Browne later recalled on KGSR Radio Austin that he'd forgotten that he'd licensed them to use this song. He explained: "This is one of those things that comes to you in the mail and you don't know what they're talking about and you simply give them their permission. You're sitting in the movie theater and there's this great moment when Gwyneth Paltrow is coming out of a bus or something like that. I'm thinking to myself, I used to play the guitar just like that. And then the voice comes on and it's Nico singing 'These Days,' which I played on." (Knowledge courtesy of Songfacts.com)