Tim's version allows the lyric to come to the surface. The production fits the song/lyric - the cadence of the piano follows the lyric the way it should. The guitar gets in the way throughout and he would be better off dropping it entirely - the steel adds some nice things, but again, the guitar gets in the way of that. The harmonies in the chorus really help bring home the lyrical hook - and they sound great on the last verse.
Herb's version doesn't help the lyric. The cadence of the production goes against the cadence of the lyric and continues to build until it takes over the song. By the end there's no air. These lyrics don't have the strength to rise above that - saying nothing about the writing - it's about the words themselves. Some lyrics are built of strong words - Don Henley writes strong words - some are built on soft words - Jackson Browne typically writes using all soft words. This lyric is for the most part soft. You need a certain style of production to allow soft words to shine. The density of the heavy bass and the continual organ and fuzzy guitar and ride are too much for them - they get lost in the production...

It think if you could work together and combine your strengths you could turn this into a solid piece of work.

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