Fly Like an Eagle (song)



"Fly Like an Eagle" is a song written by Steve Miller for the album of the same name. It went to number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart during the week of March 12, 1977, kept from the top spot by "Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born)" by Barbra Streisand. The single edit can be found on Greatest Hits (1974–1978). The song has an unusually mellow and "dreamy" feel. It is usually played in tandem with "Space Intro", but the song also segues into "Wild Mountain Honey".

Background
The band first performed the song in 1973 for the concert at New York City's Felt Forum venue with The Marshall Tucker Band, Buddy Guy and Junior Wells. It was re-recorded for the eponymous album released in 1976.

An earlier 1973 version features a more bluesy and less funk-inspired rhythm, and guitar taking the synthesizer parts (albeit with similar delay effects). The lyrics are slightly different, indicating that the place the eagle wants to fly away from is a Native American reservation. The final, funk-inspired album version pays homage to "Slippin' into Darkness" by War (1971).

The main guitar hook was first used in a slightly different form on Miller's 1969 track "My Dark Hour" (which featured Paul McCartney).

Reception
The original Steve Miller Band version sold over one million copies. The Seal version sold over 300,000 units as of April 5, 1997, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Personnel

 * Steve Miller — lead vocals, guitar, ARP Odyssey
 * Lonnie Turner — bass
 * Gary Mallaber — drums
 * Joachim Young — B3 organ

Seal version
Twenty years after Steve Miller's original version, British artist Seal covered "Fly Like an Eagle" for the Space Jam soundtrack, even sampling Miller's original "Space Intro" parts in the song's chorus. This version peaked at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 13 on the UK Singles Chart and number two on the Canadian RPM 100 Chart. The single was his first (and, as of 2017, his last) top ten since 1995's "Kiss from a Rose".

Background
According to Seal, the executive producer of the Space Jam soundtrack, Dominique Trenier, asked him to record it. D'Angelo, who was managed by Trenier, played keyboards on the song. Seal has said that Steve Miller approved of the cover version and at one point called him "thanking me and saying that was the best cover of the song that he had heard."

Other cover versions

 * Biz Markie samples the song in his 1986 song, "Nobody Beats the Biz", that was released on his debut album Goin' Off (1988).
 * EPMD sampled the song in the song, "You're A Customer", from the album Strictly Business (1988).
 * The British dance project Habit released a groovy version of the song as a single (1990) and on their album "Precious" (1991).
 * The song was sampled by Vanilla Ice for his single "Rollin' in My 5.0" (1991). Ice has performed "Fly Like an Eagle" as a guest performer during Steve Miller Band shows.
 * The Neville Brothers covered this song on their album Family Groove in 1992. Steve Miller played some guitar parts on this version.
 * Religious gospel singer Yolanda Adams covered the song and did the medley from her 1995 album, More Than a Melody.
 * Polvo covered the song live, introducing it with 'This is a song about blatant localism'.
 * In 1998, guitarist Ed Hamilton covered the song from his album Groovology.
 * American nu metal band Limp Bizkit reference the song's hook on their song "Crushed", which featured on the soundtrack of the film End of Days (1999).
 * City High sampled the song in their unreleased remix of the song "City High Anthem" in 2002.
 * Phish covered the song at its New Year's Eve show in the early minutes of January 1, 2013.
 * Lord Finesse sampled this track.
 * A part of the vocals was sampled by Nate Dogg in Xzibit's song "Been a Long Time" on the album Restless (2000).
 * Portugal. The Man covered the song for the French radio station Mouv'.

Additional information

 * The song has also been used in advertisements by the United States Postal Service from 1998 to 2002, using the "Eagle" logo.
 * The song is featured as a playable song in Rock Band 3.
 * In 2012, "Fly Like an Eagle" was chosen as "the best-ever song about birds" by Birds & Blooms magazine. "We’re not at all surprised by the popularity of Steve Miller's Fly Like An Eagle with our readers," said Birds & Blooms' editor Stacy Tornio in a press release. "It’s an iconic song for the iconic American bird." Other notable songs on the Birds & Blooms list were Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird" and the Beatles' "Blackbird".
 * The synthesizer solo and subsequent faint beeping at the song's ending were used in severe weather warnings broadcast by WFLD, a television station in Chicago.
 * The name of the Futurama episode "Time Keeps On Slippin'" comes from a line in the song.