Fly Like an Eagle (song)

"Fly Like an Eagle" is a song written by American musician

History

The band first performed the song in 1973^[5] while performing at New York City's Felt Forum on a bill with The Marshall Tucker Band, Buddy Guy, and Junior Wells.^[6]

An earlier 1973 version features a more

It was re-recorded for the eponymous album released in 1976.^[5]

The intro riff 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.^[8] The Seal version had sold over 300,000 units as of April 5, 1997.^[9]

• In 1998, the United States Postal Service used the song in television commercials.^[12]

Personnel

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

Charts

Seal version

Twenty years after Miller's original version, English singer

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 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."^[21]

Critical reception

• Seal – vocals, guitar, producer
• Earl Harvin – drums
• Armando Colon – bass guitar, keyboards
• D'Angelo – keyboards
• Nile Rodgers – guitar
• Rashad Smith – additional production
• Tim Weidner – engineer, mixing
• Glen Marchese – additional engineering
• Paul Falcone – assistant engineer
• Greg Thompson, Rob Feeney, David Goodermouth – additional assistant engineers

Charts

Other cover versions

• Biz Markie sampled the song in his 1986 song, "Nobody Beats the Biz", that was released on his debut album Goin' Off (1988).
• Vanilla Ice sampled the song in his 1991 single “Rollin’ in my 5.0”.
• 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 Neville Brothers covered this song on their album Family Groove in 1992. Steve Miller played some guitar parts on this version.
• Deion Sanders, a former football and baseball player, sampled the song in his song “Prime Time Keeps On Ticking” from his album Prime Time (1994).
• Gospel singer Yolanda Adams covered the song and did the medley from her studio album More Than a Melody (1995).
• In 1998, guitarist Ed Hamilton covered the song from his album Groovology.^[49][50]
• American nu metal band Limp Bizkit reference the song's hook on their song "Crushed", which is featured on the soundtrack of the film End of Days (1999).
• A vocal part 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'.
• American metal band In This Moment covered the song for their seventh album Mother.
• Thundercat covered the song on the soundtrack of the film Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022).

Additional information

• The song is featured as a playable song in Rock Band 3.^[51]
• 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".^[52]

References