Fly Like an Eagle (song)

"Fly Like an Eagle"
Single by Steve Miller Band
from the album Fly Like an Eagle
Released	December 1976
Recorded	1976
Genre	Psychedelic rock
Length	3:00 (single version) 4:42 (album version)
Label	Capitol
Writer(s)	Steve Miller and Steve McCarty
Producer	Steve Miller
Steve Miller Band singles chronology
"Rock'n Me" (1976) "Fly Like an Eagle" (1977) "Jet Airliner" (1977)

"Fly Like an Eagle"
Single by Seal
from the album Space Jam soundtrack
B-side	Instrumental
Released	February 10, 1997
Recorded	September 1996
Genre	R&B, funk rock
Length	4:14
Label	ZTT / Warner Bros.
Writer(s)	Steve Miller
Producer	Rashad "Ringo" Smith
Seal singles chronology
"Don't Cry / Prayer for the Dying" (1996) "Fly Like an Eagle" (1997) "Human Beings" (1998)

"Fly Like an Eagle" is a song written by Steve Miller and by Steve Miller Band guitarist Steve McCarty for the album of the same name. The song 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".

Background

An earlier 1973 version of the song 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 main guitar hook in the song was first used in a slightly different form on Miller's 1969 track "My Dark Hour" (which featured Paul McCartney).

Cover versions

The song was sampled by Vanilla Ice for his single Rollin' in My 5.0. 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 1994. Steve Miller played some guitar parts on this version.

The artist Seal covered this song for the Space Jam soundtrack, even sampling Steve 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 2 on the Canadian RPM 100 Chart. The single was his first top ten since 1995's "Kiss from a Rose".

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.

Phish covered the song at its New Year's Eve show in the early minutes of January 1, 2013.

Lord Finesse Sampled this track

Xzibit and Nate Dogg samples this track on Been a Long Time.

Charts

End of year chart (1997)	Position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	79

Additional information

The song has also been used in advertisements by the United States Postal Service from 1998–2002, using the "Eagle" logo.^{[citation needed]}

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".