Eagle (song)
Encyclopedia
The song "Eagle" was recorded in 1977 by Swedish pop group ABBA
. It was the first track on the group's fifth album, simply titled The Album and the longest track they ever recorded (at 5:51, 1 second longer than "The Day Before You Came
" at 5:50). This was the third and last official single from "The Album, and was released only in a limited number of territories with "Thank You for the Music
" as the B-side. The song was not released as a single in the UK or US. The song has certain common denominators with E.L.O.
's "Laredo Tornado" which appears on their 1974 album Eldorado
.
and Björn Ulvaeus
, with Agnetha Fältskog
and Anni-Frid Lyngstad
sharing the lead vocals. The recording, which commenced on June 1, 1977, had the working titles of "High, High" and "The Eagle". Lyricist Ulvaeus was inspired by Richard Bach
's novel Jonathan Livingston Seagull
when he wrote the lyrics for this song. In later years, music critics have hailed "Eagle" as one of ABBA's more outstanding tracks in terms of lyrics, and there is some debate over whether the song is also a tribute to the Eagles, a group that was popular in the 1970s, or simply an ode to the freedom of flight that these birds of prey possess.
, Austria
, Belgium
(where it did top the charts), France
, West Germany
, the Netherlands
, Switzerland
. To make the song more radio-friendly it was heavily edited down from 5:51 to 4:25 by omitting an instrumental break and the 3rd chorus. Australia and France even got an edit from the edit, with the song fading shortly after the 2nd chorus making it last just 3:33, 2:18 shorter than the album version. The single was promoted with a music video
by Lasse Hallström
, while an earlier, much more interesting video in terms of special effects was included as a part of ABBA: The Movie
.
The single was released in May 1978 to fill the gap between the previous single, "Take a Chance on Me
" & the next, a completely new track, eventually called "Summer Night City
". The B-side of "Eagle", "Thank You for the Music
", was later released as a single outright in a few countries after the group had disbanded, namely in the UK
, where "Eagle" had not been released as a single.
. However, for the 1999 re-release of this album, plus subsequent releases, a new version based on the 1978 edit was created. Unfortunately this edit missed out a vital instrumental-only section at the end of the second chorus prior to the closing instrumental, thereby sounding disjointed. The original edit (or at least an exact re-creation of it) was finally issued again on the deluxe version of The Album in 2007.
ABBA
ABBA was a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1970 which consisted of Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Agnetha Fältskog...
. It was the first track on the group's fifth album, simply titled The Album and the longest track they ever recorded (at 5:51, 1 second longer than "The Day Before You Came
The Day Before You Came
"The Day Before You Came" is a song recorded and released by Swedish pop group ABBA. It was originally released in October 1982, as the first new song from ABBA's double compilation album The Singles: The First Ten Years...
" at 5:50). This was the third and last official single from "The Album, and was released only in a limited number of territories with "Thank You for the Music
Thank You for the Music
"Thank You for the Music" is a song by the Swedish pop group ABBA. It was originally featured on the group's fifth studio album ABBA: The Album and was released as a single on November 6, 1983, to promote the Epic Records compilation album Thank You for the Music: A Collection of Love Songs...
" as the B-side. The song was not released as a single in the UK or US. The song has certain common denominators with E.L.O.
Electric Light Orchestra
Electric Light Orchestra were a British rock group from Birmingham who released eleven studio albums between 1971 and 1986 and another album in 2001. ELO were formed to accommodate Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne's desire to create modern rock and pop songs with classical overtones...
's "Laredo Tornado" which appears on their 1974 album Eldorado
Eldorado (Electric Light Orchestra album)
Eldorado - A Symphony By The Electric Light Orchestra is the fourth studio album by the Electric Light Orchestra, released in 1974.-Concept:...
.
History
"Eagle" was written by Benny AnderssonBenny Andersson
Göran Bror "Benny" Andersson is a Swedish musician, composer, a former member of the Swedish musical group ABBA , and co-composer of the musicals Chess, Kristina från Duvemåla, and Mamma Mia!...
and Björn Ulvaeus
Björn Ulvaeus
Björn Kristian Ulvaeus is a Swedish songwriter, composer, musician, writer, producer, a former member of the Swedish musical group ABBA , and co-composer of the musicals Chess, Kristina från Duvemåla, and Mamma Mia!...
, with Agnetha Fältskog
Agnetha Fältskog
Agnetha Åse Fältskog is a Swedish recording artist. She achieved success in Sweden after the release of her début album Agnetha Fältskog in 1968, and reached international stardom as a member of the pop group ABBA, which to date has sold over 375 million records worldwide, making it the fourth...
and Anni-Frid Lyngstad
Anni-Frid Lyngstad
Anni-Frid Prinzessin Reuss von Plauen , is a Norwegian-born Swedish pop singer...
sharing the lead vocals. The recording, which commenced on June 1, 1977, had the working titles of "High, High" and "The Eagle". Lyricist Ulvaeus was inspired by Richard Bach
Richard Bach
Richard David Bach is an American writer. He is widely known as the author of the hugely popular 1970s best-sellers Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah, and others. His books espouse his philosophy that our apparent physical limits and mortality are merely...
's novel Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Jonathan Livingston Seagull, written by Richard Bach, is a fable in novella form about a seagull learning about life and flight, and a homily about self-perfection...
when he wrote the lyrics for this song. In later years, music critics have hailed "Eagle" as one of ABBA's more outstanding tracks in terms of lyrics, and there is some debate over whether the song is also a tribute to the Eagles, a group that was popular in the 1970s, or simply an ode to the freedom of flight that these birds of prey possess.
Reception
"Eagle" was not a major success on the charts. One reason was that the song was already available on The Album, another was the limited release only in countries like AustraliaAustralia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
(where it did top the charts), France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
, the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. To make the song more radio-friendly it was heavily edited down from 5:51 to 4:25 by omitting an instrumental break and the 3rd chorus. Australia and France even got an edit from the edit, with the song fading shortly after the 2nd chorus making it last just 3:33, 2:18 shorter than the album version. The single was promoted with a music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
by Lasse Hallström
Lasse Hallström
Lars Sven "Lasse" Hallström is a Swedish film director. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director for My Life as a Dog and later for The Cider House Rules .-Life and career:...
, while an earlier, much more interesting video in terms of special effects was included as a part of ABBA: The Movie
ABBA: The Movie
ABBA: The Movie is a 1977 film about the pop group ABBA's Australian tour. It was directed by Lasse Hallström, who directed most of the group's videos. The film has become a cult film among ABBA fans...
.
The single was released in May 1978 to fill the gap between the previous single, "Take a Chance on Me
Take a Chance on Me
"Take a Chance on Me" is a song by the Swedish pop group ABBA. It was released in 1978 as the second single from their fifth studio album, simply called The Album. The song has been featured on a number of ABBA compilations such as ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits.-History:The working title of "Take a...
" & the next, a completely new track, eventually called "Summer Night City
Summer Night City
"Summer Night City", written by Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, is ABBA's 2nd non-album single, released on September 6, 1978. It was originally intended as the lead single from the group's upcoming Voulez-Vous album, but was eventually not included...
". The B-side of "Eagle", "Thank You for the Music
Thank You for the Music
"Thank You for the Music" is a song by the Swedish pop group ABBA. It was originally featured on the group's fifth studio album ABBA: The Album and was released as a single on November 6, 1983, to promote the Epic Records compilation album Thank You for the Music: A Collection of Love Songs...
", was later released as a single outright in a few countries after the group had disbanded, namely in the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, where "Eagle" had not been released as a single.
1999 re-edit
The original 4:25 single edit was issued on CD for the first time in 1993 on the compilation More ABBA Gold: More ABBA HitsMore ABBA Gold: More ABBA Hits
More ABBA Gold: More ABBA Hits is compilation album by Swedish pop group ABBA. Released in 1993, it was the follow-up to the highly successful ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits, released the previous year, and went on to sell 3 million copies....
. However, for the 1999 re-release of this album, plus subsequent releases, a new version based on the 1978 edit was created. Unfortunately this edit missed out a vital instrumental-only section at the end of the second chorus prior to the closing instrumental, thereby sounding disjointed. The original edit (or at least an exact re-creation of it) was finally issued again on the deluxe version of The Album in 2007.
Chart positions
| Chart | Position |
|---|---|
| Australian Singles Chart ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
82 |
| Austrian Singles Chart Ö3 Austria Top 40 Ö3 Austria Top 40 is the name of the official Austrian singles chart, as well as the radio show which presents it, aired Fridays on Hitradio Ö3. The show presents the Austrian singles, ringtones and downloads chart. It premiered on 26 November 1968 as Disc Parade and was presented by Ernst Grissemann... |
17 |
| Belgian Singles Chart | 1 |
| Dutch Singles Chart Dutch Top 40 The Dutch Top 40 is a weekly music chart, which started as the "Veronica Top 40", because the offshore radio station Radio Veronica was the first to introduce it. It remained "The Veronica Top 40" until 1974, when the station was forced to stop broadcasting... |
4 |
| French Singles Chart | 36 |
| German Singles Chart Media Control Charts The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie... |
6 |
| South Africa | 2 |
| Swiss Singles Chart Swiss Music Charts The Swiss Music Charts are Switzerland's main music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland.The Swiss Charts include:* Singles Top 75... |
7 |
Cover versions
- Swedish raggaRagga-Origins:Ragga originated in Jamaica during the 1980s, at the same time that electronic dance music's popularity was increasing globally. One of the reasons for ragga's swift propagation is that it is generally easier and less expensive to produce than reggae performed on traditional musical...
/dancehallDancehallDancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s. In the mid-1980s, digital instrumentation became more prevalent, changing the sound considerably,...
artist Papa DeePapa DeeDavid Christopher Daniel Wahlgren , better known by the stage name Papa Dee, is a Swedish rap, ragga and dancehall musician...
recorded a cover of the song for the 1992 compilation ABBA: The Tribute. - The song was covered by ABBA tribute pop group Arrival on their 1999 album First Flight.
- Christian heavy metal musician Rob RockRob RockRobert Rock is a heavy metal singer and songwriter. He is best known for being the lead singer of the band Impellitteri from 1992 to 2000, and now in 2008. He has also released four albums as a solo artist.-Biography:...
recorded a rendition of the song for his 2000 album Rage of CreationRage of CreationRage of Creation is a heavy metal album by Rob Rock. It is his first album as a solo artist and was released on July 26, 2000 in Japan with 12 tracks. It was not released outside of Japan until four months later on November 27, 2000 however with a missing track...
. - A heavy metalHeavy metal musicHeavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
cover of "Eagle" by German band Sargant Fury was included on the 2001 tribute album ABBAMetal (also released as A Tribute to ABBAA Tribute to ABBA-External links:* on Nuclear Blast...
). - Finnish rock band YUPYUP (band)YUP is a Finnish rock-music group. The band arose amongst three students of the Savonlinna senior high of arts in 1987 and played some rather primitive, progressive hard-core punk with English lyrics...
included a cover of the song as a hidden track on their 2001 greatest hits compilation Hajota ja hallitse 1993-2001. - Almighty RecordsAlmighty RecordsAlmighty Records is a British recording label and remix production team founded in 1989, releasing their first single in the same year. Producing mainly Dance-Pop and Hi-NRG music, the label is best known for releasing remakes and remixes of mainstream pop songs...
released a dance version of the song by Abbacadabra in the late 1990s. It was most recently included on the 2008 compilation We Love ABBA: The Mamma Mia Dance Compilation. Audio samples can be heard on the official Almighty Records website. - Swedish heavy metal band BlackMountain Projects recorded a cover of the song. An audio sample can be heard on their official MySpaceMySpaceMyspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
page. - British ABBA heavy metalHeavy metal musicHeavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
tribute group Abbatoir recorded a cover of the song. An audio sample can be found on their official MySpaceMySpaceMyspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
page. - American Indie-Gospel band Danielson recorded a cover version on their 2009 7 inch single, Moment Soakers.
Appearances in other media
- The original ABBAABBAABBA was a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1970 which consisted of Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Agnetha Fältskog...
recording features in the film ABBA: The MovieABBA: The MovieABBA: The Movie is a 1977 film about the pop group ABBA's Australian tour. It was directed by Lasse Hallström, who directed most of the group's videos. The film has become a cult film among ABBA fans...
(1977).