The eagle was a busy bird in the 1970s. From the name of the decade’s foremost country-rock band to the title of Abba’s longest song,its connotations of power, flight and freedom were potent symbols in rock and pop’s post-hippy decade. Musicians everywhere wanted to appropriate the bird of prey, despite or even sometimes because of its libertarian and rightwing political associations.
“Fly Like an Eagle”,the 1976 single from The Steve Miller Band album of the same name, was a huge hit. Kept off the top spot on its long stay in the US charts by Barbra Streisand’s “Evergreen”, the song was the most influential of a number of ’70s paeans to this iconic creature.
The early covers were by Miller himself. Like many of the American guitarist and singer’s songs, it had a long evolution into its most recognisable form. A rockier, synth-free version that was a live favourite had itself been retooled from the pysch-blues of “My Dark Hour”,which the band recorded with Paul McCartney for the 1969 album Brave New World. That version was conceived as a political statement, written from the perspective of Native Americans and with social justice in mind, Miller having seen the effects of recession in American cities. Augmented by a Roland SH-200 synth fed through an Echoplex effects unit, the later version shows the influence of the organ-heavy “Slippin’ into Darkness”by War.
For artists in the 1970s, the flipside of flying high, in some cases no doubt chemically aided, was the hard landing. This was reflected in the lyrics of John Denver's 1975 “Looking for Space”,: “Sometimes I fly like an eagle / And sometimes I’m deep in despair.” Boz Scaggs, Miller’s childhood musical partner, recorded “Fly Like a Bird”in the 1990s — the key line was: “Sometimes I cry, sometimes I fly like a bird.”
So what does Miller’s “Eagle” represent? On lyric interpretation websites, skydiving, a euphoric drug experience and astral projection are all suggested. Having taken a break from touring, Miller did not want to preach so much and preferred universalist sentiments. For Miller, who channelled his musicianship into a string of catchy, radio-friendly hits — the “dorm-rock” anthems of “Abracadabra” and “The Joker” — the notion of “whatever works” has long held true.
Welsh rockers Stereophonics recently did their own “Fly Like an Eagle”.On the surface, Kelly Jones’s lyrics seem meaningless but it’s about his daughter coming out as gay — that flight to safety and freedom, the search for positive change, again.
Successful covers are relatively thin on the ground. Seal’s version,released in 1996, sold well, both as a single and as part of the Space Jam soundtrack. The Neville Brothersreleased the song’s inner funk in a 1992 cover on which Miller played guest parts — try Masters at Work’s spacey dubfrom the 12-inch release. Of the many appropriations of either the riffs or lyrics in hip-hop, Biz Markie’s 1987 “Nobody Beats the Biz”— probably the first in the genre to sample it — remains the most effective.
But it is the Space Lady,for decades famous locally as an accordion and synth-playing busker on the streets of San Francisco, who really takes the song into orbit. This outsider artist, real name Susan Dietrich Schneider, sees the song as a call for solidarity: “What it has always meant to me is finding release from the woes of earthly existence through compassion, and the joy of caring and providing for others less fortunate,” she says.
The Space Lady is now relocated to the rural Colorado environs where she grew up; her repertoire now extends back to the flower-power songs of the late 1960s, though she still plays “Fly Like an Eagle” too.
Linked by such a universal song of freedom, perhaps the distance to travel between Miller, an industry grandee who was inducted into rock’s Hall of Fame in 2016, and the Space Lady, a free spirit who performs wearing a silver plastic helmet with white wings and a flashing red light on top, is not so far at all.
What are your memories of ‘Fly Like an Eagle’? Let us know in the comments section below.
‘The Life of a Song Volume 2: The fascinating stories behind 50 more of the world’s best-loved songs’, edited by David Cheal and Jan Dalley, is published by Brewer’s.
Music credits: Polydor Records; UMC (Universal Music Catalogue); Far Out Productions; RCA/Legacy; Virgin Records America; Parlophone UK; Rhino Atlantic; Cold Chilin'; Night School
Picture credit: RB/Redferns