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Eagle (ABBA song)
1978 single by ABBA From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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"Eagle" is a song recorded in 1977 by Swedish pop group ABBA. It was the opening track on their fifth studio album, ABBA: The Album (1978), and at 5 minutes 51 seconds, the longest they ever released.[a] As the third and final official single from the album, it was issued in a limited number of territories.[b] These did not include the United States, where an intended release was cancelled, or United Kingdom.[1]
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (May 2008) |
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History
| This section needs additional citations for verification. (June 2020) |
"Eagle" was written and composed by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, who provided its music and its lyrics respectively, as a kind of tribute to a band that the two men admired at the time, the Eagles.[2] The recording, which commenced on 1 June 1977, had the working titles of "High, High" and "The Eagle."[citation needed] Ulvaeus said that with the lyrics, he was "trying to capture the sense of freedom and euphoria" that he got from reading Richard Bach's 1970 novella Jonathan Livingston Seagull.[3] In later years, music critics have hailed "Eagle" as one of ABBA's more outstanding tracks in terms of lyrics.[citation needed]
The track inspired the introduction to the 1981 song "Don't You Want Me" by the Human League.[4]
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Reception
"Eagle" was not a major chart success. The major reason was that the song was already available on ABBA: The Album;. Another was the limited release only in selected areas. It was for instance withdrawn as a single in the United States.[5] To make the song more radio-friendly it was heavily edited down from 5:51 to 4:25 by omitting an instrumental break and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 third chorus. In some countries like Australia, France, Spain, South Africa and Scandinavia it got a further 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 released on 18 May 1978 to fill the gap between the previous single, "Take a Chance on Me" and the next, a completely new track, eventually titled "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.
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Music video
The single was promoted with a music video directed by Lasse Hallström.[3] The track was inserted into ABBA: The Movie as a fantasy sequence, created using an effects machine caused a "flutter box" which had been developed for the 1978 film Superman.[6]
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 Hits. However, for the 1999 re-release of this album, plus subsequent releases, a new version based on the 1980 edit was created. Unfortunately, this edit left 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 ABBA: The Album in 2009.
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Personnel
ABBA
- Agnetha Fältskog – lead and backing vocals
- Anni-Frid Lyngstad – lead and backing vocals
- Björn Ulvaeus – backing vocals, acoustic rhythm guitar
- Benny Andersson – backing vocals, keyboards
- Additional personnel and production staff
- Janne Schaffer – lead guitar
- Lasse Wellander – lead guitar
- Rutger Gunnarsson – bass
- Ola Brunkert – drums
- Malando Gassama – percussion
Charts
Notes
- The Day Before You Came" (1982) is one second shorter.
- In Belgium, France, and the Netherlands, it was as a double A-side with "Thank You for the Music".
References
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