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| "Eagle" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single byABBA | ||||
| from the albumThe Album | ||||
| A-side | "Thank You for the Music" | |||
| Released | May 1978 | |||
| Recorded | June 1977 at Marcus Music Studio | |||
| Genre | Progressive rock,art rock | |||
| Length | 5:51 (Album Version) 4:25 (Short Version) 3:36 (7" Edit) | |||
| Label | Polar Music | |||
| Songwriters | Benny Andersson Björn Ulvaeus | |||
| Producers | Benny Andersson Björn Ulvaeus | |||
| ABBA singles chronology | ||||
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| Music video | ||||
| "Eagle" onYouTube | ||||
"Eagle" is a song recorded in 1977 by Swedish pop groupABBA. It was the opening track on their fifthstudio 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]
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"Eagle" was written and composed byBenny Andersson andBjörn 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, theEagles.[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 readingRichard Bach's 1970 novellaJonathan 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" bythe Human League.[4]
"Eagle" was not a major chart success. The major reason was that the song was already available onABBA: 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 It was for instance withdrawn as a single in the United States.[5] To make the song more radio-friendly it was heavily edited down from 5:51 to 4:25 by omitting an instrumental break and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.
The single was promoted with amusic video directed byLasse Hallström.[3] The track was inserted intoABBA: The Movie as a fantasy sequence, created using an effects machine caused a "flutter box" which had been developed for the 1978 filmSuperman.[6]
The original 4:25 single edit was issued on CD for the first time in 1993 on the compilationMore 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 ofABBA: The Album in 2009.
ABBA
| Chart (1978) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia (Kent Music Report)[7] | 82 |
| Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[8] | 17 |
| Germany (Media Control Charts) | 6 |
| Netherlands (Nationale Hitparade)[9] | 7 |
| Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[10] | 7 |
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