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"Eagle" is a song that was recorded in 1977 by the Swedish pop group ABBA. It was the first track on the group's fifth album, ABBA: The Album, in terms of the album's sequence of songs, and the longest track they ever recorded (at 5:51, 1 second longer than "The Day Before You Came" at 5:50). The third and last official single from ABBA: The Album, it was released only in a limited number of territories as a single and in France as a double A-side with "Thank You for the Music." "Eagle" was not released as a single in the United Kingdom. It was intended to be a U.S. single, but was withdrawn.[1]

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"Eagle"
Single by ABBA
from the album The Album
A-side	"Thank You for the Music"
Released	18 May 1978
Recorded	1 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
Songwriter(s)	Benny Andersson Björn Ulvaeus
Producer(s)	Benny Andersson Björn Ulvaeus
ABBA singles chronology
"Take a Chance on Me" (1978) "Eagle" / "Thank You for the Music" (1978) "Summer Night City" (1978)
Music video
"Eagle" on YouTube

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." Lyricist Ulvaeus was inspired by Richard Bach's 1970 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.

Reception

"Eagle" was not a major success on the charts. One reason was that the song was already available on ABBA: The Album; another was the limited release only in countries like Australia, Austria, Belgium (where it did top the charts), France, West Germany, the Netherlands and 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 third chorus. Australia and France 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. It was withdrawn as a single in the United States.[3]

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.

Music video

The single was promoted with a music video directed by Lasse Hallström, while an earlier, much more interesting video in terms of special effects was included as a part of ABBA: The Movie.

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.

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

Chart (1978)	Peak position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[4]	82
	Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[5]	17
	Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[6]	7
West Germany (Media Control Charts)	6

Cover versions

• The Swedish ragga/dancehall artist Papa Dee recorded a cover of the song for the 1992 compilation ABBA: The Tribute.
• The English punk rock band Leatherface released a cover of the song as a single in 1992.
• The song was covered by ABBA tribute pop group Arrival on their 1999 album First Flight.
• The American Christian heavy metal musician Rob Rock recorded a rendition of the song for his 2000 album Rage of Creation.
• The song was covered by the German heavy metal band Sargant Fury on their 1993 album Little Fish and also included on the 2001 tribute album ABBAMetal, which was also released as A Tribute to ABBA.
• The Finnish rock band YUP included a cover of the song as a hidden track on their 2001 greatest hits compilation Hajota ja hallitse 1993–2001.
• The American indie-gospel band Danielson recorded a cover version on their 2009 7-inch single, "Moment Soakers."[7]

Appearances in other media

• The original ABBA recording features in the film ABBA: The Movie, which was released in 1977.

References

На других языках

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[de] Eagle (Lied)

Eagle ist ein Song der Popgruppe ABBA aus dem Jahr 1977. Er wurde von Benny Andersson und Björn Ulvaeus geschrieben. Mit einer Spieldauer von fünf Minuten und 51 Sekunden ist das Stück der längste aller ABBA-Songs. Die Lead Vocals werden von Agnetha Fältskog und Anni-Frid Lyngstad gesungen. Der Text handelt von der Freiheit eines Adlers.

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- [en] Eagle (song)

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[es] Eagle (canción)

«Eagle» (en español: «águila») es una canción y un sencillo que publicó el grupo sueco ABBA. Cabe mencionar que esta es la canción más larga que grabó el grupo (5:51, un segundo más que «The Day Before You Came» con 5:50).

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[it] Eagle (singolo)

Eagle è un singolo degli ABBA del 1978, registrato nel 1977, tratto da The Album ed è la prima traccia dell'album. È il più lungo singolo registrato degli ABBA.

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[ru] Eagle (песня)

Песня «Eagle» была записана шведской группой ABBA в 1977 году. Она стала первой из подготовленных для записи пятого студийного альбома группы (The Album), а также самой длительной песней из записанных ими (длина записи — 5 минут 51 секунда, секундой больше, чем «The Day Before You Came» — 5:50). Композиция была выпущена в немногих странах вместе с «Thank You for the Music» в качестве второй стороны.

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