Sammy Hagar recently talked about his favorite song to sing, “Eagles Fly” and revealed the story behind the track in an interview shared on TotalRock.
The rock legend discussed how “Eagles Fly,” featured on his 1987 solo album I Never Said Goodbye, was originally passed over by Van Halen. Alex Van Halen later regretted that decision.
Hagar said, “When I sing ‘Eagles Fly,’ it’s about being born. And once again, I had a vision. It wasn’t a dream. I was wide awake, and I had a feeling in a special place. I was in a special place. And when I wrote that song…When I played that song, Eddie Van Halen said, ‘Wow.’”
Hagar further explained that the internal band dynamics at the time. He noted that Alex Van Halen had reservations about him contributing original compositions to the group.
Hagar continued, “And he played bass on it when I recorded it. Eddie loved it. And I remember Alex Van Halen at the time, who wasn’t about me coming in the second album…we did ‘fifty one fifty’ then I made a record with that song on it, and Alex wasn’t about me writing songs for Van Halen. He was about his brother writing the music, and me writing the lyrics and the vocals.
Hagar also recalled how Alex’s earlier dismissal turned into regret once the song was released.
Hagar said, “So, I showed him that song, and Eddie’s going, ‘Wow, wow, wow.’ And Alex goes, ‘Yeah, yeah. It sounds like John Denver, it’s cool.’ Moved on. And when it came out, and we finished my solo record, Alex heard it, and he goes, ‘Hey, why the fuck didn’t we put that on a Van Halen record. I went, ‘Well, Al, if you don’t remember, I can remember you said it sounded like John Denver,’ because I was playing it on acoustic guitar.”
