Alright, I've been thinking about this all week, and like Al Stewart's classic track (sorry, spires), this song MUST be on this playlist to give us "the playlist the year deserves" to quote the correct 1.
But what if I could tie in the AOR classic rock song in with the punk rockers given the recent banter on the last few pages? Well, that would be truly special as The Church Lady would say on a Sunday.
So for Rob and many of us, I'll put this out here and hope I hit the right track, because there is many to love off Miller's classic 1976 album. After just moving to the Philly region that year, you couldn't escape this song being a Philadelphia Eagles fans favourite, and was a constant FM radio staple in that market as a result. "Rocky" united the city in 1976 and took Elton John's 1975 song I nominated for the last playlist of "Philadelphia Freedom" to the next level as well, but this song with that organ seemed other worldly and a musical breakthrough to me.
Though the song was often linked to drug use and "flying high", I and many always looked at this based on the lyrics about having the power within people to rise above, to help one another, in the midst of the passing of time, to make things better for those around you. To seek freedom as the soaring eagle does.
Oh, oh there’s a solution...
And here comes the link - the guitar riffs on this song were pulled from Miller’s 1966 song “My Dark Hour,” which was co-written with and features Paul McCartney on backing vocals, guitar, bass, and drums. However that earlier song was credited as "Paul Ramon", a name McCartney often used to check into hotels. And of course that pseudonym is what was used to also inspire punk pioneers The Ramones their band name and with everyone taking on that last name in their releases.
So, here it is, the title track (a 3rd for me this week, I might add ;) to Steve Miller's truly breakthrough album where 6 tracks would appear on his highly successful GHs 74-78 album. You can't deny the Hammond B3 organ on this song as it takes center stage.
"Fly Like An Eagle" - Steve Miller Band
Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin', into the future