The Sammy Hagar song that could have been on a Van Halen record
Eddie Van Halen may have been the principal songwriter in Van Halen, but that doesn’t mean other members didn’t contribute heavily to the band’s now-iconic discography.
In fact, there are some songs which never made it to the VH discography, only for the band to regret the decision later when they were released outside of the Van Halen brand.
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Eagles Fly – which ultimately appeared on Sammy Hagar’s 1987 album I Never Said Goodbye – was one such track.
“When I sing Eagles Fly, it’s about being born,” Hagar tells Total Rock in a new interview discussing his massive body of solo work [via Guitar World].
“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.”
He continues, “I showed him [Alex Van Halen] that song, and Eddie’s going, ‘Wow, wow, wow.’ And Alex goes, ‘Yeah, yeah. It sounds like John Denver; it’s cool.’”
The singer says that Alex Van Halen wasn’t too keen on Hagar writing songs for Van Halen, and preferred to let guitarist Eddie Van Halen do most of the legwork when it came to the music.
Eddie Van Halen ultimately ended up playing the solo on Eagles Fly – in addition to co-producing the entire album – and when Alex heard the track for the first time in all its glory, he wondered why he never approved it as a Van Halen song.
“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!’” Hagar says.
“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!”
Listen to Eagles Fly below.
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
