In a new ‘Storytime’ video on his YouTube channel, Sammy Hagar talked about Alex Van Halen’s early reaction to his ‘Eagles Fly’ track from the solo ‘I Never Said Goodbye’ album.
Hagar shared that he returned to the studio to record his final album with Geffen Records before Van Halen began working on their ‘OU812’ album. Eddie Van Halen joined him for the sessions.
“So, I remember I’m at the studio,” he continued. “I’m playing [‘Eagles Fly’] for Ed, and Alex is standing in the background, and I’m going, you know, [Plays the song]… on guitar, acoustic. And Alex goes, ‘Sounds like John Denver.’ [Laughs] I never forget it.”
“I’m going, ‘Yeah. What’s wrong with that? John’s a bad mother[f*cker].’ Shut your mouth, but I’m talking about John. And anyway, it was just such a funny reaction.”
After recording the track and the rest of the album, where Eddie played bass, Alex got to hear the song again on record. The singer recalled, “Alex heard it on the record, and he goes, ‘Hey, man, you should have saved that for Van Halen.’ I said, ‘Dude, don’t you remember what you said about that song?’”
“It was just really ironic that it was one of his favorite songs. One of Eddie’s favorite songs of mine that I ever wrote,” he added. “And it should have been on a Van Halen record. That would have been unbelievable if it would’ve been on ‘OU812.’ But it is what it is, and it’s a song that I will play for the rest of my life.”
‘Eagles Fly’ came out as the second single from ‘I Never Said Goodbye’ in October 1987. Van Halen performed it live with Hagar during their tours in 1993 and 1995.
The song recently appeared in Hagar’s setlist for his ongoing Best of All Worlds Tour. Based on his comments, it seems likely he will also include it in the upcoming Las Vegas residency featuring Michael Anthony, Joe Satriani, and Kenny Aronoff.
