Sammy Hagar’s solo song “Eagles Fly” could have ended up on Van Halen’s 1988 album OU812 but it was voted down by Alex Van Halen.
In a recent episode of his Storytime YouTube series, Hagar recalled how the song was initially introduced to the Van Halen brothers.
“I’m at the studio,” Hagar explained. “I’m playing it for Ed, and Alex is standing in the background, and I’m… on guitar, acoustic. And Alex goes, ‘Sounds like John Denver!’ “I’ll never forget it! I’m going, ‘Yeah – what’s wrong with that? John’s a bad motherf***er! Shut your mouth when I’m talking about John!’”
Knowing Alex wasn’t a fan, Hagar decided to record the song for his upcoming solo album instead. Edward played bass, sang vocals, and contributed a guitar solo to the version which ended up on Hagar’s ’87 album I Never Said Goodbye.
After Hagar’s album was finished, Alex heard the track again. This time he liked what he heard.
“Alex heard it on the record,” Hagar recalled, “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?’”
“Eagles Fly” may not have ended up on a Van Halen record but it would go on to become a constant inclusion in Van Halen setlists.
“It was just really ironic that it [became] one of his favorite songs,” Hagar said. “[It was] one of Eddie’s favorite songs of mine… And it should have been on a Van Halen record.”