Song of the Day 2/12: Steve Miller Band, “Fly Like an Eagle”

What else did you expect? I already used the Eagles fight song before the NFC title game, so today’s tune is the one chosen as the best-ever song about birds by the readers of Birds & Blooms magazine.

You don’t have to be an old head to recognize the version of the song released in 1976 on the LP of the same name. As a single it reached No. 2 in 1977 and has been a classic rock staple ever since.

Miller began playing the song in concert three years before the album was released. The original version had most of the same elements in a more primitive form — the lyrics were less developed, and Miller’s guitar supplied the spacy atmospherics that a synthesizer played on the hit recording. Here’s what it sounded like on “Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert” in 1973.

Miller first used the signature guitar lick on “My Dark Hour,” a track on his “Brave New Worl” LP in 1969. The track is otherwise notable because the bass, drums and backing vocals are provided by Paul McCartney. He was credited as “Paul Ramon” on the album cover.