Fly, Eagles Fly

"The Eagles' Victory Song"
Song
Written mid-1950s
Genre Fight song
Songwriter(s)
  • Charles Borrelli
  • Roger Courtland

"The Eagles' Victory Song" was written in the mid-1950s and rearranged and retitled as "Fly, Eagles Fly" by Bobby Mansure & Brian Saunders in 1995.

History

"The Eagles' Victory Song" was written by Charles Borrelli and Roger Courtland, and made wildly popular by Bobby Mansure and Brian Saunders as part of the official band of the Philadelphia Eagles (Pep Band).

In 1963, Jerry Wolman purchased the Eagles' football team.[1] Wolman was a sports fan growing up and loved hearing the Redskins' fight song "Hail to the Redskins" at games.[2] Spawning from his admiration for the Redskins' song, Wolman searched for musicians to implement a team song for the Eagles, and founded The Philadelphia Eagles' Sound of Brass band in 1964.[2] The group included 200 musicians and dancers and was led by Arlen Saylor, who was appointed as the Eagles' entertainment director in 1966. The Sound of Brass was around for a couple of years before being disbanded by owner Leonard Tose in 1969.

The song came back into light in 1996 when Bobby Mansure, founder of an Eagles pep band, asked team management to allow the band to play in the parking lot during home games. Management gave Mansure's pep band an audition, allowing them to play at 2 preseason games to gauge fan reaction. The song went over so well that Mansure and the band retained a permanent position as the official Eagles Pep Band.[2]

In 1998, following Mansure's/Saunders reintroduction of the song, The Eagles Pep Band completely rebuilt its popularity among fans by changing some aspects of the song: they modified the key, changed the opening lyric from "Fight, Eagles Fight" to "Fly, Eagles Fly", and re-marketed the song using the lyric change as the new title. In addition, they appended the popular "E-A-G-L-E-S" chant—which had emerged in the 1980s—to the end of the song.[2] While management planned to play the song throughout the 1998 season, the Eagles' poor performance that year caused them to hold off reintroducing the song until the following year. The Eagles fared better during their 1999 season, and subsequently, the fight song was played after every score.[3]

The song is still sung/chanted today at games, and Billboard has recognized it as one of the best NFL fight songs of all time.[4] A modern arrangement by the current Eagles Pep Band is featured on the official Eagles website.[5]

Lyrics as rewritten by the Philadelphia Eagles Pep Band

Fly, Eagles Fly!
On the road to victory! (Fight! Fight! Fight!)
Fight, Eagles fight!
Score a touchdown 1, 2, 3! (1! 2! 3!)
Hit 'em low!
Hit 'em high!
And watch our Eagles fly!
Fly, Eagles Fly!
On the road to victory!
E-A-G-L-E-S!
Eagles!


"Fly Eagles Fly" - Guitar chords & lyrics: https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/eagles_pep_band/fly_eagles_fly_-_philadelphia_eagles_fight_song_chords_1908798#c_5516597

References

  1. ↑ Didinger, Ray; Robert S. Lyons (2005). The Eagles Encyclopedia. Temple University Press. pp. 127–128. ISBN 1-59213-449-1.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Rooting for the Eagles (A chant? A song? What's your favorite way to cheer on the team?)". Phillymag.com. 2010-09-27. Retrieved 2017-11-03.
  3. ↑ "Sports Illustrated: Here Are the Lyrics to 'Fly, Eagles, Fly". Sports Illustrated. 2017-10-12. Retrieved 2017-11-03.
  4. ↑ "Billboard: The 10 Best NFL Fight Songs". Billboard Magazine. 2014-09-04. Retrieved 2017-11-03.
  5. ↑ "Fly, Eagles Fly (Pep Band Fight Song)". Philadelphia Eagles. 2017. Retrieved 2017-11-03.


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