Released: January 8, 1973
Songwriter: Robinson Jeffers Lynda Jardine Al Jardine
Producer: The Beach Boys
[Verse 1]
An eagle's nest on the head of an old redwood on one of the
Precipice-footed ridges above Ventana Creek
That jagged country which nothing but a fallen meteor will ever plow:
No horseman will ever ride there, and no hunter cross this ridge but the winged ones
No one will steal the eggs from this fortress
The she-eagle is old, her mate was shot long ago, she is now mated with a son of hers
When lightning blasted her nest she built it again on the same tree, in the splinters of the thunder bolt
In a broken shack an old man takes his time about dying
And just at the back a wild flowerbed that he'll lie in
In dawn's new light a man might venture
A horse drawn stage from Monterey
[Verse 2]
The she-eagle is older than I: she was here when the fires of eighty-five raged on these ridges
She was lately fledged and dared not hunt ahead of them, but ate scorched meat
The world has changed in her time; humanity has multiplied
But not here; men's hopes and thoughts and customs have changed, their powers are enlarged, their powers and their follies have become fantastic
Spilled down the hill a wagon load of bodies lay scattered, shipwrecked at sea
Limestone ore is all that mattered
They took it from the hills right through the cargo doors
How many ships have come and gone at Thurso's landing shore?
[Verse 3]
The unstable animal never has been changed so rapidly
The motor and the plane and the great war have gone over him
And Lenin has lived and Jehovah died: while the mother-eagle hunts the same hills, crying the same beautiful and lonely cry
And is never tired: dreams the same dreams
And hears at night the rock-slides rattle and thunder in the
Throats of these living mountains
It is good for man to try all changes, progress and corruption, powers, peace and anguish
Not to go down the dinosaur's way until all his capacities have been explored: and it is good for him
To know that his needs and nature are no more changed, in fact, in ten thousand years than the beaks of eagles
The eagle's plight, we know that nature's balance is undone
And it's the birthright of man to unify and live his life as one
A whisper of the word will let you soar with your soul
An eagle's nest on the head of an old redwood on one of the
Precipice-footed ridges above Ventana Creek
That jagged country which nothing but a fallen meteor will ever plow:
No horseman will ever ride there, and no hunter cross this ridge but the winged ones
No one will steal the eggs from this fortress
The she-eagle is old, her mate was shot long ago, she is now mated with a son of hers
When lightning blasted her nest she built it again on the same tree, in the splinters of the thunder bolt
In a broken shack an old man takes his time about dying
And just at the back a wild flowerbed that he'll lie in
In dawn's new light a man might venture
A horse drawn stage from Monterey
[Verse 2]
The she-eagle is older than I: she was here when the fires of eighty-five raged on these ridges
She was lately fledged and dared not hunt ahead of them, but ate scorched meat
The world has changed in her time; humanity has multiplied
But not here; men's hopes and thoughts and customs have changed, their powers are enlarged, their powers and their follies have become fantastic
Spilled down the hill a wagon load of bodies lay scattered, shipwrecked at sea
Limestone ore is all that mattered
They took it from the hills right through the cargo doors
How many ships have come and gone at Thurso's landing shore?
[Verse 3]
The unstable animal never has been changed so rapidly
The motor and the plane and the great war have gone over him
And Lenin has lived and Jehovah died: while the mother-eagle hunts the same hills, crying the same beautiful and lonely cry
And is never tired: dreams the same dreams
And hears at night the rock-slides rattle and thunder in the
Throats of these living mountains
It is good for man to try all changes, progress and corruption, powers, peace and anguish
Not to go down the dinosaur's way until all his capacities have been explored: and it is good for him
To know that his needs and nature are no more changed, in fact, in ten thousand years than the beaks of eagles
The eagle's plight, we know that nature's balance is undone
And it's the birthright of man to unify and live his life as one
A whisper of the word will let you soar with your soul
more tracks from the album
Holland
- Sail On, Sailor
- I’m the Pied Piper - Instrumental
- Mt. Vernon and Fairway (Theme)
- I’m the Pied Piper
- We Got Love
- Radio King Dom
- Magic Transistor Radio
- Better Get Back In Bed
- Funky Pretty
- Only With You
- Leaving This Town
- The Trader
- California Saga (California)
- California Saga (The Beaks Of Eagles)
- California Saga (Big Sur)
- Steamboat
- Hard Times
From the album
- Holland (1973)
The Beach Boys popular songs
- Surfin’ USA
- God Only Knows
- Wouldn’t It Be Nice
- Good Vibrations
- Kokomo
- Sloop John B
- California Girls
- I Get Around
- Surf’s Up
- Little Deuce Coupe
- Don’t Worry Baby
- In My Room
- I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times
- Surfin’ Safari
- You Still Believe in Me
- Forever
- That’s Not Me
- Fun, Fun, Fun
- Heroes and Villains
- Caroline, No
- 409
- Don’t Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)
- I Know There’s an Answer
- Barbara Ann