Feature Song: “Eye of the Tiger”
Survivor is an American rock band formed in Chicago in 1978 by Jim Peterik and Frankie Sullivan. Before 1982, the band had released two rather unsuccessful albums, and there was concern that they would be dropped by their record label. Their fortunes changed when director and actor, Sylvester Stallone, enlisted them to write a song for his 1982 film, Rocky lll after Queen would not allow him to use “Another One Bites The Dust.” Stallone told the band that he wanted “something street,” and that the song should have a “pulse” that matched the punches of a boxing scene. He sent them a copy of the montage that was to be used in the film’s introduction, depicting Rocky Balboa and his opponen,t Clubber Lang.
The song was written by guitarist Frankie Sullivan and keyboardist Jim Peterik. They came up with a riff based on chord changes to mirror the timing of the punches. The title came from a line spoken by Balboa’s coach, Apollo Creed: “You had that eye of the tiger, man, the edge…You gotta get it back.” As we all know, he did! Stallone took the phrase from the 1969 film, A Dream of Kings. They recorded the demo in February 1982 and Stallone loved it and insisted on using it in the film. While I would hesitate to label Survivor as a “one hit wonder” as they had other chart successes in the 1980s with the likes of “Burning Heart,” “The Search is Over,” “High on You,” and “Is This Love,” I would venture a guess that when most people are asked to name a Survivor song, it would be “Eye of the Tiger.”
I have featured the Canadian band, Walk Off The Earth (W.O.T.E.), in previous posts, but it has been a while and I have had this cover of “Eye of the Tiger” in the back of my head for some time now. I have said this before, and I will say it again: “I have never seen a group of musicians having so much fun playing music.” They simply abound with unfiltered joy. The guy sitting on the floor playing the two recorders looks like he is having the time of his life. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that they are all very accomplished musicians with an amazing knack for making songs their own, but keeping them recognizable, which is not as easy as they make it look.
Enjoy!
Survivor. “Eye of the Tiger.” Official video1982
Walk Off The Earth. “Eye of the Tiger” cover 2021.
Los Angeles 2024
“Eye of the Tiger” – now, there’s a blast from the past. I listened to that song quite frequently on the radio back in Germany when it came out in 1982 – pretty catchy pop metal with a memorable guitar riff. I didn’t care about “Rocky III”, on the other hand. Boxing has never been my thing.
The rendition by Walk Off the Earth is fun to watch. I like the reggae groove. The flute gives it a bit of a Jethro Tull vibe. Pretty neat!
While it’s not s song I listen to much I have heard it every time I watch the movie, and that’s a lot! Very cool cover.
Such a joyous and fun cover performance by Walk Off The Earth.
I like the original and love the cover. That band just makes me so happy!
only because I couldn’t help noticing, the background of the Survivor stage looks like a huge piece of waving dark plastic with bad lighting rippling across it! We’ve come a long way
We have. I agree, every time I watch one of WOTE’s videos it makes me smile!