Found: A note from Jan to the Quasimodal chorus, explaining the history of "The Eagle."

So...

    .. I was thinking on THE EAGLE .. I know some of you have a hard time piecing the words together. I tried looking at the thing as if I didn't know its history .. and .. no wonder! Maybe the song will mean more .. if you know some of its origins.

    When I lived in Calif. .. I spent an inordinate amount of time in a place called Death Valley .. not exactly your Palm Springs! At more than 280 ft. below sea level .. it's a fierce barren land .. burned clean of amenities and the need for explanation. When the complexities of too much Calif. blooming overwhelmed me .. I would with difficulty retreat to the clarity of that land.

    I always stayed at one of the 2 possible places to stay - Stovepipe Wells. Since the heat in May could sit at 120° in the day .. the thing I loved to do was to go out in the early pre-dawn hours with my binoculars and look at the black black starry sky .. and then, head into one of the canyons to wait for the dawn. The canyons in Death Valley are true marble .. the color and smoothness of butterscotch. The sun comes up over the Panamint Range red and huge .. smacks into Funeral Peak .. and then spreads out into the canyons like wide wings. Often .. the moon is still bright .. and as big around as the sun .. and sits on the high back of Zabriskie Point for a time before giving way. The few eagles and hawks come then .. riding the hot wind looking for snakes and shrikes. It was just me and those singluar creatures .. in all the world.

    I learned once .. that those eagles .. such territorial birds .. would yearn so for the sea that they would break through their own declared boundaries .. and fly all the way to Moro Bay to fish. That meant a lot to me! We .. kindred spirits .. each fleeing our self-imposed confines .. to find another kind of sustenance!

So .. does that help .. ? NO? .. oh well! :)