"On Eagle's Wings" is a devotional hymn composed by
Michael Joncas. Its words are based on
Psalm 91,
19, and
Gospel of Matthew 13. Joncas wrote the piece in either 1976 or 1979,
after he and his friend, Douglas Hall, returned from a meal to learn that Hall's father had died of a heart attack.
It was recorded in 1979, with Hall as producer, published by North American
Liturgy
Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. ''Liturgy'' can also be used to refer specifically to public worship by Christians. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and partic ...
Resources and later purchased by New Dawn Music, a subsidiary of
Oregon Catholic Press. It has become popular as a contemplative hymn at
Catholic Masses as well as at
Protestant services of worship.
It is now sung during services of many Christian denominations, including
Pentecostal churches, and was performed at many of the funerals of victims of the
September 11, 2001, attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...
. It is often performed either at the beginning or the ending of a Roman Catholic
funeral Mass. It has been performed at many internationally broadcast papal Masses, was selected as part of the 2007 funeral Mass for
Luciano Pavarotti
Luciano Pavarotti (, , ; 12 October 19356 September 2007) was an Italian operatic tenor who during the late part of his career crossed over into popular music, eventually becoming one of the most acclaimed tenors of all time. He made numerou ...
in
Modena
Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...
, Italy, also broadcast internationally.
Joe Biden referred to and recited the hymn in his presidential victory speech on November 7, 2020. He said the hymn was important to his family and his deceased son
Beau, who died of brain cancer in 2015. Joncas was "honored and humbled".
Cover versions
In 1998, the tenor
Michael Crawford released his album, ''On Eagle's Wings'', on which Joncas' song is the first track.
The Italian DJ
Gigi D'Agostino recorded a
dance
Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...
cover version of this song for his 2004 album ''
L'Amour Toujours II
''L'Amour Toujours II'' is the third studio album by Italian DJ Gigi D'Agostino, released in on 16 December 2004 through Media Italy Records. It is a sequel to his 1999 album '' L'Amour Toujours''.
Track listing Side one
#"Welcome to Paradise ig ...
'', included also in the ''Benessere 1'' compilation.
The Christian duo
Shane & Shane recorded the song for their 2015 album ''
Psalms II'' under the title "Psalm 91 (On Eagles' Wings)" covering the song based on Joncas' composition.
The
Baroque pop
Baroque pop (sometimes called baroque rock) is a fusion genre that combines rock music with particular elements of classical music. It emerged in the mid 1960s as artists pursued a majestic, orchestral sound and is identifiable for its appropria ...
singer
Lana Del Rey recorded a cover version of "On Eagle's Wings" in 2020.
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
*Listen Here
On Eagle’s Wings/En Sus AlasGIA PublicationsMichael Joncas CDs
{{Authority control
Contemporary Catholic liturgical music
1979 songs
Christian songs
Songs based on the Bible