Entry · catalog no. 3305
the eagle flies
/ ði ˈiɡəl flaɪz /thee EE-guhl flize
phrase · national · 1930s
✓ Verified
1.
Payday. The eagle stamped on U.S. currency 'flies' when wages come in, usually on a Friday — the day to settle up and go out. Often said as 'the eagle flies on Friday.'
“Hold on till Friday — the eagle flies, and I got you.”
Origin & Attribution
A Black working-class and blues idiom of the 1930s–40s, tying the eagle on American money to the weekly wage. T-Bone Walker fixed it in the record with "Call It Stormy Monday" in 1947 — "The eagle flies on Friday" — though the saying was already living in Black speech before he sang it.
1930s
Payday idiom in Black working-class speech
1947
T-Bone Walker's "Call It Stormy Monday"
now
A blues and R&B standard phrase
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
Nationwide
national · 1930s
Spoken by
Black working-class speakers
$THEEAGThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Steady96 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
50/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
1930
in the culture
Cultural energy indexed from documented usage, search interest, and citation frequency. The recorded date is the archive’s permanent point of record.
Hear it spoken
By region — how it actually sounds
@auntiereg
Atlanta, GA
@deltasoul
Memphis, TN
Contribute your pronunciation
Citations & Sources
■
+ Cite a sourceT-Bone Walker, "Call It Stormy Monday (But Tuesday Is Just as Bad)" — single
1947
See also