Learning to Fly (song)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "Learning to Fly" | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Single by Pink Floyd | ||
| from the album A Momentary Lapse of Reason | ||
| Released | September 15, 1987 | |
| Format | 7", 12", CD | |
| Recorded | October 1986 - May 1987 | |
| Genre | Rock | |
| Length | 4:22 | |
| Label | EMI | |
| Writer(s) | David Gilmour, Anthony Moore, Bob Ezrin, Jon Carin | |
| Producer(s) | Bob Ezrin, David Gilmour | |
| Chart positions | ||
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| Pink Floyd singles chronology | ||
| "Not Now John" (1983) |
"Learning to Fly" (1987) |
"On the Turning Away" (1987) |
| A Momentary Lapse of Reason track listing | ||
| Signs of Life (1) |
Learning to Fly (2) |
The Dogs of War (3) |
"Learning to Fly" is the second song on Pink Floyd's album A Momentary Lapse of Reason. The song is written largely by David Gilmour. It describes David's thoughts of flying, for which he has a passion, although some commentators have read it as a metaphor for Gilmour's feelings about striking out as the new leader of Pink Floyd after Roger Waters' departure which Gilmour confirmed on the Pink Floyd 25th Anniversary Special in May of 1992. Also an avid pilot, drummer Nick Mason's voice can be heard in the middle of the song. The song is the first CD-only single to be released on a global scale. "Learning to Fly" was included on Pink Floyd's greatest hits collection Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd.
The track was regularly performed live on the band's two post-Roger Waters tours, with touring guitarist Tim Renwick playing the song's guitar solos (although David Gilmour played the solos on the studio version of the track).
Also a video was filmed in Canada during rehearsals for the band's 1987/88/89 tour directed by Storm Thorgerson. The video combined performances of the band with a Native American working in a field and then runs and jumps a cliff to turn into a hawk. The original video depicts the Indian plus a factory worker who turns into an airplane pilot and a child who breaks free from his mother and dives off a cliff into a deep river and swims away. The video went to #9 on MTV's Video Countdown in November of 1987 and was the #60th best video of MTV's Top 100 Videos of 1987. The video also won the band its only Video Music Award for Best Conceptual Video in 1988. The red aircraft seen in the video is a rather rare Beechcraft Staggerwing.
