"Learning to Fly"
Artwork for EMI release; the Columbia release uses the same artwork but replaces cyan with black for the "PF" logo. Various non-UK releases either omit other titles or contain one other title on the front cover
Single by Pink Floyd
from the album A Momentary Lapse of Reason
B-side"Terminal Frost"
Released14 September 1987
RecordedNovember – December 1986
GenrePop rock
Length4:53 (album version)
4:21 (single edit)
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
  • Bob Ezrin
  • David Gilmour
Pink Floyd singles chronology
"Not Now John"
(1983)		 "Learning to Fly" / "Terminal Frost"
(1987)		 "On the Turning Away"
(1987)
Music video
Pink Floyd - Learning To Fly (Official Music Video) on YouTube

"Learning to Fly" is a song by the English progressive rock band Pink Floyd, written by David Gilmour, Anthony Moore, Bob Ezrin, and Jon Carin. It was the first single from the band's thirteenth studio album A Momentary Lapse of Reason.[1][2] It reached number 70 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 1 on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart in September, 1987, remaining three consecutive weeks at the top position in the autumn of the same year. Meanwhile, the song failed to chart on the official U.K. top 40 singles charts.[3][4] On the other hand, in Spain, the song peaked at number 1 on the Los 40 Principales chart.[5]

Background

The song was primarily written by David Gilmour, who developed the music from a 1986 demo by Jon Carin, while the lyrics were written by Anthony Moore. The notable rhythm pattern at the beginning of the song was already present in the demo, and Carin stated that it was influenced by Steve Jansen or Yukihiro Takahashi.[6]

The inspiration for the lyrics came about as Gilmour was learning to fly aeroplanes at the time of the recording, often spending time in the air during the mornings before arriving at the studio in the afternoon. It has also been interpreted as a metaphor for beginning something new, experiencing a radical change in life, or, more specifically, Gilmour's feelings about striking out as the new leader of Pink Floyd after the departure of Roger Waters. Gilmour stated on Westwood One's Pink Floyd 25th Anniversary Special in 1992 that "we were, as Pink Floyd, learning to fly again."[7] Also an avid pilot, drummer Nick Mason's voice can be heard at around the middle of the song. "Learning to Fly" was included on Pink Floyd's greatest hits collection Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd.[8]

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). A live version is included on Delicate Sound of Thunder and Pulse. At the end of the final solo in both versions, a guitar lick from the second verse of "Young Lust" ("Oooh, baby set me free") is played.

In Ultimate Classic Rock's retrospective ranking of the Pink Floyd catalogue, "Learning To Fly" was ranked 41 of 167 and 2nd-best of post-Waters era.[9]

Music video

The music video was directed by Storm Thorgerson, a longtime collaborator of Pink Floyd who had designed many of their album covers, and filmed on West Wind Ridge, a mountain in Kananaskis Country near Canmore, located some 50 to 75 km west of the city of Calgary, Alberta[10] during rehearsals for the band's A Momentary Lapse of Reason Tour. The video combined performances of the band with an Indigenous person, played by Canadian actor Lawrence Bayne, working in a field who then runs and jumps off a cliff to turn into a red-tailed hawk. The footage of the stage show shows the band performing "Learning to Fly" but features the more colourful light-show used for live performances of "One of These Days". The red/orange aeroplane is a Beech Model 17 Staggerwing.

The original video also depicts a factory worker who turns into an aeroplane pilot as well as a child who breaks free from his mother and dives off a cliff into a deep river, swimming away.

The video went to No. 9 on MTV's Video Countdown in November 1987 and was the No. 60 video of MTV's Top 100 Videos of 1987. The video won the band its only MTV Video Music Award for "Best Concept Video" in 1988.

Personnel

Pink Floyd[11]

Additional musicians:[12]

Charts

Chart (1987) Peak
position
Australia (Australian Music Report)[13] 34
France (SNEP)[14] 60
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[15] 10
US Billboard Hot 100[16] 70
US Mainstream Rock (Billboard)[17] 1
US Cashbox Top 100[18] 82
West Germany (Official German Charts)[19] 71

See also

References

  1. ↑ Strong, Martin C. (2004). The Great Rock Discography (7th ed.). Edinburgh: Canongate Books. p. 1177. ISBN 1-84195-551-5.
  2. ↑ Mabbett, Andy (1995). The Complete Guide to the Music of Pink Floyd. London: Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-7119-4301-X.
  3. ↑ "Allmusic: Pink Floyd (Awards) Billboard singles". Allmusic. Retrieved 2013-09-27.
  4. ↑ "Pink Floyd singles". officialcharts.com. Retrieved 2013-09-27.
  5. ↑ "Números 1 del año 1987 - Los 40 Principales" (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 Aug 2018.
  6. ↑ "Jon Carin interview - August 2007 - with Brain Damage". Brain Damage. 2007-08-17. Retrieved 2014-08-28.
  7. ↑ "Westwood One - Pink Floyd 25th Anniversary Special (May 1992)". YouTube. Retrieved 21 July 2022.
  8. ↑ "Echoes: the album credits". Pink Floyd. Archived from the original on 2 June 2010. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
  9. ↑ Wawzenek, Bryan (2018-09-04). "All 167 Pink Floyd Songs Ranked Worst to Best". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved 2023-07-18.
  10. ↑ "Storm Thorgerson interview". Launch.com. 2001-01-17. Retrieved 2009-06-18.
  11. ↑ Guesdon, Jean-Michel (2017). Pink Floyd All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track (1st ed.). Edinburgh: Black Dog & Leventhal. p. 502. ISBN 978-0316439244.
  12. ↑ Guesdon, Jean-Michel (2017). Pink Floyd All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track (1st ed.). Edinburgh: Black Dog & Leventhal. p. 503. ISBN 978-0316439244.
  13. ↑ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  14. ↑ "Pink Floyd – Learning to Fly" (in French). Les classement single.
  15. ↑ "Pink Floyd – Learning to Fly". Top 40 Singles.
  16. ↑ "Pink Floyd Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
  17. ↑ "Pink Floyd Chart History (Mainstream Rock)". Billboard.
  18. ↑ "Cashbox Top 100 Singles" (PDF). Cashbox. October 31, 1987. p. 4.
  19. ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – Pink Floyd – Learning to Fly" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts.
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