"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]

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"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"
Released	14 September 1987
Recorded	November – December 1986
Genre	Progressive rock
Length	4:53 (album version) 4:21 (single edit)
Label	EMI (UK) Columbia (US)
Songwriter(s)	David Gilmour Anthony Moore Bob Ezrin Jon Carin
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)

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 airplanes 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^{[by whom?]} 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.

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[9] 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 airplane 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[10]

• David Gilmour – lead and backing vocals, electric guitar, sequencer
• Nick Mason – drums, spoken words, sound effects

Additional musicians:[11]

• Richard Wright – keyboards, backing vocals
• Jon Carin – keyboards
• Bob Ezrin – sequencer, percussion
• Tony Levin – bass guitar
• Steve Forman – percussion
• Darlene Koldenhoven – backing vocals
• Carmen Twillie – backing vocals
• Phyllis St. James – backing vocals
• Donny Gerrard – backing vocals

See also

• List of number-one mainstream rock hits (United States)

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to A Momentary Lapse of Reason.

На других языках

[de] Learning to Fly

[es] Learning to Fly (canción de Pink Floyd)

[ru] Learning to Fly (песня Pink Floyd)