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"Learning to Fly" | ||||
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![]() 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 | 7 September 1987 [1] | |||
Recorded | November –December 1986 | |||
Genre | Soft rock, progressive rock | |||
Length | 4:53 (album version) 4:21 (single edit) | |||
Label | ||||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) |
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Pink Floyd singles chronology | ||||
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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 . [2] [3] 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. [4] [5] On the other hand, in Spain, the song peaked at number 1 on the Los 40 Principales chart. [6]
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. [7]
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[ 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." [8] 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 . [9]
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. [10]
The music video was directed by Storm Thorgerson, a long-time collaborator of Pink Floyd who had designed many of their album covers. It was filmed in a farm field just South of Black Diamond, Alberta, Canada and also on West Wind Ridge, a mountain in Kananaskis Country near Canmore, located some 50 to 75 km west of the city of Calgary, Alberta [11] 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 Harris's 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.
Additional musicians: [13]
Chart (1987) | Peak position |
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Australia (Australian Music Report) [14] | 34 |
France (SNEP) [15] | 60 |
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ) [16] | 10 |
US Billboard Hot 100 [17] | 70 |
US Mainstream Rock ( Billboard ) [18] | 1 |
US Cashbox Top 100 [19] | 82 |
West Germany (Official German Charts) [20] | 71 |
A Momentary Lapse of Reason is the thirteenth studio album by the English progressive rock band Pink Floyd, released in the UK on 7 September 1987 by EMI and the following day in the US on Columbia. It was recorded primarily on the converted houseboat Astoria, belonging to the guitarist, David Gilmour.
The Division Bell is the fourteenth studio album by the English rock band Pink Floyd, released on 28 March 1994 by EMI Records in the United Kingdom and on 5 April by Columbia Records in the United States.
Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd is the fourth compilation album by the English rock band Pink Floyd, released on 5 November 2001 by EMI internationally and a day later by Capitol Records in the United States. It debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 album chart on 24 November 2001, with sales of 214,650 copies. It remained on the chart for 26 weeks. The album was certified gold, platinum and double platinum on 6 December 2001 in the US by the RIAA. It was certified triple platinum in the US on 8 January 2002, and quadruple platinum on 10 September 2007.
Delicate Sound of Thunder is a live album by the English band Pink Floyd. It was recorded over five nights at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York, in August 1988, during their A Momentary Lapse of Reason Tour, and mixed at Abbey Road Studios in September 1988. It was released on 21 November 1988, through EMI Records in the UK and Columbia Records in the US.
"Comfortably Numb" is a song by the English rock band Pink Floyd, released on their eleventh studio album, The Wall (1979). It was released as a single in 1980, with "Hey You" as the B-side.
"Money" is a song by English rock band Pink Floyd from their 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon. Written by Roger Waters, it opened side two of the original album. Released as a single, it became the band's first hit in the United States, reaching number 10 in Cash Box magazine and number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Jon Carin is an American musician, singer, songwriter and producer. He has collaborated with acts including Pink Floyd, the Who, Eddie Vedder, Kate Bush and Richard Butler.
"High Hopes" is a song by English rock band Pink Floyd, composed by guitarist David Gilmour with lyrics by Gilmour and Polly Samson. It is the closing track on their fourteenth studio album, The Division Bell (1994); it was released as the second single from the album on 17 October 1994. An accompanying music video was made for the song and was directed by Storm Thorgerson.
"On the Turning Away" is a song from Pink Floyd's 1987 album, A Momentary Lapse of Reason. The song was a staple of live shows from the 1987–89 world tours in support of A Momentary Lapse of Reason and was one of the songs in rotation during the 1994 tour in support of The Division Bell. The song was resurrected by David Gilmour on his 2006 On an Island Tour for one night only. Live recordings exist on Delicate Sound of Thunder (1988) and Live in Gdańsk (2008).
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"Keep Talking" is a song from Pink Floyd's 1994 album, The Division Bell.
"Yet Another Movie" is the sixth track, along with "Round and Around" on Pink Floyd's 1987 album, A Momentary Lapse of Reason. It began as an instrumental piece to which words were later added and features soundbites from the films One-Eyed Jacks and Casablanca.
"The Dogs of War" is a song by Pink Floyd from their 1987 album, A Momentary Lapse of Reason. It was released as a promotional single from the album. Live versions have an extended intro, an extended middle solo for the saxophone, a guitar and sax duel and a longer outro as compared to the album version. The track was a minor rock radio hit in the US and reached #16 on MTV's Video Countdown in May 1988.
"Signs of Life" is the opening track on A Momentary Lapse of Reason, the first Pink Floyd album headed by David Gilmour, in the absence of ex-member Roger Waters.
"Terminal Frost" is an instrumental from Pink Floyd's 1987 album, A Momentary Lapse of Reason.
"A Great Day for Freedom" is a song by Pink Floyd from their 1994 album, The Division Bell.
"Sorrow" is a song by the English band Pink Floyd. Written by the band's singer and guitarist David Gilmour, it is the closing track on their thirteenth studio album, A Momentary Lapse of Reason, released in 1987.
A Momentary Lapse of Reason Tour was two consecutive concert tours by the English rock band Pink Floyd. The A Momentary Lapse of Reason tour ran from September 1987 to August 1988; the Another Lapse tour ran from May–July 1989. Both tours were in support of their album A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987). The tour was the band's first since The Wall tour in 1981, and also the first without the band's original bassist Roger Waters. The band later reprised the setlist and stage show of this tour for their performance at Knebworth Park in 1990.
The Later Years is a box set by the English rock band Pink Floyd released on 13 December 2019 by Pink Floyd Records. It follows the 2016 box set The Early Years 1965–1972, and compiles Pink Floyd's work under the leadership of David Gilmour after the departure of Roger Waters in 1985.