| "Learning to Fly" | |||||||||||||
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 Cover of the 12" release |
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| Single by Pink Floyd | |||||||||||||
| from the album A Momentary Lapse of Reason | |||||||||||||
| B-side | "Terminal Frost" | ||||||||||||
| Released | September 15, 1987 | ||||||||||||
| Format | 7", 12", CD | ||||||||||||
| Recorded | October 1986 - May 1987 | ||||||||||||
| Genre | Rock, Post-industrial | ||||||||||||
| Length | 4:53 (album version) / 4:21 (single edit) | ||||||||||||
| Label | EMI (Europe/UK) Columbia Records (US) |
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| Writer(s) | David Gilmour, Anthony Moore, Bob Ezrin, Jon Carin | ||||||||||||
| Producer | Bob Ezrin, David Gilmour | ||||||||||||
| Pink Floyd singles chronology | |||||||||||||
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"Learning to Fly" is the second song on Pink Floyd's album A Momentary Lapse of Reason. The first single released from the album, it reached #70 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and #1 on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart.
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The song was primarily written by David Gilmour. It describes Gilmour's thoughts on flying, for which he has a passion (being a licensed pilot with multiple ratings), though 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 confirmed the latter interpretation on the Pink Floyd 25th Anniversary Special in May 1992. 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.
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).
The music video was directed by Storm Thorgerson and filmed in Canada, 50 to 75 km west of the city of Calgary, Alberta[1] during rehearsals for the band's 1987/88/89 tour. The video combined performances of the band with a Native American working in a field who then runs and jumps off a cliff to turn into an eagle. 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 #9 on MTV's Video Countdown in November 1987 and was the #60th best video of MTV's Top 100 Videos of 1987. The video also won the band its only MTV Video Music Award for "Best Concept Video" in 1988. The yellow aircraft shown in this video is likely a Piper Cub. The red/orange airplane is a Beech Model 17 Staggerwing.
| Preceded by "Paper in Fire" by John Mellencamp |
Billboard Album Rock Tracks number-one
single September 26, 1987 – October 16, 1987 |
Succeeded by "Brilliant Disguise" by Bruce Springsteen |
   | Original Music Video - YouTube - Pink Floyd-Learning To Fly |
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