PINK FLOYD - LEARNING TO FLY

LEARNING TO FLY

PINK FLOYD

SONGWRITERS: ANTHONY MOORE; DAVID GILMOUR; BOB EZRIN & JON CARIN

COUNTRY: U. K.

ALBUM: A MOMENTARY LAPSE OF REASON

LABEL: COLUMBIA RECORDS

GENRE: PROGRESSIVE ROCK

YEAR: 1987

            "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. It reached number 70 on the U.S. Billboard Hot100 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.

Into the distance, a ribbon of Black

Stretched to the point of no turning back

A flight of fancy on a windswept field

Standing alone my senses reeled

A fatal attraction is holding me fast,

How can I escape this irresistible grasp?

Can't keep my eyes from the circling sky

Tongue-tied and twisted, just an earth-bound misfit, I

Ice is forming on the tips of my wings

Unheeded warnings, I thought, I thought of everything

No navigator to find my way home

Unladen, empty and turned to stone

A soul in tension that's learning to fly

Condition grounded but determined to try

Can't keep my eyes from the circling skies

Tongue-tied and twisted just an earth-bound misfit, I

[Spoken:]

Friction lock - set. Mixture - rich. Propellers - fully forward. Flaps - set - 10 degree. Engine gauges and suction – check

Mixture set to maximum percent – recheck

Flight instruments...

Altimeters - check both

(garbled word) – on

Navigation lights – on

Strobes – on

(to tower): Confirm 3-8-Echo ready for departure

(tower): Hello again, this is now 129.4

(to tower): 129.4. It's to go.

(tower): You may commence your takeoff, winds over 10 knots.

(to tower): 3-8-Echo

Easy on the brakes. Take it easy. Its gonna roll this time.

Just hand the power gradually, and it...

Above the planet on a wing and a prayer,

My grubby halo, a vapour trail in the empty air,

Across the clouds I see my shadow fly

Out of the corner of my watering eye

A dream unthreatened by the morning light

Could blow this soul right through the roof of the night

There's no sensation to compare with this

Suspended animation, a state of bliss

Can't keep my mind from the circling skies

Tongue-tied and twisted just an earth-bound misfit, I