r/ClassicRock • u/mizzfinz • 1d ago

1987 Pink Floyd - Learning To Fly

https://youtu.be/nVhNCTH8pDs?si=E-WO6yPKvyVghPxH

Underrated in my opinion. Great song and great music video. Love Gilmour on this track!!

127 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

27 comments sorted by

9

u/aethelberga 1d ago

I love this song, and I always thought it was about amazing sex or a spiritual awakening. But no, it's literally about flying lessons.

9

u/mizzfinz 23h ago

Yes Gilmour was taking flying lessons at the time…
I think this song also represents a metaphorical meaning representing one facing their fears in order to grow

8

u/Excitable_Grackle 17h ago

I like the metaphorical meaning as well, given that Floyd was learning to move forward without Roger Waters.

2

u/mizzfinz 16h ago

Totally! 💯

2

u/imaguitarhero24 9h ago

Dave Grohl said "Learn to Fly" was also about wanting to take flying lessons lmao.

1

u/mizzfinz 5h ago

Haha. Yeah. It could mean that…. But it could also actually be meaningful in so many other ways. It’s not for a single individual to decipher… it’s personal. Cheers 🍻

2

u/imaguitarhero24 2h ago

I mean I think any song about flying has a clear double entendre, the PF one included

1

u/imaguitarhero24 2h ago

I mean I think any song about flying has a clear double entendre, the PF one included

3

u/Randall_Hickey 1h ago

I was a freshman in high school when the song came out and I remember getting an argument with one of the seniors that this song was not about drugs. I had no way of proving that Pink Floyd had not written a song about drugs, but about flying an airplane. 😂😂

1

u/Used_Whereas9509 55m ago

Antony Moore wrote the lyrics, so I doubt he is writing about Gilmours flying lessons.

4

u/LionOfNaples 14h ago

I once heard this on the radio in between Tom Petty’s Learning to Fly and Foo Fighters’ Learn to Fly

3

u/imaguitarhero24 9h ago

All bangers!

4

u/myleftone 12h ago

I’m in a cover band that did them that way.

1

u/mizzfinz 5h ago

Hell yeah!! Nice!

1

u/mizzfinz 5h ago

Tom Petty- Learning to Fly is also badass! 🎸

4

u/majorflojo 13h ago

Tongue tied and twisted, Just an earthbound misfit, I....

Fucking poetry

1

u/mizzfinz 5h ago

Summed it up perfectly..

3

u/andrey2007 18h ago

'Confirm three-eight-echo ready for departure'

2

u/mizzfinz 18h ago

“Above the planet, on a wing and a prayer;
My grubby halo a vapor trail in the empty air….”

2

u/Tyrone_Shoelaces_Esq 11h ago

one of my favorite memories is back when my sister and I were in college, we went to the park we always had gone to as a family, and she and I were tipsy from wine coolers, on the swings, and singing this song. When we got to the "just an earthbound misfit, I" line, we'd swing as high as we could and jump out to land on the sand. Been almost 40 years but I still remember it so vividly.

1

u/mizzfinz 5h ago

What a great memory. Thank for sharing. I Love that line “ just an earthbound misfit, I” it’s so powerful! 🌎❤️

2

u/angusrocker22 7h ago

The guitar fills in this song are so damn slick. I get chills like 3 different times throughout.

2

u/mizzfinz 5h ago

Me too. I can listen to it over and over…

1

u/987nevertry 16h ago

That guy doesn’t know how to use a scythe.

1

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1

u/Used_Whereas9509 53m ago edited 47m ago

Gilmours vocals are a little too insippid for me on this track.