Pink Floyd: Learning To Fly Meaning

Song Released: 1987

Learning To Fly Lyrics

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 irresistable...

1. anonymous

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   Mar 8th 2023 !⃝

   Baby birds die of Pharygospasm, they do modetsly make it back, this leads to doubts of the house of david, but their hopes up at live and let live.
2. anonymous

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   Apr 25th 2021 !⃝

   A lot of people think this song is simply about flying an airplane, but it’s not. This is the first song/album Pink Floyd made after Waters left. This song is about Gilmour “learning to fly” in the band by himself. “Ribbon of black stretched to the point of no turning back” is all the past animosity, and recordings they made together on a ribbon of recording tape. “Standing alone all my senses reeled” is again Gilmour recording on a reel of tape. And “stretched to the point of no turning back” is also ALL the music David helped Waters write and perform. He’s not going to give that all up now. There’s no turning back. He wants to keep going and performing under Pink Floyd.
   
   “Fatal attraction that’s holding me fast how can I escape this irresistible grasp” is Gilmour wanting so badly to keep making music under Pink Floyd.
   
   “Tongue tied and twisted just an Earth bound misfit” is Gilmour struggling to write lyrics.
   
   “Ice is forming on the tips of my wings” is the tension between David and Roger. “Unheeded warnings” of Roger leaving. “No navigator to guide my way home” is not having a song writer anymore.
   
   “A soul in tension that’s learning to fly” is David learning how to write songs and lead the band. Notice it’s written and spelled “soul in tension” not, “sole intention”. Which means his soul is in tension.
   
   “Above the planet on a wing and a prayer” is Gilmour in front of the huge crowd performing and hoping and praying he does ok and the crowd likes the new Pink Floyd music.
   
   “Above the clouds I see my shadows fly” is him on stage in front of thousands of people. “There’s no sensation that compares with this” is him standing on stage in front of a crowd. “Suspended animation a state of bliss”
   
   If you listen to the song with this meaning, it’s and even greater song. It tells what was going through David’s mind when he became the new band leader and lyricist.
3. anonymous

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   Sep 18th 2020 !⃝

   I know this song might mean something different. But to me it describes what my depression has felt like, and how I’m learning to live. “Into the distance a ribbon of black, stretched to the point of no turning back” - Looking at life in a very dreary/dark way, the ribbon representing the line of life, and how we can’t change or turn back the decisions made. “Ice is forming on the tips of my wings.” The depression, horrible thoughts getting stuck in the mind, feeling cold and leaving permanent marks in the mental state (ice). “Across the clouds I see my shadow fly, out of the corner of my watering eye.” - looking at the mistakes you've made (the shadow) And questioning why you made them. Or the shadow represents the parallel life, the life you could’ve lived but you’ve made choices changing the course of your path and now you weep in mourning for those choices made. I could describe every line with how I’ve interpreted them but it would be too long on here. This song to me is beautiful and describes trying to live life, each choice being a lesson learned. (learning to fly)
4. anonymous

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   Jan 3rd 2020 !⃝

   In my opinion the video is inspired to Castaneda,also because the old indian at the begin turns his head on a side, end in a text of Castaneda this means to turn away the attention from the'ordinary reality'to the 'non-ordinary reality'.
5. anonymous

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   Oct 23rd 2018 !⃝

   The song is about astral projection. Its about training your soul/spirit to leave your body and soar. “earth bound misfit” means your body stays were it is. “could blow this soul right through the roof of the night”. Your lying in bed but your soul is flying. “across the clouds i see my shadow fly”. “A dream unthreatened by the morning light”
6. anonymous

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   Apr 19th 2018 !⃝

   Challenger shuttle final flight.
7. Lagerythym

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   Nov 3rd 2017 !⃝

   I guess I am the only one who thinks Carlos Castaneda. Is where I went the first time I heard it. The video convinced me.
8. anonymous

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   Apr 24th 2016 !⃝

   The video for this song depicts a story I read in Elementary school about a native American boy who ties eagle feathers to his arms and leaps off of a cliff. As he falls he becomes an eagle and flies away. The band Yes has a similar video for "Owner of a lonely heart",except it's a businessman jumping off of a skyscraper and turning into an eagle. That being said, I think the original motive for the song was drummer Nick Mason's love of flying. Watch the Pink Floyd video "Point me at the sky" and you"ll see what I mean. Thankyou and Good Day! signed Jay W. Russell
9. anonymous

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   May 6th 2014 !⃝

   It's a persons thoughts, as they're falling to their death.
10. Blacktull

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    Apr 7th 2010 !⃝

    David Gilmour wrote this Because at the time He was taking Flying lessons (Or it might have been Mason taking flying lessons I Forget) and he wrote what it felt like flying through the sky.

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