Learning to Fly (Pink Floyd song)
Learning to Fly is a Pink Floyd song from the 1987 album A Momentary Lapse of Reason. It was the first single from the album and was written by David Gilmour, Anthony Moore, Bob Ezrin, and Jon Carin. The track runs 4:53 on the album (4:21 in the single edit) and blends soft rock with progressive rock.
In the United States, it reached number 70 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the Album Rock Tracks chart for three weeks. It did not chart in the UK top 40, but in Spain it reached number one on Los 40 Principales.
The song’s music came mainly from Gilmour’s work, built on a 1986 demo by Jon Carin, with lyrics by Anthony Moore. The distinctive opening rhythm was already in Carin’s demo. Moore’s separate demo, titled Earthbound Misfit, features his lyrics with a different tune and will be included on his Home of the Demo compilation due October 2024. The lyrics reflect Gilmour’s experience of learning to fly planes in the mornings before going to the studio, and are sometimes seen as about starting something new or Gilmour’s feelings about leading Pink Floyd after Roger Waters left. Gilmour said in 1992 that Pink Floyd were “learning to fly again.” Drummer Nick Mason’s voice can be heard in the middle of the song.
The track was a staple of Pink Floyd’s live shows after Waters left, with Tim Renwick playing the guitar solos on stage; studio versions feature Gilmour’s solos. A live version appears on Delicate Sound of Thunder and Pulse, and a guitar lick from the second verse of “Young Lust” closes the final solo.
The music video, directed by Storm Thorgerson, was shot in Alberta, Canada, and near Canmore. It features an Indigenous man who turns into a Harris's Hawk, among other imagery, and includes a Beechcraft Model 17 Staggerwing plane. The video won MTV’s Best Concept Video in 1988 and was a popular clip on MTV.
The song later appeared on Pink Floyd’s greatest-hits collection Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 11:42 (CET).