Pink Floyd – Learning To Fly

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

Throttle friction lock – set
Mixtures – rich
Propellers – fully forward
Flaps – set – ten degrees
Engine gauges and suction – check
Radios – set
Transponder – set, recheck
Flight instruments
Altimeters – check both
Navigation lights – on
Pitot heater – on
Strobes – on
Golf romeo-echo ready for departure
Romeo-echo listen out 129 decimal 4
129 4 listening out
Romeo-echo is cleared takeoff, the wind’s north at ten knots
Romeo-echo
So, on the brake. Just be ready, it’s gonna roll this time
Just feel 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