Learning to Fly — Pink Floyd
Tags: Music, Rock, Live

Music is beautiful. It is open to interpretations. If the lyrics are little abstract, the listener makes it his or her own experience as much as it is the music artists. The notes and chords set it apart from just a way of conveying feelings for the lyricist or the musician. It becomes personal. A listener puts bits and pieces of his life and situations in the experience of the song. Once he does that the music or the song is his. It is a uniquely designed experience for the listener.

It’s quarter to eleven at night. I am sitting below a cloudy sky. There is a swimming pool next to me. The cold breeze is disturbing the steady surface of the water. The sole light near the pool is illuminating a small circle around it. I am a little sleepy, yet I keep punching my mobile keyboard as I write this. My earphones are singing the tunes of Pink Floyd. A timeless classic. The song that’s playing now is Learning to Fly.

I’ve always considered this good enough song to sing along. But just good enough. I never dug deep in this song to notice any philosophical overtones other Pink Floyd songs usually contain. Yet when I listen to it today, it offers a lot of meaning which is perfectly suited only for me. That suddenly makes this song very personal. It’s just playing in a loop now as I stare at my engagement ring.

Yes. I got engaged last month. My finger is still getting used to the feeling of the gold ring that wraps it. That getting used to is about so many other things too. Leaving the steady, independent ground of being single and learning to fly. One month into it and these simple lyrics bring a smile on my face. It is like polysemy. These words are just so versatile.

The music starts. The layers of percussion set the tone. It is somewhat chaotic at first, then the steady bass line provides something to hold on. This groovy percussion never leaves you but just steps in the background as lyrics enter.

Standing alone my senses reeled

A fatal attraction is holding me fast,

How can I escape this irresistible grasp?

Wasn’t I happy being single? Completely in control of my life. Firm ground below my feet. Everything was so comfortable. Yet this fatal attraction grabs me and reels me in. I could not escape the enticement. I just love the feeling. It just gets better from here.

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.

No navigator indeed. These experiences are unique to each his own. They can give you manuals, but you then leave all that as you enter the cockpit. It is your journey, isn’t it? Unladen and empty, no amount of past life experiences prepare you for this. It is just a new leaf. The fatal attraction has charmed you now. The sole tension is to learn the tricks of the trade. Take in the new experiences, form new aspects of your personality as you go along. Still on the ground, just engaged remember? Still reading manuals but determined to try.

Above the planet on a wing and a prayer,

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

Does it need any explanation? All the manuals are done and dusted. All theory is over. You know enough people who tell you not to enter the cockpit, then there are many who are soaring high, which is tempting as well. You look around. You are alone, handling it alone, there is no practice round here. You are already airborne, no longer on the hard ground. All this while you are screaming…

Can’t keep my mind from the circling skies

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

These lines keep repeating. That’s the perpetual state of affairs, ain’t it? You have no clue of what lies ahead. It is crazy. The steady bass line has faded somewhere. The chaotic percussion is subdued. You are airborne. You are going haywire or you are going straight. There’s no way to know. You hardly understand the dials yet. You figure things out as you go. The chaotic yet rhythmic percussion starts getting familiar. You no longer search the steady ground.

Pink Floyd is fantastic for this very reason. Their music works so well with their music. The fabric is woven artistically. May it be that marching sounds of Another Brick, or church bells of High Hopes. But more on that later. Right now just…