One of the beauties of music is its ability to bring fantasy to life. One can write a song about traveling back in time, about floating in outer space or about flying through the sky. And when you bring that fantasy to the rumble and rollicking genre of classic rock music, you’ve really got something.
Videos by American Songwriter
Here below, we wanted to dive into five such songs. Five tracks that not only propel your heart but get your mind and imagination believing you could touch the clouds and head even higher. Indeed, these are five classic rock songs about flying.
[RELATED: 4 Songs Inspired by Aliens and Outer Space]
1. “Learning To Fly,” Pink Floyd
From the British-born band Pink Floyd’s 1987 LP, A Momentary Lapse of Reason, this song hit No. 70 on the Billboard Hot 100 and, content-wise, the track is all about getting off the ground. The band uses the metaphor of flight (in pretty detailed ways) to talk about lifting off in a metaphysical sense. With big guitars and the group’s signature heady vibe, David Gilmour sings of rising up,
Into the distance, a ribbon of black
Stretched to the point of no turning back
A flight of fancy on a wind swept 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
Unladened, empty and turned to stone
2. “Given to Fly,” Pearl Jam
The first single from the Seattle-born grunge rock band’s 1998 album, Yield, this track is about getting away from the world but then deciding to come back and be generous with it. Pearl Jam lead singer Eddie Vedder seems always to be pushing to find new ground—even if it’s in the air—and in this song he has the protagonist achieve that but then decided to return from whence he came. Sings Vedder in the second-half of the tune,
He’s flying
Whole
High, wide, oh
He floated back down ’cause he wanted to share
His key to the locks on the chains he saw everywhere
But first he was stripped, and then he was stabbed
By faceless men, well, fuckers
He still stands
And he still gives his love, he just gives it away
The love he receives is the love that is saved
And sometimes is seen a strange spot in the sky
A human being that was given to fly
3. “Rocket Man,” Elton John
This classic song is from one of the most famous songwriters and performers ever. Elton John’s “Rocket Man” is about achieving greater and greater heights. Released on John’s 1972 album, Honky Château, the song explicates what it must have felt like for the British-born singer to become a star and at least somewhat unrecognizable from who he once was. On it, he sings,
And I think it’s gonna be a long, long time
‘Til touchdown brings me ’round again to find
I’m not the man they think I am at home
Oh, no, no, no
I’m a rocket man
Rocket man
Burning out his fuse up here alone
4. “Danger Zone,” Kenny Loggins
Maybe more than any other, this Kenny Loggins song is associated with flying, flying, flying. And doing so fast. From the soundtrack for the 1986 hit movie, Top Gun, which is one of the best-selling soundtracks ever, this Kenny Loggins offering is about the “danger” of being a fighter pilot. But, oh, that danger feels so good, doesn’t it? The song opens with such jet-fueled oomph, as Loggins sings,
Revvin’ up your engine
Listen to her howlin’ roar
Metal under tension
Beggin’ you to touch and go
Highway to the Danger Zone
Ride into the Danger Zone
Headin’ into twilight
Spreadin’ out her wings tonight
She got you jumpin’ off the deck
Shovin’ into overdrive
5. “Fly Away,” Lenny Kravitz
This badass track comes from Lenny Kravitz’ 1998 album, 5. The song hit No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned the artist a Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Performance in 1999. It’s about wanting to fly and the singer wishing he could do it right now. To go higher and higher, to see the world from a new perspective, to get away and do so by achieving even greater heights. On it Kravitz sings,
I wish that I could fly
Into the sky
So very high
Just like a dragonfly
I’d fly above the trees
Over the seas in all degrees
To anywhere I please, oh
I want to get away
I want to fly away
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Photo by Amy Sussman/WireImage
