Sunday Music: Learning To Fly (But I Ain’t Got Wings)

I had it on cassette and played it to death in my Walkman. I’d play it on the swings, daydreaming about performing songs like these on a stage to cheering, adoring, and equally passionate fans.

And here, all these years later, it sneaks up on me because a friend quotes it in an email. The words immediately take me back, take me forward, and then right over the edge.

Tom Petty. You damn magician you.

Well I started out down a dirty roadStarted out all aloneAnd the sun went down as I crossed the hillAnd the town lit up, the world got stillI’m learning to fly, but I ain’t got wingsComing down is the hardest thing

Well, the good ol’ days may not returnAnd the rocks might melt and the sea may burnI’m learning to fly, but I ain’t got wingsComing down, is the hardest thing

Well, some say life will beat you downBreak your heart, steal your crownSo I’ve started out for God-knows-whereI guess I’ll know when I get thereI’m learning to fly, around the cloudsBut what goes up, must come downI’m learning to fly, but I ain’t got wingsComing down is the hardest thing

I’m learning to fly, around the cloudsBut what goes up, must come downI’m learning to fly