Learning to Fly

I know Pink Floyd and Tom Petty both have songs with that same title. They are both high on my playlist of favorites.

Today I’m thinking of Tom Petty’s song.

I’m learning to fly but I ain’t got wings
coming down is the hardest thing

Listen on Google Play or read the full lyrics

I have a good friend that’s an Airforce pilot. He says the joke amongst pilots is that flying is easy, but landing is the hard part. At first I thought Tom Petty was referring to this.

The other day while I was listening to it, I changed my mind. Sometimes Tom Petty is very literal, but a great deal of the time he is metaphorical. Of courser this must be how he’s writing this because without wings, nothing can fly, literally speaking. So he’s learning to fly, to go places he’s not been before. These places will be better than where he is or where he’s been. Why is coming down the hardest thing? I think because when he’s flying, he’s doing great things, feeling wonderful emotions and landing means leaving all of that behind.

Or, as one of my friends pointed out ruining my fantasy, he could just be talking about drugs. I choose the metaphor above. Not everything is sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll.

learning