‘Broken Wings’ is a 1985 song recorded by American pop rock band Mr. Mister. It was released in June 1985 as the lead single from their second album Welcome to the Real World. The song peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in December 1985, where it remained for two weeks. It was released as the band was just about to embark on a US tour opening for Tina Turner. ‘Broken Wings’ became the first of two consecutive number ones of the band on the American charts, the other chart-topper being ‘Kyrie’. Outside of the United States, ‘Broken Wings’ topped the charts in Canada, peaked within the top ten of the charts in Australia, Belgium (Flanders), the Netherlands, Norway, the Republic of Ireland, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and West Germany, and the top twenty of the charts in Austria, New Zealand, Spain and Sweden.
The ballad was co-written with lyricist John Lang, who was inspired by Kahlil Gibran's novel Broken Wings. The song is a mix of synth, digitally delayed guitar, bass and drums. The song's hissing intro was an effect created by the sound of a crash cymbal played in reverse. Although the 1968 Beatles song ‘Blackbird’ contains an identical lyric, "Take these broken wings and learn to fly", Richard Page has described this as "a mindless unintentional reference" attributable to both compositions being influenced by the Gibran novel. John Lang wrote this song with Mr. Mister frontman Richard Page and guitarist Steve George. According to Page, they were at his home in California when the three of them came up with the song in about 20 minutes and recorded it on Page's tape machine.
This was the first single from Mr. Mister's second album. Their record company, RCA, wanted to release an uptempo song first, but the band fought them on it and won out. Released ahead of the album, the song went to #1 US in December 1985, marking a breakthrough for the band, whose biggest hit from their first album was ‘Hunters of the Night,’ which peaked at #57. The follow-up single, ‘Kyrie,’ also went to #1.
Stereogum wrote about the song: “Lyrically, ‘Broken Wings’ is an attempt to keep a relationship together through the magic of flowery language: "Take these broken wings/ And learn to fly again, learn to live so free/ When we hear the voices sing/ The book of love will open up and let us in." Those words are grandiloquent enough to be self-parody, but Page delivers them all perfectly straight-faced. He means every bit of it. In Page's mouth, the word "take" becomes a desperate animal yelp. I love it. I also love how overproduced "Broken Wings" is. The song is all ominous churn, and it never really kicks in. Instead, it captures a state of sustained anticipation.”
Label – RCA
Songwriters – Richard Page, Steve George, John Lang
Producers – Mr. Mister, Paul De Villiers
SONG LYRICS
[Verse 1]Baby, don't understand
Why we can't just hold on to each other's hands?
This time might be the last I fear
Unless I make it all too clear
I need you so, ohh
[Chorus]
Take these broken wings
And learn to fly again, learn to live so free
When we hear the voices sing
The book of love will open up and let us in
Take these broken wings
[Verse 2]
Baby, I think tonight
We can take what was wrong and make it right
Baby, it's all I know that you're half of the flesh
And blood that makes me whole, I need you so
[Chorus]
So take these broken wings
And learn to fly again, learn to live so free
When we hear the voices sing
The book of love will open up and let us in
Take these broken wings
You've got to learn to fly, learn to live, love so free
When we hear the voices sing
The book of love will open up and let us in
Yeah, yeah
[Interlude]
Let us in
Let us in
[Bridge]
Baby, it's all I know that you're half of the flesh
And blood that makes me whole
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
[Chorus]
So take these broken wings
And learn to fly again, learn to live so free
And when we hear the voices sing
The book of love will open up and let us in
Take these broken wings
You got to learn to fly, learn to live and love so free
When we hear the voices sing
The book of love will open up for us and let us in
Yeah, yeah
[Outro]
Yeah, yeah
Ooh