Mr. Mister – Broken Wings

“Broken Wings” – Single by Mr. Mister from the album Welcome to the Real World
B-side; “Uniform of Youth”
Released: June 6, 1985
Recorded: November 1984
Label: RCA
Songwriters: Richard Page, Steve George, John Lang
Producers: Mr. Mister, Paul De Villiers
Charted No.1 in US and No.4 in UK
Charted No.1 in US; No.4 in UK; No.8 in West Germany; No.4 in Australia; No.17 in Austria; No.2 in Belgium; No.1 in Canada; No.3 in Ireland; No.6 in Italy; No.4 in Norway; No.13 in Spain; No.14 in Sweden.
Recorded 12/14/1985 – Ritz (New York, NY)
Copyright Bill Graham Archives

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 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.

This classic pop song was inspired by a book the lyricist John Lang read called The Broken Wings, which was written by the Lebanese poet-philosopher Kahlil Gibran. The book, which was written in 1912, is a story of a love that is doomed by social convention.

Its theme is echoed in this song: picking up the pieces of your life and moving on. There is a note of heartbreak, however, as the singer is asking the girl to spread her wings and fly away, hoping that love will bring her back.

The line, “Take these broken wings and learn to fly” appears in The Beatles song “Blackbird.” Paul McCartney and John Lennon both drew from the work of Kahlil Gibran, as the first two lines of The Beatles “Julia” came from Gibran’s 1926 poem Sand And Foam: “Half of what I say is meaningless, but I say it just to reach you, Julia.”

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.

Original video