Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – Learning To Fly
An evening pause: Performed live, 2006.
R.I.P.
I’m learning to fly
But I ain’t got wings
Coming down
Is the hardest thing.
Hat tip Edward Thelen.
Readers!
Every February I run a fund-raising drive during my birthday month. This year I celebrate my 72nd birthday, and hope and plan to continue writing and posting on Behind the Black for as long as I am able.
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Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
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An evening pause: Performed live, 2006.
R.I.P.
I’m learning to fly
But I ain’t got wings
Coming down
Is the hardest thing.
Hat tip Edward Thelen.
Readers!
Every February I run a fund-raising drive during my birthday month. This year I celebrate my 72nd birthday, and hope and plan to continue writing and posting on Behind the Black for as long as I am able.
I hope my readers will support this effort. As I did in my November fund-raising drive, I am offering autographed copies of my books for large donations. Donate $250 and you can have a choice of the hardback of either Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8 or Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space. Donate $200 and you can get an autographed paperback copy of either.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
One of the great all time rockers, he will be missed!
I’ve taken a course in hang gliding, flying horizontally with a delta wing attached to your back, starting by jumping off a cliff. The instructors said more people die during golf than during hang gliding. Of course, many more people play golf than hang glide, and those who die from old age do so while playing golf because they spend so much time there. Maybe brave people are brave just because they lie to themselves about the dangers? With hang gliding, life is at stake each time.
So, silly lyrics. Coming down is unavoidable. Although one wishes one could be on the ground again without the landing part. Out of ten guys for three weeks, only one broke a leg and two quit. One after having gained surprising height and blew away over the mountain tops to the next valley. He came back to the instructors’ farm late at night after a long walk through the wilderness, bruised and in torn clothes without the wing. He left the next morning. (That all got off topic)
Local Fluff, I have always said, at least when I go flying, I have wings!, often see people on motorcycles going airborne in some form of stunt and think that to my self!
@Joe
Wings? So, you’re Hell’s Angels? :-)
Great audience-participation, good selection Edward.
Felix Baumgartner jump
Red Bull Stratos
https://youtu.be/7f-K-XnHi9I?t=195
@Joe:
Heartily agree. My Petty albums were some of the first I converted to CD.
@LocalFluff:
Flying is easy; landing is hard.
Landing is the fun part, take offs mean you are committed to the landing!
As they say about mountain climbing: Going up is optional, getting down is mandatory!
eddie willers: Heh. In caving and hiking the Grand Canyon, it is the reverse: Going down is optional, climbing out is mandatory.