Thursday Inspiration #172 Broken Wings

Respond to this challenge, by either by using the prompt word free, or going with the above picture, or by means of the song ‘Broken Wings’, or by going with another song by Mr. Mister, or anything else that you think fits.  ‘Broken Wings’ was released on Mr. Mister’s 1985 second studio album Welcome To The Real World and the single went to #1 in the US and it charted #4 in the UK.  Mr. Mister was an American rock band from Phoenix, Arizona, active from 1982 until 1990.  The band consisted of Richard Page on lead vocals and bass guitar, Steve George on keyboards/backing vocals, Pat Mastelotto on acoustic and electronic drums/percussion and Steve Farris on guitars/backing vocals.  Mr. Mister was the successor to the band Pages, fronted by Page and George from 1978 to 1981.

The lyrics for ‘Broken Wings’ were written by John Lang, and he based them on a poetic novel “The Broken Wings” which was written by Khalil Gibran and first published in Arabic in 1912.  It is a tale of tragic love, set in turn-of-the-century Beirut.  A young woman, Selma Karamy, is betrothed to a prominent religious man’s nephew.  The protagonist (a young man that Gibran perhaps modeled after himself) falls in love with this woman.  They begin to meet in secret, but they are discovered, and Selma is forbidden to leave her house, breaking their hopes and hearts.  Every description of place and character in this book is inextricably melded to nature, which heightens the intensity of the sensual imagery.  Their love that is doomed by social convention and in this song, broken wings must be utilized to pick up the pieces of their life so they can move on.  There is a note of heartbreak, when the singer asks the girl to spread her wings and fly away, hoping that love will bring her back.

John Lang who was Page’s cousin wrote mostly for the band Pages, Mr. Mister, Al Jarreau the only vocalist in history to net Grammy Awards in three different categories (jazz, pop, and R&B) and he wrote ‘Mystery of Love’ for Donna Summer.  The Beatles song ‘Blackbird’ contains the line, “Take these broken wings and learn to fly” which Lennon and McCartney also derived from the Khalil Gibran novel.  The Beatles also borrowed the first two lines of their song ‘Julia’ from Gibran’s 1926 poem Sand And Foam, which they released on their 1968 double album The Beatles (also known as “the White Album”) with “Half of what I say is meaningless, but I say it just to reach you, Julia.”

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