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"Broken Wings" is a #1 hit song released as a 1985 single by the band Mr. Mister.

The band's first single from their 1985 Welcome to the Real World album, "Broken Wings" reached the number one position on the U.S. charts in December 1985, where it remained for two weeks. It was released as the band was just about to embark on a U.S. tour opening for Tina Turner.

The song was co-written with lyricist John Lang, who was inspired by a book called "Broken Wings" written by Khalil Gibran ^[1]. The line "Take these broken wings and learn to fly" previously appeared in the Beatles' song "Blackbird".

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 crash cymbal played in reverse ^[1]. There is a distinct guitar sound in this track thanks to Steve Farris' innovation of the electric guitar, managing to extract a delay effect at an odd timing to create a contrast to the steadyness of the bass and beat. The outro to the song features Page singing a very high and lengthy falsetto note.

The music video for "Broken Wings" was directed by Oley Sassone and filmed in black & white^[2]. It features lead vocalist Richard Page driving through the desert in a classic old convertible. There is a scene of striking imagery where Page is sitting in a church when an eagle flies in through the window and lands next to him on the pew and they exchange a gaze. The full band is also featured in performance scenes during the video.

1. "Broken Wings" (single edit) - 4:29
2. "Uniform of Youth" - 4:25

1. "Broken Wings" (album length) - 5:45
2. "Uniform of Youth" - 4:25
3. "Welcome to the Real World" - 4:18

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• The popular Canadian teen drama Degrassi: The Next Generation, which is known for named each episode after an 80s hit song, named an episode after this song.
• Mr. Mister performed "Broken Wings" (along with "Kyrie") live on Saturday Night Live', on Dec. 7, 1985.
• "Broken Wings" was voted the number nineteen "Most Awesomely Bad Breakup Song" by VH1 and Blender magazine.
• In 1998, it was covered by C-Block on their CD "Keepin' It Real".
• In 2001, this song was sampled for a Tupac Shakur song on his posthumous album Until the End of Time, for the title song.
• In 2001, it was sampled and performed on the title song of Foxy Brown's Broken Silence album.
• In 2002, the song was featured in the game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City on fictional station Emotion 98.3.
• In 2004, Richard Cheese performed this live in Las Vegas on his album I'd Like a Virgin.
• In 2005, Rick Springfield sang this song on his "tribute" album The Day After Yesterday as a duet with original vocalist Richard Page.
• In 2006, it was covered by Clay Aiken on his CD A Thousand Different Ways.
• In 2007, it was covered by The Panic Division on their CD "Songs From The Glasshouse".
• In 2007, it was covered by Northern Kings on their CD "Reborn".
• Joe Budden released a freestyle using the beat and chorus from "Broken Wings" in October 2006.
• Prince's ex-wife Mayte covered the song early in her vocal career.
• It was also covered by Australian band Repeat Offender.

1. ^ ^{a b} Notes on Broken Wings - from Mr. Mister fansite
2. ^ MVdbase entry - music video details

• Broken Wings - video courtesy of YouTube
• Kahlil Gibran - "Broken Wings" book