"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. "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), Italy, 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 which is provided by synthsesizer 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 his composition being influenced by the Gibran novel.
The music video for "Broken Wings" was directed by Oley Sassone and filmed in black and white. It features lead vocalist/bassist Richard Page driving through the desert in a classic Ford Thunderbird, the first allusion to birds. There is a scene where Page is sitting in a church when a Harris's Hawk 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. Also appearing in the video are an unknown man and woman dancing tango. They are only shown from the waist down. At the end of the video Page is seen next to the Thunderbird with the vehicle's hood open.
Stereogum wrote about the song:
New Zealand pop singer K'Lee covered "Broken Wings" and released it as a single on June 11, 2001. Her version peaked at number two on the New Zealand Singles Chart, becoming her highest-charting single there along with 2002's "Can You Feel Me?"
"Broken Wings" was sampled in the posthumous Tupac song "Until the End of Time". The song reached No. 4 in the UK.