Given to Fly is a song by the American rock band Pearl Jam. Featuring lyrics written by vocalist Eddie Vedder and music written by guitarist Mike McCready, Given to Fly was released to radio on December 22, 1997, as the first single from the band’s fifth studio album, Yield.
[Verse 1]
He could’ve tuned in, tuned in, but he tuned out
A bad time, nothing could save him
Alone in a corridor, waiting, locked out
He got up outta there, ran for hundreds of miles
He made it to the ocean, had a smoke in a tree
The wind rose up, set him down on his knee
A wave came crashing like a fist to the jaw
Delivered him wings, “Hey, look at me now”
Arms wide open with the sea as his floor
Oh, power, oh
[Chorus]
He’s.. flying
Whole
High.. wide, oh
Given to Fly proved to be the album’s most popular single. The song topped the US Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and eventually peaked at number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100. Worldwide, the single charted well, reaching number five in Finland, number six in Norway and Spain, and the top 20 in Australia, Iceland, Ireland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
McCready on the song:
It was snowing here in Seattle, which it rarely does, and so they kind of shut down all the streets and I couldn’t get my car out of the driveway. And I have a Volvo and you’d think those would be able to drive in the snow, but no, it wasn’t going anywhere, so I was kind of stuck in my condo. And I wrote that riff [for “Given to Fly”] and the “Faithfull” riff that day
References:
1. Given to Fly – Wikipedia
“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand
Observation Blogger 
One of my favorites of Pearl Jam. In fact, the whole album is priceless.
It’s in my top 15 by them although I’m not very cognizant of their music post 2010. I’ll have to listen to the entire album. Thanks, Cindy, for commenting.