“Broken Wings” was written in about twenty minutes at the home of Mr. Mister vocalist Richard Page, with his bandmates Steve George and lyricist John Lang. Page started with a bass line over a drum machine, and the song came together before they had even planned to write. The title and central inspiration came from the 1912 novel The Broken Wings by the Lebanese writer Kahlil Gibran. Page has said the similar line in the Beatles’ “Blackbird” was an unintentional coincidence. Although RCA Records wanted to launch the album Welcome to the Real World with a more upbeat single, the band insisted on releasing “Broken Wings” first. Their gamble paid off: the song reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in December 1985, where it remained for two consecutive weeks. It also topped the charts in Canada and reached the Top 10 in the UK and several European countries, becoming Mr. Mister’s biggest hit and launching the band to international fame. The following single, “Kyrie,” would also reach No. 1.