"Given to Fly" is the first single from Pearl Jam's fifth studio album, Yield. The single was released on January 6, 1998 with a B-side titled "Leatherman". "Given to Fly" proved to be the album's most popular single. "Given to Fly" topped the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and eventually peaked at number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song spent a total of six weeks at number 1 on the Mainstream Rock chart. The song was included on Pearl Jam's greatest hits album, Rearviewmirror: Greatest Hits 1991-2003.
The song features lyrics written by frontman Eddie Vedder and music written by guitarist Mike McCready. In many ways, "Given to Fly" is one of the group's most significant singles - both its classic-rock composition and its warm, crisp sound recall Ten, which suggests that Pearl Jam were at least somewhat shaken by their fanbase's cool reception to the artsy, frayed No Code. About the song, McCready said, "I just kind of imagined ["Given to Fly"] as sort of a wave in an ocean: It starts out slow and then it gets a little larger and a little larger and then it breaks and then it comes down again. And that's metaphorically how I think of that song."
The guitar part and main vocal melody in the song have been noted for their similarities to Led Zeppelin's "Going to California". When asked about the similarities, guitarist Mike McCready stated, "It's probably some sort of rip off of it I'm sure...Whether it's conscious or unconscious but that was definitely one of the songs I was listening to for sure. Zeppelin was definitely an influence on that." At a 2005 benefit concert in Chicago for Hurricane Katrina relief, Pearl Jam performed the song in concert with Robert Plant in attendance. The band then segued "Given to Fly" into "Going to California", with Robert Plant joining in.
Live performances of "Given to Fly" can be found on the live albums Live on Two Legs and Live at the Gorge 05/06. Performances of the song are also included on the DVDs Single Video Theory and Touring Band 2000.
