Barry Manilow's No. 1 Hit From 1977 Is His Saddest Love Song, Hands Down

In the mid-1970s, Barry Manilow was one of the most popular musicians on Earth, consistently scoring big hits with tender, sensitive, and earnest love ballads. But among a collection that includes weepy, emotional tracks like "Can't Smile Without You," "Ready to Take a Chance Again," and "Mandy," "Looks Like We Made It" is the saddest. Manilow's third and last No. 1 to date, it topped the pop chart for a week in the summer of 1977, with a great number of people embracing the song.

Maybe because Manilow was an expert of straightforward '70s love songs detailing undying love and devotion, or maybe because of the title, it's a common misconception that "Looks Like We Made It" is about a couple looking back on a long relationship and realizing that they weathered every proverbial storm and difficulty and came out the other end strong and more in love than ever. It's actually not about that at all. "Looks Like We Made It" isn't romantic, but a melancholic examination of a finished romance. It's technically a breakup song that is bound to get a Boomer mad – and a rare bit of downbeat pop from Manilow.

Richard Kerr wrote the music for "Looks Like We Made It," the same as he did for "Mandy," another No. 1 Barry Manilow song, which was renamed because of another '70s hit. Will Jennings came up with the lyrics, inspired to come up with something bittersweet from Kerr's hook-loaded composition and emotionally overwrought vibes. Listeners who thought it was a love song for the long-together missed some clues in those lyrics. "Richard and I have often remarked on the people, millions of them in the world, who misunderstood the lyric of 'Looks Like We Made It,'" Jennings said in the liner notes to "Barry Manilow: The Complete Collection and Then Some..." "It is a rather sad and ironic lyric about making it apart and not together, and of course everyone thinks it is a full on, positive statement."

"Looks Like We Made It" tells a story of two former lovers who run into one another, and it's a sad and awkward encounter. Both ex-partners did indeed "make it," or rather find lasting happiness in a romantic relationship, but it wasn't with one another. "Left each other on the way to another love," Manilow sings through the voice of the song's character, taking an honest, blunt, and sad look at the situation.