"Looks Like We Made It" is a song by American singer Barry
Manilow, from his 1976 album,
This One's For You, composed by Richard Kerr with lyrics
by Will Jennings. It was released as a single on 20 April
1977.
The song was first released in 1976 on his album
This One's For You, and it was released as a single in
1977 where it reached the number one spot on both the U.S.
Billboard Hot 100, and the U.S. Adult Contemporary chart.
Despite the optimism suggested by the song's title, the
narrator is actually ruminating on the fact that he and his
ex-lover have finally found happiness and fulfillment—though
not with each other. They have, indeed, "made it," but apart,
not together. In
The Billboard Book of Number One Adult Contemporary
Hitsby Wesley Hyatt (p. 208), songwriter Will Jennings
commented, "Richard [Kerr] and I have often remarked on the
people, millions of them in the world, who misunderstood the
lyric of 'Looks Like We Made It.' 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. I don't
know. Perhaps it is... in a way."
Hyatt, Wesley.
The Billboard Book of Number One Adult Contemporary
Hits."Looks Like We Made It," page 208. Billboard Books,
1999.