Title Fight: "Look Up"

Detail of photo from Lee Jeans advertisement, 1975

I'm a corny sentimentalist, so of course I love songs with names like "Look Up". Two great songs have this title, and it's weird that I haven't had them face off yet. This is one of the match-ups I had in mind when I decided to do the "Title Fight" feature.

The first "Look Up" is by Chris Bell, the Memphis-based songwriter who was a key player on the first Big Star record. After leaving Big Star, Bell traveled a lot and made a set of solo recordings while dealing with drug addiction and depression. Only one single was ever released before Bell crashed his Triumph into a light-pole and died in '78, but the songs were compiled as I Am the Cosmos in 1992. This collection is great, and "Look Up" is one of my favorites. With a mellotron-and-guitar arrangement, the song begins with a thin, distant vocal from Bell. When the multi-tracked backing vocals kick in, the song really takes off with a beautiful rising melody line. The lyric seems to be an uplifting spiritual message, like many of Bell's later songs, but one line is puzzling: "If you look up you'll see him / you know we're all alone." Bell's yearning vocal and the song's lullaby-like sound make this one a real heart-breaker.

Toronto band Stars go for a similar vibe with their "Look Up". Instead of a mellotron, their song begins with a lovely English horn melody sampled from Berlioz. Drum machines and pulsing bass are added to this sample as Amy Millan begins to sing, and horn swells add to the great chorus hook. My favorite part, though, is where the instruments all drop away after the chorus, leaving just the chugging bass and horn sample. The lyric here is also an uplifting one, but on a more romantic and personal level - the chorus ends, "Look up rain is falling / Looks like love." Weirdly, this song was not a breakthrough single for the band - it should have been a hit.

At least they got to see their songs get released. I'm going to have to give this one to Chris Bell because his story is just so sad. As much as I love Stars, they should have known better than to go up against a member of the 27 Club.

Winner: CHRIS BELL

"Look Up" by Chris Bell

"Look Up" by Stars