Song · Big Country
“Look Away” by Big Country
From the album The Seer (1986)
“Look Away” by Big Country appears on 13 radio countdowns from 5 stations between 1986 and 2005. It was first released in 1986 on the album The Seer. Its best result is #25 on the Studio Brussel De Eindafrekening 1986. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #28 alternative song of 1986, #2,257 alternative song of all time and #333 of the '80s.
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"Look Away" was the lead single from The Seer, Big Country's third album, released in 1986, and it became the Scottish band's highest-charting UK single, reaching No. 7 and going all the way to the top in Ireland. Stuart Adamson wrote and sang it, and he found his story in the 1982 film Harry Tracy, Desperado, about the outlaw of that name.
It's a windswept thing, those ringing, bagpipe-bright guitars galloping under Adamson's yearning vocal. Robin Millar produced it, and there are two mixes in circulation: Millar handled the single himself, while Walter Turbitt mixed the version on the album, as he did the rest of The Seer.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | 29 | KROQ Los Angeles, CA | KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1986 | 107 |
| 1986 | 52 | 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana | 91X Top 91 Songs of 1986 | 90 |
| 1986 | 25 | Studio Brussel Flanders, Belgium | Studio Brussel De Eindafrekening 1986 | 30 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | 437 | KROQ | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1988) | 496 |
| 1989 | 196 | KROQ | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1989) | 495 |
| 1999 | 1174 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) | 2000 |
| 2000 | 1175 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000) | 2001 |
| 2001 | 1179 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001) | 2002 |
| 2002 | 1178 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002) | 2003 |
| 2002 | 1606 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002) | 2002 |
| 2003 | 1163 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003) | 2004 |
| 2004 | 1163 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004) | 2005 |
| 2005 | 1163 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005) | 1994 |
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