LIFT ME UP

Lift Me Up is an excellent song from the unfairly derided Union album. Co-written by Trevor Rabin and Chris Squire, the song is in my opinion Rabin's #1 finest moment as a song writer. Like many other songs from the Rabin-era of the band, the lead vocals are shared between him and Jon Anderson to great effect and Rabin hands in some excellent guitar work.

The song was released as a single at the time and became one of the band's most successful singles. Several different versions of the single exist with several different edits of the title song. In addition to the six and a half minute album version, there is also a five minute radio edit, and a four minute single edit of the tune. Furthermore, there is a version with an alternative, a cappella opening that was used for the official music video for the song. The a cappella opening brings Queen to mind, especially when seeing the music video which begins with a very Bohemian Rhapsody-like scene with all eight members singing against a dark background with lighting focusing on their faces. The music video is worth a viewing.

While the song is essential, owning the single is not since the best version of Lift Me Up is on Union and so is Take The Water To The Mountain which was included as a b-side on some versions of the single. Other versions of the single had instead Give & Take. The latter is included as a bonus track on the European CD version of Union. The beautiful Roger Dean artwork, similar to but not identical to the Union album, does however make this single a desirable collector's item.