"Angel" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter

Sarah McLachlan Sarah Ann McLachlan Order of Canada, OC Order of British Columbia, OBC (born January 28, 1968) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. As of 2015, she had sold over 40 million albums worldwide. McLachlan's best-selling album to date is ''Surfacing ( ...

. The song first appeared on McLachlan's fourth studio album, '' Surfacing'', in 1997 and was released as the album's fourth and final single in September 1998. The lyrics are about the death of

Jonathan Melvoin Jonathan David Melvoin (December 6, 1961 – July 12, 1996) was an American musician, active in the 1980s and 1990s. Early life He was the son of Constance (née Ives) and Mike Melvoin, keyboardist for The Wrecking Crew, and brother of ...

(1961–1996), the

Smashing Pumpkins Smash may refer to: People * Smash (wrestler) (born 1959), professional wrestler * Moondog Rex, another professional wrestler who briefly wrestled as the original Smash, before being replaced by the above. * DJ Smash, DJ and music producer Art, ...

' touring keyboard player, from a heroin overdose, as McLachlan explained on ''

VH1 Storytellers ''Storytellers'' is a television music series produced by the VH1 network. In each episode, artists perform in front of a (mostly small and intimate) live audience, and tell stories about their music, writing experiences and memories, somewhat ...

''. It is sometimes mistitled as "In the Arms of an Angel" or "Arms of the Angel". "Angel" was McLachlan's second consecutive top-five hit on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, peaking at number four. It also spent 12 weeks at number one on the ''Billboard''

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

chart, placing as the number-one song on that chart for 1999. In McLachlan's native Canada, it reached number seven on the ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

'' Top Singles chart and number three on the Adult Contemporary chart. Outside North America, the song has charted in several countries in the years following its release, including reaching number seven in Ireland in 2002 and number nine in Norway in 2008.

Background

"Angel" was one of the first songs written for '' Surfacing''.

said that writing it was easy, "a real joyous occasion", and that "the bulk of it came in about three hours". It was inspired by articles that she read in ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' about musicians turning to

heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a potent opioid mainly used as a recreational drug for its euphoric effects. Medical grade diamorphine is used as a pure hydrochloride salt. Various white and brow ...

to cope with the pressures of the music industry and subsequently overdosing, most notably

, a keyboardist for

the Smashing Pumpkins The Smashing Pumpkins (also referred to as simply Smashing Pumpkins) are an American alternative rock band from Chicago. Formed in 1988 by frontman and guitarist Billy Corgan, bassist D'arcy Wretzky, guitarist James Iha and drummer Jimmy Chamb ...

, who died of an overdose in 1996. She said that she identified with the feelings that might lead someone to use heroin: "I've been in that place where you've messed up and you're so lost that you don't know who you are anymore, and you're miserable—and here's this escape route. I've never done heroin, but I've done plenty of other things to escape." She said that the song is about "trying not to take responsibility for other people's problems and trying to love yourself at the same time".

Composition

The song has a sparse arrangement, with only three instruments used: a piano played by McLachlan, a drum machine programmed by

Pierre Marchand Pierre Marchand (born 1958) is a Canadian songwriter, musician and record producer. Marchand is known for his ongoing collaboration with Sarah McLachlan, having produced all of her albums since '' Solace'' in 1991. He also co-wrote several of M ...

, and

upright bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

played by

Jim Creeggan James Raymond Creeggan (born February 12, 1970) is the bassist for Canadian alternative rock band Barenaked Ladies. Early life Creeggan was born in Scarborough, Ontario. His mother taught piano lessons to neighborhood children, which Creeggan cred ...

Barenaked Ladies Barenaked Ladies is a Canadian rock band formed in 1988 in Scarborough, Ontario. The band developed a following in Canada, with their self-titled 1991 cassette becoming the first independent release to be certified gold in Canada. They reach ...

. It was recorded in the key of

D-flat major D-flat major (or the key of D-flat) is a major scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B and C. Its key signature has five flats. It is enharmonically equivalent to C-sharp major. The D-flat major scale is: : Its r ...

. For live performances, it is transposed up one half-step to

D major D major (or the key of D) is a major scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. Its key signature has two sharps. Its relative minor is B minor and its parallel minor is D minor. The D major scale is: : Ch ...

, the key it was originally written in, and played without the bass.

Chart performance

Released as a single on 28 September 1998, "Angel" peaked at number four on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 on 22 February 1999 (spending 19 weeks in the top 10), finishing as the 18th most popular song of the year. It reached number one on three ''Billboard'' charts: the

Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks The Adult Contemporary chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary radio stations in the United States. The chart is compiled based on airplay data submitted to ''Billboard'' by stat ...

chart, the

Adult Top 40 The Adult Pop Airplay (formerly known as Adult Pop Songs and Adult Top 40) chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and ranks "the most popular adult top 40 as based on radio airplay detections measured by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems ...

chart, and the

Top 40 Tracks Top 40 Tracks was a chart from ''Billboard'' magazine. It debuted in the issue dated December 5, 1998 to preserve the notion of Hot 100 Airplay when it expanded to include airplay data from radio stations of other formats such as R&B, rock and cou ...

chart. It spent 12 weeks at number one on the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart, finishing as the number-one song of the year on that chart. In McLachlan's native Canada, "Angel" peaked at number seven on the ''RPM'' Top Singles chart in February 1999, ending the year as its forty-eighth most successful single. It also peaked at number three on the Canadian ''RPM'' Adult Contemporary chart. In the years following its release, "Angel" has charted in a large number of countries. On 21 January 2002, British producers

Rollo Armstrong Rowland Constantine O'Malley Armstrong (born 8 May 1966), known professionally as Rollo, is an English music producer. He is one half of the remix/production duo Rollo & Sister Bliss and is a founding member of the electronic music group Faithl ...

and Mark Bates (as their joint venture Dusted) released a remix that peaked at number seven in Ireland and number 36 in the United Kingdom. In 2008, "Angel" charted in Norway and peaked at number nine for two weeks. The following year, it made a brief appearance on the

New Zealand Singles Chart The Official New Zealand Music Chart ( mi, Te Papa Tātai Waiata Matua o Aotearoa) is the weekly New Zealand top 40 singles and albums charts, issued weekly by Recorded Music NZ (formerly Recording Industry Association of New Zealand). The Music ...

, debuting and peaking at number 36 in July. The song has charted in Austria and Switzerland on several occasions, peaking at number 17 in both counties, and it also reached number 57 in Germany in October 2012. The following month, it debuted and peaked at number 77 in France. During its original release, "Angel" peaked at number 99 on the Dutch

Single Top 100 The Dutch Single Top 100 or Single Top 100 is a Dutch chart, based on official physical single sales, legal downloads and since July 2013 streaming and composed by Dutch Charts. It is one of the three official charts, the other two being the Du ...

, but it reached a new peak of number 31 in February 2014.

Live performances

On 8 April 2000, McLachlan performed "Angel" with

Carlos Santana Carlos Humberto Santana Barragán (; born July 20, 1947) is an American guitarist who rose to fame in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band Santana, which pioneered a fusion of Rock and roll and Latin American jazz. Its sound featured ...

on guitar at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, California. The show was televised on Fox TV and released on the DV
Supernatural Live – An Evening with Carlos Santana and Friends
On 2 July 2005, McLachlan performed this song at

Live 8 Philadelphia On 2 July 2005, a Live 8 concert was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, with a densely packed audience stretched out for one mile along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The event was orga ...

with

Josh Groban Joshua Winslow Groban (born February 27, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. His first four solo albums have been certified multi-platinum, and he was charted in 2007 as the number-one best selling artist in the United States, wi ...

. She also performed the song during the "

Concert for Linda The Concert for Linda was a benefit tribute to Linda McCartney, wife of Paul McCartney. It was held at the Royal Albert Hall in London on 10 April 1999.

," dedicating it to the memory of

Linda McCartney Linda Louise McCartney, Lady McCartney ( Eastman; September 24, 1941 – April 17, 1998) was an American photographer, musician, animal rights activist, vegetarian cookbook author and advocate, and entrepreneur. She was the keyboardist in th ...

. On 10 September 2011, McLachlan performed the song to close the ceremonies at the dedication of the Flight 93 Memorial in Stonycreek Township, commemorating the passengers and crew of

United Airlines Flight 93 United Airlines Flight 93 was a domestic scheduled passenger flight that was hijacked by four al-Qaeda attackers aboard the plane on the morning of September 11, 2001, as part of the September 11 attacks. The plane eventually crashed in Som ...

who fought the hijackers and brought down their airplane in the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

. On 23 November 2008, Sarah McLachlan performed "Angel" at the

American Music Awards The American Music Awards (AMAs) is an annual American music awards show, generally held in the fall, created by Dick Clark in 1973 for ABC when the network's contract to air the Grammy Awards expired, and currently produced by Dick Clark Produc ...

with artist

Pink Pink is the color of a namesake flower that is a pale tint of red. It was first used as a color name in the late 17th century. According to surveys in Europe and the United States, pink is the color most often associated with charm, politeness, ...

. On 21 May 2019, McLachlan sang "Angel" on the sixteenth season of the US competition series ''

The Voice The Voice may refer to: Fictional entities * The Voice or Presence, a fictional representation of God in DC Comics * The Voice (''Dune''), a fictional ability in the ''Dune'' universe * The Voice, a character in the American TV series ''Cleo ...

'' as a duet with the eventual winner of the show, Maelyn Jarmon. On 21 April 2020, McLachlan and her daughter, India Sood, performed a duet, posted to Facebook, as a response to the

killing spree A spree killer is someone who commits a criminal act that involves two or more murders or homicides in a short time, in multiple locations. The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics defines a spree killing as "killings at two or more locations wit ...

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

Track listings

US CD and cassette single (1999) # "Angel" – 4:30 # "Ice Cream" (live) – 3:33 # "I Will Not Forget You" (live) – 5:37 European CD single 1 (1999) # "Angel" (radio mix) – 3:59 # "Ice Cream" (live) – 3:25 European CD single 2 (1999) # "Angel" (radio mix) – 3:59 # "Angel" (album version) – 4:30 # "Ice Cream" (live) – 3:25 # "I Will Not Forget You" (live) – 5:37 UK 12-inch vinyl (2002) :A1. "Angel" (Dusted Remix) – 5:28 :A2. "

Silence Silence is the absence of ambient audible sound, the emission of sounds of such low intensity that they do not draw attention to themselves, or the state of having ceased to produce sounds; this latter sense can be extended to apply to the ce ...

" (

Michael Woods Michael Woods may refer to: * Michael Woods (Australian politician) (1857–1934), member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly * Michael Woods (comics), American writer/editor of comic books * Michael Woods (cyclist) (born 1986), Canadian cyclist ...

Mix edit) – 7:11 :B1. " Sweet Surrender" (

DJ Tiësto A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile ...

Remix) – 7:04 UK CD single – Disc A (2002) # "Angel" (radio edit) – 3:40 # "Silence" (Fade Sanctuary Mix edit) – 3:50 # "Sweet Surrender" (DJ Tiësto Remix) – 7:04 UK CD single – Disc AA (2002) # "Angel" (Dusted Remix edit) – 3:42 # "Sweet Surrender" (Boilerhouse Boys Mix) – 3:56 # "Silence" (Michael Woods Mix) – 8:08

Personnel

Personnel are lifted from the ''Surfacing'' liner notes. * Sarah McLachlan – writing, vocals, piano * Pierre Marchand – drum machine * Jim Creeggan – upright bass

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

Release history

In popular culture

Since 2008, the song has become notable for being featured in television commercials with McLachlan for the

ASPCA The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to preventing animal cruelty. Based in New York City since its inception in 1866, the organization's mission is "to provide effective mea ...

References

External links

*
Brightcove music video
{{Authority control 1997 songs 1998 singles 1999 singles Arista Records singles Jill Johnson songs Lace (band) songs Nettwerk Records singles Reprise Records singles Sanna Nielsen songs Sarah McLachlan songs Songs about heroin Songs based on actual events Songs based on real people Songs written by Sarah McLachlan Warner Music Group singles