Lyrics

Spend all your time waiting
For that second chance
For a break that would make it ok
There’s always one reason
To feel not good enough
And it’s hard at the end of the day
I need some distraction
Oh beautiful release
Memory seep from my veins
Let me be empty and weightless
And maybe I’ll find some peace tonight

In the arms of the angel
Fly away from here
From this dark cold hotel room
And the endlessness that you fear
You are pulled from the wreckage
Of your silent reverie
You’re in the arms of the angel
May you find some comfort here

So tired of the straight line
And everywhere you turn
There are vultures and thieves at your back
And the storm keeps on twisting
You keep on building the lie
That you make up for all that you lack
It don’t make no difference
Escaping one last time
It’s easier to believe in this sweet madness oh
Oh this glorious sadness that brings me to my knees

In the arms of the angel
Fly away from here
From this dark cold hotel room
And the endlessness that you fear
You are pulled from the wreckage
Of your silent reverie
You’re in the arms of the angel
May you find some comfort here
You’re in the arms of the angel
May you find some comfort here

 

Appears on

Surfacing (1997)
Mirrorball (1999)
Remixed (2001)
Afterglow Live (2004)
Mirrorball: The Complete Concert (2006)
Rarities, B-Sides & Other Stuff 2 (2008)
Closer: The Best Of Sarah McLachlan (2008)
The Essential Sarah McLachlan (2013)

Live EP 2004 (2004)
Live From Etown (2006)

Mirrorball DVD (1999)
VH1 Storytellers (2004)
Afterglow Live DVD (2004)

Angel (single)
Adia (single)
Building A Mystery (single)
Remixed Selections
Murmurs 3
Murmurs 4
Murmurs 7

 

Versions

Album Version
from “Surfacing”
Track length: 4:30

Live: Lilith Fair
from “iTunes Originals”
Track length: 5:55

Live: Mirrorball
from “Mirrorball”
Track length: 5:49

Live: Mirrorball Legacy Edition
from “Mirrorball: the complete concert”
Track length: 6:13

Live: Acoustic
from the “Live EP 2004″
Track length: 5:10

Live: Etown
from the “Live From Etown”
Track length: ???

Live: Afterglow Live
from “Afterglow Live”
Track length: 5:30

Live: Lilith Fair
from “Rarities, B-Sides & Other Stuff 2”
Track length: 5:57

Live: Lilith Fair, Clarkston MI 19 July 1997
from “Murmurs 3”
Track length: 5:00

Live: Star Lounge, Los Angeles CA 1998
from “Murmurs 4”
Track length: 4:12

Live: London, 19 Heathmans rd.
from “Murmurs 7”
Track length: ???

Radio Edit
from the “Angel” Single
Track lenght: 3:42

Dusted Mix
from “Remixed”
Track length: 4:00

Dusted Remix Edit
from “Angel” Maxi-Single Disc AA
Track length: 3:42

Soft Drum Mix
from “Building A Mystery” Single (Germany, AUS and US Version)
Track length: 4:30

Blank & Jones Mix
from ???
Track length: 4:14

 

Compilations

Collaborations

Emmylou Harris
They performed the song together at Lilith Fair. Appears on Sarah’s iTunes Originals album, Lilith Fair Vol. 2 and Rarities, B-Sides & Other Stuff 2.

Carlos Santana
Appears on Santana’s ‘Supernatural Live’ dvd. Sarah plays the piano and sings and is accompanied by Carlos Santana on the classical guitar.

Josh Groban
Sarah and Josh performed the song together the first time at 2005’s “Live 8″ in Philadelphia. At least two more performances at different events followed.

Pink
During the American Music Awards in 2008 (23 November) Sarah played Angel together with Pink. Live video and audio can be downloaded at the media section of 2008.

 

Credits

Vocals, Piano: Sarah McLachlan
Drum Machine: Pierre Marchand
Upright Bass: Jim Creegan

 

Trivia/Notes

– The Single topped the Billboard Top 40 Tracks chart for a week and the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart for 12 weeks.
– Appeares on the TV Show ALIAS (Season One).

 

Sarah says

“I hate to pinpoint it like that,” Sarah McLachlan descents, “But the inspiration did stem from reading a series of Rolling Stone articles over the past year and a half, typically about heroin in the music industry..” – August 1997 issue of CMJ

“Angel was yet another one of those songs that came to me within a matter of days. I was up in Nothern Quebec in a tiny little cottage, starting to write for the next record. And I was reading a Rolling Stone magazine and there was an article in it about the ‘Smashing Pumpkins’ keyboard player who recently OD-ed of a heroine overdose. Again I was recently off the road and I had been on the road for a long time at that point and I felt an incredible amount of sorrow and empathy for him and for his family and for all the other people who had been in that kind of situation, and could feel myself so close to the situation. I mean, I’ve never done heroine and I probably never will at this point in my life but the desperate need for escapism, whatever that might be, is incredibly powerful and alluring. And when you’re weak and in a place where you don’t have anybody, any support group or anybody, you know, who can pull you out of that, it’s really easy to get sucked into bad things. And uhm…So that song was sort of …You know, it started out being about him but of course it ended up being about me and thinking about, you know, again how easily it is to lose yourself and to need something to make you feel whole and secure. Wether that’s drugs or God or whatever. […]”
– iTunes Originals

 

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