Angels’ Descend on Pop Charts
During the Eighties we couldn’t move for songs featuring the word
“fantasy,” and the hoary old “hand/understand” rhyme still crops up
with chilling regularity. But as the millennium bears down upon us,
there’s one lyrical clichT that, after much saber rattling, has
begun to saturate the music landscape. The most popular word in pop
is “angel.”
Despite it being a word with no obvious rhyme, it seems as if every
major artist has to give in and cut an “angel” song sooner or
later. The Eurythmics‘ “There Must Be An Angel,”
George Michael‘s “Cowboys and Angels” and
U2‘s “Angel of Harlem” spring most readily to
mind, but everyone from Madonna to J.
Geils Band and from Mariah Carey to
Great White have contributed to the heavenly host.
And though it has always had its adherents, the outbreak of
angelically-inspired ditties seems to have reached epidemic
proportions.
In Britain, Robbie Williams‘ lighter-waving smash,
“Angels,” has only just dropped off the singles chart after more
than six months of airplay, even though another “Angel,” by
Simply Red, had recently been a hit. But that’s
nothing. In the U.S. there are currently no fewer than
five seraphic songs fluttering around the Hot 100: “I’m
Your Angel” by R. Kelly and Celine
Dion; “Angel of Mine” by Monica; “Angel”
by Sarah McLachlan; “Fly (the Angel Song)” bythe
Wilkinsons and “Angel in Disguise” by
Brandy, each one a masterpiece of metaphorical
originality.
Next up? Maybe a rush of songs about being abducted by aliens. Or
perhaps a few about that other constant companion of our age: the
cell phone. Heaven only knows.