Music Review: Aerosmith "Angel"

Angel
Album: Permenant Vacation
Year: 1987

Steven Tyler regrets being uncommunicative with his ex-girlfriend in the atoning ballad “Angel.”

Wailing guitars open the single, setting a hysterical tone. In the first verse, he says he’s afraid he made the worst mistake of his life. Now that he’s by himself, he’s had time to think through what went wrong. He misses the little things she used to do: the kisses on the cheek while making dinner, touching his arm as she talked to him, and setting a blanket on the couch, regardless of him saying he was cold. She just knew. But during the past couple months, he’s realized he expected her to be there and neglected her to party with his friends. Soon, the tension grew inside their home and their conversations revolved around the weather and impersonal small talk. He tells her to please listen to him and not hang up on the phone. He knows he was at fault and would like to start over.

“I'm alone/Yeah, I don't know if I can face the night/I'm in tears and the cryin' that I do is for you/I want your love, let's break the walls between us/Don't make it tough, I'll put away my pride/Enough's enough, I've suffered and I've seen the light.”

In the chorus, he says she’s the only person he can count on and help him face his fears. She’s the only one who can rescue him from the downward spiral he’s in right now. She will reassure him he’s worth more than being a drinking buddy.

“Baby/You're my angel/Come and save me tonight/You're my angel/Come and make it all right.”

In the second verse, he’s rattled by swirling, multiple emotions inside him. He’s not used to feeling depressed. He says he thought being with his friends and flirting with other women would be fun. However, he realized it didn’t satisfy him as much as he thought it would. He says she redeems him and makes him a man. He’s incomplete without her in his life. He’s an aimless person.

“Don't know what I'm gonna do/
About this feeling inside/Yes it's true, loneliness took me for a ride/Without your love, I'm nothing but a begger/Without your love, a dog without a bone/What can I do I'm sleeping in this bed alone.”

The chorus is sung again.

First, he pleads for her to come over and work things out. Then, a repenting guitar solo follows.

“Come and save me tonight.”

In the bridge, he tells her she’s everything to him. She encourages him to go on even though he’s frustrated. She’s the one who cuts right into his heart, turning him numb whenever she’s angry with him. She’s the person who makes him feel.

“You're the reason I live/
You're the reason I die/You're the reason I give/When I break down and cry/Don't need no reason why/Baby, baby, baby.”

In the final chorus, he asks her hear him out.

“You're my angel/Come and save me tonight/You're my angel/Come and take me alright/Come and save me tonight/Come and save me tonight/Come and save me tonight/Come and save me tonight/Come and save me tonight.”

The breakup blindsided him. He thought she was ok with him hanging his friends more. It wasn’t until after she told him she couldn’t be irrelevant in his life anymore, that he saw the signs. She spoke to him less and was going through the motions. The faraway looks and quiet television watching initially made him curious. But he thought she would talk about it whenever she was ready.

Tyler’s remorseful, despairing vocals are lonesome and searching. One more chance is all he needs to make things right. Being without her forever would break him.

The grievous arrangement bellows its pain and grasps onto what little fragments of possibility, forcing attention.

The fragile “Angel” is a touching ballad.

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