Interview with Barbara from 1997 / Angels

[Tango]

I am curious to know how others are interpreting this song, since some think it's not about death. I guess in my mind the whole crossroads idea seems to be about some sort of transition from life to death-- I sort of picture a patient looking up from the hospital bed (or wherever they happen to be) and see an angel standing there. Everything was the same except everything was different, as if he could see something that no one else could see. Family/friends--people were standing about, and the floor was wet and slippery with the tracks of their tears. I took that to mean grieving, but yet seeing this man was passing on to something else, maybe.

Perhaps Stevie sees death, sometimes, as a positive step or something. An angel shows up to "take you away." Apparently a positive greeting into another dimension. Not a picture painting of death = rotting, but something more. Moving to something positive-- something better.


seekerj, how do you read this song, if you don't mind my asking. You see it differently, right? And that's certainly possible! What do you think Stevie's saying or seeing with these words?


TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL

And when she walked in the room
After so many years,
He looked up and saw her
He was standing at the crossroads
She was moving in slow motion
Everything was the same,
Except that everything was different

In that very moment, everyone was silent
And everyone was friendly,
For the first time in years,
Everyone was smiling
Though their pain was apparent
and the floor was wet and slippery
With the tracks of their tears

And then I see someone standing
At the side of the stage
Not standing in the shadows
I see her face
Glowing in the darkness
In her own angel way
"I have come to make you better,
I have come to take you away."

No one slipped and fell
This time, everyone was steady
Someone held my arm so that
I would not fall
For the first time, in a long time
Everyone was ready
No one said a word
And that simply said it all

And then I see someone standing
At the side of the stage
Not standing in the shadows
I see her face
Glowing in the darkness
In her own angel way
"I have come to make you better,
I have come...to take you away."I’ll make you better

Walking through the room together
In suspended animation...
No one saw us go... no one said goodbye
But in my heart, I leave
Great expectations
That you will find the answers
to your questions
And that life will once more...
be a celebration...
and that you will be touched by an Angel
and that you will be touched by an Angel
and that you will be touched by an Angel

Celebration
Someday
Someday, Someday
Celebration