Angels Would Fall

Infobox Single
Name = Angels Would Fall


Artist = Melissa Etheridge
from Album = Breakdown
B-side =
Released = 1999
Format = CD single
Recorded = Sunset Sound
Genre = Rock
Length = 4:39
Label = Island Records
Writer = Melissa Etheridge John Shanks
Producer = Melissa Etheridge John Shanks
Certification =
Chart position =
Last single = Nowhere to Go (1996)
This single = Bring Me Some Water
Next single = Scarecrow (1999)Extra album cover|Upper caption = Alternate covers


Lower caption = Alternate cover

“Angels Would Fall” is a 1999 Melissa Etheridge song and the first single of her album "Breakdown".

Song information

The song was written by Melissa Etheridge with the main guitar loop contributed by John Shanks. It is one of her darkest songs as the singer says herself on the bonus DVD of her album "Greatest Hits: The Road Less Traveled" [Greatest Hits: The Road Less Traveled at 00:48:40] :

“Angels Would Fall” is about desperate a crush Etheridge had on someone else's girlfriend during her shattered relationship with Julie Cypher [Greatest Hits: The Road Less Traveled at 00:50:10] . In the versus, she describes the pain she feels because she can tell nobody about her feelings (“The rope that's wrapped around me is cutting through my skin...”) while in the chorus she is singing the desired person's praise (“Angels never came down [...] but if they knew, if they knew you at all, angels would fall...”).

Music video

The music video was shot in 1999 and shows Melissa Etheridge playing her song in a dark, empty, saloon-styled bar where the furniture is destroyed like after a fight. In retrospective scenes, nebulous images of people in white dresses come down from the ceiling symbolising the fallen angels. While they fall down, they cause the damage described above. These angels find love in each other, both homosexual and heterosexual couples are formed. Towards the end, the door of the bar opens and the angels go into the light [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ0IiYJGz9Y The music video on youtube, published by universalmusicgroup] .

Charts

“Angels Would Fall” was the most successful single of "Breakdown". It reached the US Billboard Hot 100, was Etheridge's third consecutive single peaking at #9 on the Adult Top 40 and her fourth consecutive top 10 hit in the Canadian single charts.

Tracklist

#“Angels Would Fall” (Melissa Etheridge, John Shanks) - 4:39
#“Into the Dark” (Etheridge) - 4:59
#“Beloved” (Etheridge) - 7:54

Credits and personnel

*Melissa Etheridge - acoustic guitar, vocals
*Kenny Aronoff - drums, marimba, shaker
*Jon Brion - guitar
*Mark Browne - bass
*Matt Chamberlain - drums
*Steve Ferrone - percussion, drums
*Rami Jaffee - keyboard
*Jim Keltner - drums
*Greg Leisz - guitar, mandolin, lap steel guitar, pedals
*Brian MacLeod - percussion, drum loop
*Pino Palladino - bass
*John Shanks - dulcimer, guitar, harp, marimba, background vocals
*Patrick Warren - keyboard
*Gota Yashiki - drum loop

References

Sources

*Melissa Etheridge and Laura Morton: "The truth is...", Random House 2002
*Greatest Hits: The Road Less Traveled bonus DVD
* [http://www.golyr.de/index.php?view_site=display&view_id=57564 Lyrics]