Metaphysical Pop Songs: Strange Angels

Anybody who has read the Bible or attended a Christian church—as I did occasionally during my childhood—will have a fascination and wonder about the angels that fill the pages of biblical scriptures.  It was following my research trip to Oklahoma in August 1995 that I realized that the phenomena involved in what had been reported as a 'talking poltergeist' haunting (where the predominant manifesting entity was known as 'Michael') offered patterns that make possible comprehension of an Angelic Force (or 'Holy Spirit') interacting with humanity.

Angels have been a common metaphor in pop songs and in all modes of self-expression.  In this article I am focusing on several pop songs that made a lasting impression on me during the 1980s and '90s, beyond briefly heard 'Top 40' radio songs such as "Send Me An Angel" (1983) performed by Real Life.
 



One of my favorite CDs from this period is "Strange Angels" (1989) by Laurie Anderson.  The title song would became prophetic for me with the lyric "Their spare change falls on top of me."  To explain, below is a Polaroid photo from the Oklahoma case.  I first learned about the contemporary Centrahoma case of "America's Talking Poltergeist" in a magazine article.  The note written on the photo is one of Maxine Mc Wethy's.
 

 

Laurie Anderson was creating songs with lyrics about such things as angels and cryptograms before I had any inkling that such things could ever be relevant to my life. 

Here are the lyrics of the song "Strange Angels" ("words and music by Laurie Anderson").
 

"Strange Angels"

They say that heaven is like TV
A perfect little world
that doesn't really need you
And everything there
is made of light
And the days keep going by
Here they come Here they come
Here they come.

Well it was one of those days larger than life
When your friends came to dinner
and they stayed the night
And then they cleaned out the refrigerator —
They ate everything in sight
And then they stayed up in the living room
And they cried all night.

Strange angels — singing just for me
Old stories — they're haunting me
This is nothing
like I thought it would be.

Well I was out in my four door
with the top down.
And I looked up and there they were:
Millions of tiny teardrops
just sort of hanging
And I didn't know whether to laugh or cry
And I said to myself:
What next big sky?

Strange angels — singing just for me
Their spare change falls on top of me
Rain falling Falling all over me
All over me
Strange angels — singing just for me
Old Stories — they're haunting me
Big changes are coming
Here they come
Here they come.

It was many months after the Oklahoma trip that I noticed the uncanny lyric about "spare change."  Some other of Laurie's songs mentioning angels are "Gravity's Angel" and "Ramon".  She contributed "Angel Fragments" and "Tightrope" to the soundtracks of the movies with an angelic theme "Wings of Desire" (1987) and "Faraway, So Close" (1993).  Some of her other songs include "O Superman", "Example #22", "Smoke Rings", "Coolsville", "My Eyes", "Hiawatha", "Bright Red", "Freefall", "Only An Expert" and "Another Day In America".  Her website is laurieanderson.com and a recent The Guardian (UK) newspaper interview is "Q&A: Laurie Anderson".  Many interviews are available at You Tube and her books include United States (1984), Empty Places (1991) and Stories from the Nerve Bible: a Retrospective 1972—1992 (1994).  While this oeuvre at times expresses social awareness and incorporates reflection about the ironies of existence, metaphysical enlightenment is neither instructed or fostered.



Another song about angels that I later found prophetic was first heard in the 1992 movie "Orlando."  Here are the song lyrics of "Coming" (composed by Sally Potter, Jimmy Sommerville, David Motion; performed by Jimmy Sommerville).
 

"Coming"
 

I am coming!  I am coming!
I am coming through!
Coming across the divide to you
In this moment of unity
Feeling an ecstasy
To be here, to be now
At last I am free
Yes at last, at last
To be free of the past
And of a future that beckons me

I am coming!  I am coming!
Here I am!
Neither a woman, nor a man
We are joined, we are one
With a human face
We are joined, we are one
With a human face
I am on earth
And I am in outer space
I'm being born and I am dying



After returning home to Los Angeles after my Oklahoma visit, I discovered the song "Angel" (1995) on the Erasure album "Erasure" in an interesting way mentioned in the case study Testament (Tape #26, Side #1) —

 

Q: (music can be heard in the background)  While having dinner tonight I turned on my compact disc changer.  I have one that takes seven discs and I set it at 'random.'  So the song Michael chose is "Angel" from the new "Erasure" eponymous album. 

The song following it on the album is also highly memorable: "I Love You".

 

Here are the lyrics of "Angel" written by Vince Clarke and Andy Bell.  The song includes a solo by Diamanda Galas.

 

"Angel"

See how much you mean to me
you're my electric symphony in blue
Just one look in your eyes, maybe I was hypnotized by you

You told me on the telephone of a picture so serene
And the beat goes on, feels like a fever burning and I say

Yes to your love and there's no secrets
high and ascending, delving deeper
fly like an angel wings unfurling
fanning the flames of love eternal

All around the world the love will manifest itself in special ways
Up there on the shelf in spiritual or sexual relays

I want you yeah I crave you, I need you next to me
Locking the lip-sync on a rocket to red hot love perfection

Here we go round and there's no secrets
high and ascending delving deeper
under the water clear as crystal
spinning around in giant circles
fly like an angel wings unfurling
fanning the flames of love eternal

You say, "Reach me I'll be your deity, come and touch me make it real"
Turning the charm full on sending me into excitation

Here we go round no room for secrets
high and ascending delving deeper
Love is resounding clear as crystal
spinning around in giant circles

Our message is love no room for secrets
ever evolving heavenly creatures
fly like an angel wings unfurling

After Testament was published, I vaguely noticed the lyrics of a succession of popular songs by Sarah McLachlan in 1997 and then in 1998.  In "Building A Mystery" Sarah mentioned "a faith that died before Jesus came"; in "Adia" there are colloquial words about innocence; while in "Angel" she sang about a human ascension "in the arms of the angel" following the Earth life.  Occasionally hearing the song reminded me that a spiritually aware person may understand how in some ways we can be "in the arms of the angel" in our day-to-day life.

Preceding blog articles considering creativity and pop music are "Hotel California", "Rosemary Brown Channeled Songs from John Lennon", "Adventures in Synchronicity", "Seasonal Reflections" (2013), "Metaphysical Pop Songs: Gods of Aquarius" and "Excerpts from The Call of the Trance".

Blog articles about my 'talking poltergeist' research include "Direct Voice Seance Phenomena", "Bryant and Helen Reeve's Flying Saucer Pilgrimage", "'Gef': A Modern Sphinx as an Esoteric Lesson about Oneness" and "Other Incidents of My Unusual Spiritual Awakening".