The Tragic Death That Inspired Sarah McLachlan to Write “Angel”

There are ballads that many find impossible to hear without crying. And few pop ballads can reliably bring on the tears like Sarah McLachlan’s “Angel”. But more than McLachlan’s lilting voice, or the way her melody falls against pensive chords, it’s the young death that inspired “Angel” that makes her defining song so endlessly sad.

And the Infinite Sadness

McLachlan’s somber ballad is propelled by a quiet desperation. And in the track’s sparse arrangement, her voice rises above the piano, attempting to fill some kind of void. And that void, the unexplainable abyss, is the space she tries to make sense of.

The inspiration arrived after reading a Rolling Stone article about the death of The Smashing Pumpkins’ touring keyboardist, Jonathan Melvoin. He had died in 1996 in a hotel room after overdosing on heroin. Melvoin, the brother of Wendy and Susannah Melvoin, was 34.

As she read the story, she said, “There was this flood of emotion, of empathy, of recognition, of this feeling of isolation and desperation where you’re just like, I need something to lift me out of this place I’m in.”

Spend all your time waiting,
For that second chance,
For a break that would make it okay.

It’s the escape from whatever it is we are running from. And apart from Melvoin’s tragedy, “Angel” is the presence of kindness as an elixir against despair.

In the arms of the angel,
Fly away from here.
From this dark, cold hotel room,
And the endlessness that you fear.
You are pulled from the wreckage,
Of your silent reverie.
You’re in the arms of the angel,
May you find some comfort here.

‘Surfacing’

“Angel” appears on McLachlan’s 1997 album, Surfacing. The album title brings to mind form, taking shape, becoming clear. And with clarity comes security. We understand it, or at least, we come closer to understanding. There’s a visible exterior. And it’s how McLachlan made sense of Melvoin’s lonely death.

She wrote the song quickly, which wasn’t her typical approach at the time. There was no labor, no second-guessing. Just an emotional gushing of notes and words landing in all the right ways.

When McLachlan met Wendy, years later at a Brandi Carlile concert, the Revolution guitarist told her that “Angel” helped her family endure the loss of Jonathan. For McLachlan, meeting Wendy was another surfacing. And it helped heal a broken family.

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