Angela

Album: Further Complications (2009)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This is one of a number of songs on Further Complications concerning thwarted lust. Cocker admitted to Q magazine June 2009: "It's something I struggle with. I think a lot of men do. It doesn't go away. There is a museum of palaeontoly at the Jardin des Plantes (in Paris). There is something very weird about standing there looking at these artifacts: ancient bones, the history from which we are all descended. And then a pretty girl walks past and it's like a call from the wild. Someone did say that when your libido finally calms down it's like being unchained from a gorilla."
  • Cocker elaborated on this song to the New Musical Express: "Angela is the girlfriend of our keyboard player, Simon Stafford, but I didn't realize that at the time. I was singing these words and I noticed that he was looking at me in a strange way. He said, "Why have you written a song about my girlfriend?" I'd forgotten that she was called Angela, so I think he thought I was trying to maybe move in on her. I assured him it was a co-incidence."

Comments: 1

  • Jeff from Glen Allen, VaThe earworm riff sounds very similar to "Everybody Wants You" by Billy Squier.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Rickie Lee Jones

Rickie Lee JonesSongwriter Interviews

Rickie Lee Jones on songwriting, social media, and how she's handling Trump.

Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders

Chrissie Hynde of The PretendersSongwriter Interviews

The rock revolutionist on songwriting, quitting smoking, and what she thinks of Rush Limbaugh using her song.

Don Dokken

Don DokkenSongwriter Interviews

Dokken frontman Don Dokken explains what broke up the band at the height of their success in the late '80s, and talks about the botched surgery that paralyzed his right arm.

Donny Osmond

Donny OsmondSongwriter Interviews

Donny Osmond talks about his biggest hits, his Vegas show, and the fan who taught him to take "Puppy Love" seriously.

Van Dyke Parks

Van Dyke ParksSongwriter Interviews

U2, Carly Simon, Joanna Newsom, Brian Wilson and Fiona Apple have all gone to Van Dyke Parks to make their songs exceptional.

Little Richard

Little RichardFact or Fiction

Was Long Tall Sally a cross-dresser? Did he really set his piano on fire? See if you know the real stories about one of rock's greatest innovators.