A couple of days ago I stumbled on this great little clip:
In it comedian Gideon does one of his bits where he stands on the sidewalk in a fantasy uniform and talks to strangers. At the end of the clip, he ends up in a senior center talent show, doing a rendition of Shaggy’s “Angel” with strong participation from the entire audience. When you head over to the comment section of the song, you see it flooded with references to the Gideon clip:
Angel itself is a song that samples two different hits, “The Joker” from the Steve Miller Band (1973) and "Angel of the Morning", written by Chip Taylor in 1967. The Shaggy song was playing nonstop on the radio when I was in high school, and probably so much that I always kind of tuned out when I heard it later.
A few years ago, I was on a plane from Europe to the US and watched Promising Young Woman, the sensational directorial debut of Emerald Fennell starring Carey Mulligan. The final scene prominently features the cover of “Angel of the Morning” by Juice Newton from 1981 (MAJOR SPOILER WARNING):
That is also the version that was most successful commercially and also the track that opens the 2016 Marvel movie Deadpool and its ironic iconic title sequence:
The song was covered by a bunch of different artists over the decades. The first version by Evie Sands was produced by Chip Taylor himself and came out in the summer of 1967:
After that, the song was covered dozens of times, in different languages and styles. From the hip 60s, like Billie Davis (1968), here in a performance from the German Beat-Club:
To more jazzy renditions, like this one by Nina Simone (1971), with a very different approach and performance :
From the colorful 70s, like the one by Guys & Dolls (1977), with lights, hairdo and everything:
To rocky ones, like Chrissie Hynde and The Pretenders (1995), which also made an appearance in the TV show “Friends”:
And even punk-rocky, like all-female band Tijuana Sweetheart (2007):
Chip Taylor himself said he wrote it after listening to “Ruby Tuesday” by The Rolling Stones while driving into New York City. He also did a few performances of the song himself over the years:
Chip Taylor, whose full name was James Wesley Voight, passed away this March, aged 86. Diving down the different versions of the song, I found another interesting connection. In the 1999 movie “Girl, Interrupted” the version done by Merrilee Rush & The Turnabouts (1968) (which was the first commercial success of “Angel of the Morning") plays in the background while Susanna (Winona Ryder) and Lisa (Angelina Jolie) talk about the psychiatric hospital they are in. Angelina Jolie (who was born Angelina Jolie Voight) got the Academy Award and Golden Globe for that breakthrough role. Her name comes from the Greek ἄγγελος, which means angel. And Chip Taylor, the songwriter, happens to be her uncle.
It’s a very catchy tune; give it a listen!