Angie Baby

Album

Free And Easy

Label

Capitol Records

Genre

Psychedelic Pop

Composer(s)

Alan O'Day

Entered Chart

Oct 19, 1974

Peak Date

Dec 28, 1974

Released

1974

Recorded

Unknown

Catalog #

Capitol 3972

B-Side

I Think I'll Write A Song

"Angie Baby" was Helen Reddy's third #1 hit in America (following "I Am Woman" and "Delta Dawn") and one of her more memorable ones. It seems to be about this oddball girl who can't face reality and may be going insane, yet no one is certain what it's about, and Reddy herself refused to comment, saying she enjoyed hearing other listeners' interpretations. This particularly applies to the end of the song, where this local boy makes the moves on Angie and vanishes. It has an uncertainty similar to that of "Hotel California" by the Eagles. >> This was the first #1 hit written by future "Undercover Angel" singer Alan O'Day, who was inspired by the Beatles tune Lady Madonna. He explained to Billboard magazine: "I thought, well, I'm gonna write a song about somebody who's growing up with the radio playing in the background of their life, with this rock and roll time we live in... there are songs for all of our emotions, and the radio really speaks for us in a way that nothing else does." O'Day explained that his heroine started out pretty boring until he started adding layers of weirdness to her character. "The weirder she got, the more interesting the song became," he explained. He finished the song during a Palm Springs vacation with the help of a motel owner who gave him unbiased feedback about Angie's story. She even became protective over her when O'Day suggested he was going to put her through the wringer a little more. "No, she's been through enough," the woman said. This song was originally offered to Cher, who had recorded O'Day's "Train of Thought" for her 1974 album, Dark Lady. O'Day doesn't get why people are so confused by the song, but he won't explain it either. "I thought I spelled out what happened. It's a fantasy trip but it's real clear, and the very thing that made the song a hit was what happened to the guy in the song. I never intended it to be (a mystery)," he told Billboard. He did share a clue to Reddy's thoughts on the fate of Angie's visitor: "Helen Reddy said he turned into a soundwave." In 1976, Fine Art Films released an animated-short version of "Angie Baby," directed by John Wilson (who was also the animator for the opening titles of Grease).

You live your life in the songs you hear
On the rock and roll radio
And when a young girl doesn't have any friends
That's a really nice place to go

Folks hoping you'd turn out cool
But they had to take you out of school
You're a little touched, you know
Angie baby

Lovers appear in your room each night
And they whirl you across the floor
But they always seem to fade away
When your daddy taps on your door

Angie girl, are you alright?
Tell the radio goodnight
All alone once more
Angie baby

Angie baby
You're a special lady
Living in a world of make believe
Well, maybe

Stopping at her house is a neighbor boy
With evil on his mind
'Cause he's been peeking in Angie's room
At the night through the window blind

I see your folks have gone away
Would you dance with me today
I'll show you how to have a good time
Angie baby (Angie baby, Angie baby)

When he walks in her room, he feels confused
Like he walked into a play
And the music's so loud it spins him around
Till his soul has lost its way

And as she turns the volume down
He's getting smaller with the sound
It seems to pull him off the ground
Toward the radio he's bound
Never to be found

The headlines read that a boy disappeared
And everyone thinks he died
'Cept a crazy girl with a secret lover
Who keeps her satisfied

It's so nice to be insane
No one asks you to explain
Radio by your side
Angie baby

Angie baby
You're a special lady
Living in a world of make believe
Well, maybe

Well, maybe (Angie baby, Angie baby)
Well, maybe (Angie baby, Angie baby)
(Angie baby, Angie baby)
(Angie baby, Angie baby)