Analysis : If God Will Send His Angels *

[HelloAngel]

By Abby Myers

The second of the ?angel songs? in U2?s pantheon is ?If God Will Send His Angels,? from 1997?s Pop and also featured in the 1998 film City of Angels. Although it is often mentioned or thought of in tandem with ?Stay (Faraway So Close),? it doesn?t exactly pick up where ?Stay? left off. Rather, ?If God Will Send His Angels,? while sharing much of the mood created by ?Stay,? looks to transcend the desolation and desperation in a way that ?Stay? does not.

The song opens quietly, with only Bono?s voice intoning gently:

Nobody else here baby
No one here to blame
No one to point the finger
It?s just you and me and the rain

These words open the scene for the listener: two people, wronged somehow (perhaps by each other), seeming to be at the end of their respective ropes. The narrator knows that it has come to down to himself and his partner, and that both of them are out of excuses. They must face each other and deal with each other without distraction or any third party to facilitate or blame.

This theme is repeated in the next part of the verse:

Nobody made you do it
No one put words in your mouth
Nobody here taking orders
When love took a train heading south

The narrator emphasizes the mutual solitude of the couple, and thus reinforces the concept that they are responsible for their situation. There is no one ?here to blame,? and ?nobody made you do it.? While there is to be sure some sadness to be dealt with in these words, they can also be inspirational in the sense that such an acknowledgment of aloneness and responsibility can be the beginning of a rebuilding as well. This idea is not explicitly stated in the lyrics, but something does seem to ?give? a bit after these lines; some modest instrumentation comes in behind Bono?s voice, and the words get a little louder. This happens gradually throughout the song; ?If God Will Send His Angels? seems to unfold, rather than progress in a more linear manner, musically speaking.

In the final lines of the verse and the introduction of the first chorus, the narrator makes two shifts. First, he admits a sense of powerlessness after only just speaking of the necessity of responsibility: ?It?s the blind leading the blonde/it?s the stuff, it?s the stuff of country songs.? Here the listener gets the impression of a lack of (metaphorical) vision, as well as a deep, hard-luck, ?country song? sadness. Maybe, the narrator seems to be saying, it?s true that we can?t blame anyone else for these problems. We have made them and we must fix them. But damn, it?s hard.

To attempt to solve this problem, then, the narrator turns to a likely source of support: God. He asks in the chorus:

Hey if God will send his angels
And if God will send a sign
And if God will send his angels
Would everything be alright?

The interesting part of this chorus really lies in that last line: ?Would everything be alright?? This is not a rhetorical question as it might seem at first glance. The narrator isn?t sure that God will, in fact, send the angels; ?if? God will send them is in question. But even if God does, he wonders, will it make a difference? This may get back to the earlier question of whose responsibility it is to ?fix? wounded relationships, or it may also allude to another question growing out of the song: how much power does God really have in our lives? Can God intervene in these matters? Does he? Will he?

This question is answered, somewhat gloomily, in the second verse:

God has got his phone off the hook, babe
Would he even pick up if he could
It?s been a while since we saw that child
Hanging ?round this neighborhood

Not only is the narrator at odds with a lover, but there is obviously a feeling of having been forgotten or abandoned by God. A plea for God to ?send his angels,? the narrator seems to feel, is going nowhere. Furthermore, it would seem that God has not only abandoned this particular pleading voice; ?it?s been a while since we saw that child/hanging ?round this neighborhood? seems to signify that God has forgotten or abandoned a lot of people?an entire ?neighborhood,? perhaps. Since Pop contains other references to ?the troubles? in Ireland, most markedly in ?Please,? perhaps this a subtle nod to a feeling of God not being able or willing to intervene in the tragedies of the Irish people.

This seems more likely when one considers the second half of the verse:

You see his mother dealing in a doorway
See Father Christmas with a begging bowl
Jesus?s sister?s eyes are a blister
The High Street never looked so low

The signs of a missing God are all around as the narrator departs further from himself and his own situation. The imagery is stark and dreary: ?dealing in a doorway,? ?begging,? ?blister.? Without God, it?s another case of ?the blind leading the blonde,? as he comments again. There is ruin, desolation, and depression. What is to be done?


That is what the speaker in this song would like to know:

So where is the hope and where is the faith
And the love?what?s that you say to me
Does love?light up your Christmas tree
The next minute you?re blowing a fuse
And the Cartoon Network turns into the news

Everything seems to be lost at this point, even ?faith, hope, and love? (a subtle Biblical allusion as the word ?love,? ?the greatest of these? according to St. Paul, opens up the verse into poetic speculation). The atmosphere is uncertain and frightening; one can?t even count on the news.

In all of this turmoil, the chorus is repeated and the plea for God?s attention is reiterated. But the narrator seems to have a bad feeling about this, as the chorus segues into Bono?s plaintive moan of ?Where do we go?? Obviously we don?t know. There is no answer from anyone or anywhere?least of all from the somehow absent God himself.

In the third verse that follows, the narrator confesses perhaps the most profound commentary on the loss of God and faith in the entire song:

Jesus never let me down
You know Jesus used to show me the score
Then they put Jesus in show business
Now it?s hard to get in the door

This is profound, so profound that interpretation here is difficult. What is meant by ?putting Jesus in show business?? It?s hard to say, but obviously there us a sense of unreachability here again, the same as with celebrities. Jesus is as distant from the narrator as Tom Cruise is to this writer.

The song ends with the final plea for God to ?send his angels? and another question of ?where do we go?? This song provides no easy answers, and the angels never seem to come. ?If God Will Send His Angels? is both a heartbreaking expression of challenged faith and a mournful tune about lost relationships?not only the fractured love relationship in the first verse, but that between the speaker and God. It is one of U2?s loveliest and most difficult songs about faith, God, love?and angels.

 

[Wammes]

Great analysis... For a great part I can agree with what you've posted so far. Here some of my own humble thoughts about this wonderful song anyway.

The theme of the song about a man struggling with his faith and crying for help, runs through many U2 songs. I consider this song to be very much like With or without you and even more, If you wear that velvet dress contentwise. The latter is just as or even more mysterious as What if God will send his angels, however What if God will send his angels has a much more positive tune, and breaths more optimism.

Here, like in other songs, the blame (for whatever troubles are being referred to Ireland, broken relationships) seems to be pointed to God. However, the narrator blames God out of dispair, or at least, he can't take the blame himself. And with a slight feeling of guilt, he realizes just as well that the solution lies with God, in fact, everything would be allright if He will send his angels. The narrator may feel forsaken, but in honesty, he knows he himself is to blame for that. In many songs Bono writes about fame, money, sex, drugs and rock and roll, and how that influences a man's faith in a strange negative way. In this song the narrator vaguely refers to that as well "Then they put Jesus in show business." Help from God seems so far away; Jesus nor angels are close. And in this world of chaos and trouble the door towards enlightment is hard to find and get in to, as the end of the song goes.

If we get back at the beginning of the song, it is in a sense a call for honesty, and if we include the chorus a call for faith. A hard call for the narrator to answer indeed, in a media-hyped world where Cartoon Network has become the news. (The album Pop and the Popmart tour made fun of this media domination as well.)

Writing this reply I find myself in difficulties as well to fully understand what this song is about and trying to say. Who is the narrator talking to in the first verses (himself, a lover, God, Jesus)?I believe that this puzzling is exactly what is meant here with this song, as a whole it may refer to the struggle of the narrator, puzzling, and finding the pieces...

 

[pax]

Thanks for the feedback!

I'm so glad someone reads these things.

 

[Wammes]

Yeah, well, you're welcome ofcourse. I love reading such. As a new member these kind of threads and discussions were actually what I was looking for.

But I'm still left confused here and there about this song. Occasionally Bono refers to women as the seducer of man, adding even more to man's struggle with faith. If you wear that velvet dress (women wear dresses right, and purple is sexy and seducing) is a good example of that. With or without you as well, where the 'you' might be a lover for some listeners, or God to others. Much more straightforward, God pt. II also has plenty of such references, 'I don't believe in rape, but everytime she passes by, wild thoughts escape', and is full of all the other destructive effects of fame and fortune. So, I still don't know about those first two verses, 'baby' may refer to a woman at first glance, but it doesn't really tune with the rest of the song...

The refuge is with God, to him we all return.

Keep those discussions going! Thanks

 

[Wammes]

Oops, why did I say purple there? I mean velvet ofcourse... If we want the 'you' to tune with the rest of the song it may also refer to the people in Ireland bytheway. Wow, I just can't get this song out of my head at the moment. Thx

 

[V Nura]

One thing I'd like to sort of explore is that balance of contradictions bono throws out in this song


The blind leading the blonde

the cops collecting for the cons

this leads us to

So where is the hope and where is the faith?




In a way this song is more into the emotional scope of wake up dead man than it is stay all of a sudden. The idea of the missing saviour accompanied byt the contradictions that we live in daily. It's not so bad when the blind were leading the blind, but the blind leading the blonde becomes a different issue.

The idea of blonde, almost immediatly brings a picture of naivete, or even innocence. And that becomes the thing, in a way..it's the blind deraling people who COULD get it right.


" and the love, what's that you say to me?, does love light up your christmas tree, the next minute your blowing a fuse"......


In a way, is love enough? here the narrator seems to have said that when he gives himself, things that should go fine go wrong ( the cartoon network turning into the news). Are the promises and assurances given by god enough? in the face of so much evidence to the contrary?





And again the cops collecting for the cons is a line that takes additional security away. The Cops...authority figures, people who should stand for the law and order, are not exempt from the contradictions of our times.


In a way, it's not a rejection of god, like peace on earth is which bono describes as a "fuck you" to god. It's an honest search for him among the times....... like bono in MOFO.....looking for baby jesus, under the trash.



"Jesus used to show me the score" at one point it seemed jesus was enough, but in light of the mother dealing in the doorway and father christmas with a begging bowl, and jesus' sisters eyes blistered. It's not enough. And then "would it make it allright" the line slings back at you and makes you wonder, in the face of all this, without infringing on free will, could god fix this mess?

And then The whole commercialization of religion, "jesus in show busisness now it's hard to get in the door". In a way it's bono saying That even just like innocence, and law and order, the image of God isn't immune from derailment. And it may not be so much a stab at organized religion as it is at commercialized religion.


also there is a small bit that's remixed int he single and video version

" I dont' need to know how and I dont' need to know why and I don't want to promise cos I dont' want to lie"

This is the paradox of faith the narrator encounters, almost as if he's praying and turning to comfort someone. I don't need to know how and I dont' need to know why...becomes almost a prayer. And the problem here is that despite this prayer, he can't offer any promises about this, because he himself doesn't know.



just my 2 cents...I've always felt that this song was the soul of POP a bridge between MOFO and wake up dead man, and it does connect with stay but....stay was a man hoping he could hang on....if god will send...is a man asking " what's left to hold on to?"

 

[cnelson]

I've found very interesting what has been posted about "If God Will Send His Angels."

I've often pondered the song myself. I think when Bono sings about:

You see his mother dealing in a doorway
See Father Christmas with a begging bowl
Jesus?s sister?s eyes are a blister
The High Street never looked so low

I think Bono here is talking about the state of "Organized Religion." To Bono there is a difference between Faith, or relationship with Jesus Christ, and Religion. And unfortunately today, alot of organized religions (the building or rules put up by man when God leaves a place ), look coroded, unhealthy and needing God. That's why "The high street never looked so low" and "that child" or Jesus hasn't be seen around the neighbourhood in a while.

I think this song is a plea for help, a questioning of God and what He's doing. Bono feels like, with the state of things around him, that God might not be listening or "have His phone off the hook."
In essence, this song is a psalm, like when King David cried out to God, "Where are you.... have you forgot me?"

Peace on Earth I do not feel is a "fuck you" to God. Again, Bono is asking God about the peace on earth that God has promised us. Where is it? I'm sick of hearing all about it and not seeing this peace? This is a psalm too and I think the line, "Jesus, this song that you wrote; the words are sticking in my throat." adds credance to this.