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 all right?
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 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
When he walks in the room, he feels confused
Like he’s walked into a play
And the music’s so loud it spins him around
‘Til his soul has lost it’s 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, well maybe
I fell in love with this bewitching and haunting song many years ago when I first heard it on the radio.
“Angie Baby”, sung by the Australian singer Helen Reddy, is one of my favourites from Ms. Reddy (with “I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar, my second favourite, with “You and Me Against the World, coming up in third place).
Written by the songwriter Alan O’Day, it tells the story of a young woman who in the past would have been called “retarded” but in the song is called ”crazy” and a bit” touched in the head” and her love of the radio and the comfort that music gave her. The song reached #1 (Nov. 2, 1974) on the Billboard charts in its release in the U.S. and it is from the album, Free and Easy.
There are many interpretations of this song, not the least of which is that many people thought the girl in the song, Angie Baby, was just listening to the radio because it was the only friend she had, but, I have my own ideas as to what the song really means. Listening to the song again after so many years here is my take on “Angie Baby”:
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
“You live your life in the songs you hear.”
Angie does more than listen to the radio. She probably was not very socially interactive with her classmates and that may have peeved some of them off, not to mention her teachers, some of who may not have been so patient or kind towards Angie. Not being out-going would have been a turn-off for her fellow classmates, and her turning to the radio for interaction caused less need for the interaction of Angie with people.
“You’re a little touched you know, Angie baby.”
To some reviewers this meant Angie would have been what was once regarded as a politically incorrect term: retarded.
But, I think touched in this sense means Angie was capable of mystical and magical powers.
Powers which became evident later on in the song.
Angie Baby, you’re a special lady
Living in a world of make-believe
Well, maybe
Well. . . .maybe.
What to outsiders would have seen to be make-believe, was to Angie a very real and concrete world. In that sense, Angie did turn out to be a special lady, as the was seen in the next stanza:
Stopping at her house is a neighbor boy
With evil on his mind
‘Cause he’s been peeking in Angie’s room
At 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
The neighborhood boy with evil on his mind intends to harm Angie, thinking her incapable of not defending herself against him, but, also thinking that she was retarded, slow of mind, and would not be able to tell her parents what he did to her. Anytime someone sneaks around, peeking in a person’s window, waits for guardians, adults or protectors to be away, has nothing but wrong on their minds, and as far they are concerned, a person considered crazy would be considered an easy target.
But, the neighborhood boy finds out that Angie is more than a match for him, and he gets his comeuppance when Angie turns the tables on him:
When he walks in the room, he feels confused
Like he’s walked into a play
And the music’s so loud it spins him around
‘Til his soul has lost it’s 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
Now, he is trapped inside Angie’s radio, always at her beck and call. Turns out now she can have a real good time, whenever she wants to. When you dig a ditch for someone to fall into. . . .
Now the neighborhood boy is missing, and considered dead as far as many people are concerned, but, Angie knows better.
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 continues to listen to her beloved radio, with no one the wiser as to what happened to the neighborhood boy, and of course, since Angie is insane in so many people’s eyes, she never will have to explain of his whereabouts, for who would even think of an insane person as being capable of reason, comprehension and culpability in the disappearance of anyone.
But. . . .
. . . .something tells me that this is not the first time such an incident has happened.
Go back to the song and read the second stanza:
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 all right?
Tell the radio goodnight
All alone once more, Angie baby
This boy was not the first to find his way into Angie’s radio, as at night, Angie turns on the radio and entertains herself with secret lovers who at her command come out and dance with her, only to disappear when Dad taps on her bedroom door.
Seems like there have been others who thought they could abuse and abandon Angie, but, they found out different in the end.
Angie may have seemed crazy to the outside world, but, Angie had powers beyond human comprehension, and a defense against would-be predators that was unique.
A girl lost in her world of music that came from her friend the radio, a girl who was helpless without constant protection, a girl who couldn’t handle the big, bad, dangerous world. . . .
. . . .well, maybe
Ann
