<P> "Angel" is a song by Canadian singer - songwriter Sarah McLachlan about the heroin overdose death of Jonathan Melvoin (1961 - 1996), the Smashing Pumpkins touring keyboard player . as McLachlan explained on VH1 Storytellers . The song first appeared on Surfacing, the Canadian singer's 1997 album . It is sometimes mistitled as "In the Arms of an Angel" or "Arms of the Angel". </P> <P> "Angel" was McLachlan's second consecutive top five hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, debuting at number twelve, and then jumping to the top ten the following week, before peaking at number four . It remained at the top ten for nineteen weeks, and for twenty - nine weeks in the top 100 . "Angel" was the eighteenth most successful song of 1999 . </P> <P> "Angel" was one of the first songs written for Surfacing . McLachlan said that writing it was easy, "a real joyous occasion", and that "the bulk of it came in about three hours ." It was inspired by articles that she read in Rolling Stone about musicians turning to heroin to cope with the pressures of the music industry and subsequently overdosing . She said that she identified with the feelings that might lead someone to use heroin: "I've been in that place where you've messed up and you're so lost that you don't know who you are anymore, and you're miserable--and here's this escape route . I've never done heroin, but I've done plenty of other things to escape ." She said that the song is about "trying not to take responsibility for other people's problems and trying to love yourself at the same time". </P> <Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This section does not cite any sources . Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (June 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> </Table>

Sarah mclachlan arms of an angel lyrics meaning