"Angie Baby" | ||||
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Single by Helen Reddy | ||||
from the album Free and Easy | ||||
B-side | "I Think I'll Write a Song" | |||
Released | October 7, 1974 | |||
Format | 7" | |||
Genre | Blue-eyed soul, soft rock | |||
Length | 3:29 | |||
Label | Capitol | |||
Writer(s) | Alan O'Day | |||
Producer(s) | Joe Wissert | |||
Helen Reddy singles chronology | ||||
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"Angie Baby" is a popular song that was written by American Alan O'Day, and became a hit for Australian singer Helen Reddy. The song reached #1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart at the end of December 1974 and became one of Reddy's biggest-selling singles. The song also topped the U.S. adult contemporary chart, Reddy's fifth #1 on this chart.
The song's cryptic lyrics have inspired a number of listener theories as to what the song is really about. Reddy has refused to comment on what the true storyline of the song is, partly because she has said she enjoys hearing other listeners' interpretations. Reddy has also said that "Angie Baby" was the one song she never had to push radio stations into playing.
The song tells the story of Angie, a young "crazy" girl who "lives [her] life in the songs" she hears on "rock and roll radio;" her mental disturbances led to her being removed from school and having no friends, leaving her to spend most of her time listening to the radio. One day, a young man "with evil on his mind" arrives at Angie's house, but once he enters Angie's room he is disoriented by the loud music. The song then takes a decidedly surrealistic turn when, as Angie turns the volume of the radio down, the boy begins to disappear. The closing verse describes the disappearance of the boy, and the townsfolk's speculation as to what became of him, and that nobody bothers to get an explanation from Angie in regard to the boy's whereabouts because of her insanity.
In an article he wrote in 2006, Singer/songwriter Alan O'Day said the song took three months to write. Originally it was loosely based on the character in the Beatles’ "Lady Madonna." In order to make the character more interesting, he decided to make her abnormal, and he thought of a young next door neighbor girl he had known who had seemed "socially retarded." O'Day said he also thought of his own childhood, since as an only child who was often ill, many of his days were spent in bed with a radio to keep him company. He named the character Angie, possibly inspired by the Rolling Stones' song "Angie". Originally the character was portrayed as mentally "slow," but while writing the song, O'Day showed it to his therapist, who pointed out that the character's reactions in the song were not those of a mentally disabled person, so O'Day changed the lyric from "slow" to "touched," and the character's image changed from being mentally disabled to being "crazy." This expanded to her living in a dream world of lovers, inspired by the songs on her radio. When a "neighbor boy with evil on his mind" tries to enter her room to take advantage of the girl, he is instead drawn into her reality, with weird and unexpected consequences. The intent was to show that the Angie character had more power than he or the listener expected; she shrank him down into her radio, where he remained as her slave whenever she desired him to come out.