I am playing this haunting melody by Sarah McLachlan on a Suzuki Hammond HA20 Diatonic Harmonica in the key of A.
From Wickipedia
"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're so fucked 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 shit and trying to love yourself at the same time."
Lyrics below Vid
Spend all your time waiting For that second chance For a break that would make it okay There's always one reason To feel not good enough And it's hard at the end of the day I need some distraction Oh beautiful release Memory seeps from my veins Let me be empty And weightless and maybe I'll find some peace tonight
In the arms of an angel Fly away from here From this dark cold hotel room And the endlessness that you fear You are pulled from the wreckage Of your silent reverie You're in the arms of the angel May you find some comfort there
So tired of the straight line And everywhere you turn There's vultures and thieves at your back And the storm keeps on twisting You keep on building the lie That you make up for all that you lack It don't make no difference Escaping one last time It's easier to believe in this sweet madness oh This glorious sadness that brings me to my knees
In the arms of an angel Fly away from here From this dark cold hotel room And the endlessness that you fear You are pulled from the wreckage Of your silent reverie You're in the arms of the angel May you find some comfort there You're in the arms of the angel May you find some comfort here
Very cool once again GreyOwl. I have 4 Hammonds, really like them, but over blows are very tough on them for me, I'm told because of slightly shorter reeds. Cheers
@Reverblow Thanks. Yes the Hammonds are great, quite mellow in tone and very good for ballads such as this. I haven't found the overblows too difficult with these harps to be honest, but there again I have gapped them to make them as easy to play as I can possibly get without choking the blow reeds in normal play.
@Aussiesucker. Thank you. It is a lovely tune and when I first heard it I was totally unaware of the meaning of the lyrics with Angel meaning heroin in the context of this song.
I can see why this song has become popular at funerals as it has a tragic and sad quality.
