Roll of the Dice: Seven Angels

Talk about a sleeper: “Seven Angels” is a terrific pop song, both sly and serious, funny and fearful, exaggeration with the ring of truth.

Recorded in 1990 during the Human Touch sessions, it’s a mystery why Bruce chose not to include it on the album. It’s lean and catchy, with a killer riff (Bruce plays both guitar and bass on the track) and lyrics that’ll bring a smile to your face if you even pay half-attention. And as he has many times before and since, Bruce borrows biblical imagery to tell a very down-to-earth story of the flesh.

Lyrically, “Seven Angels” is the tale of a man in the early stages of love, caught up in the insecurities and indecision that both protect us and isolate us from each other. Bruce wastes no time setting the stage:

Seven angels got my number since I fell in love with you
Seven angels got my number, they’re all telling me what to do

That’s it–that’s the song right there: Seven different internal monologues all battling for the attention of the narrator’s conscious mind and heart. The rest of the song is just a transcript of those monologues. If they were dwarves, we’d give them names:

1. Dreamy: “Go on and love her!”
2. Lonely: “Ain’t you tired of being alone?”
3. Daring: “Do the right thing: meet!”
4. Fickle: “Check that other little angel walking on down the street…”
5. Confident: “Don’t worry–love’s waiting around the corner for you, son”
6. Desperate: “You better hurry–it don’t take long for the good to get gone”
7. Cynical: “You’re a fool”

What’s awesome is that the song has continuity throughout–only two angels resurface at the end of the song, but they’re the right ones–the most urgent ones:

Sixth angel says to believe you when you say you’ll never leave me crying
Seventh angel says you’re lying

That’s indeed what it all boils down to: trust or distrust. Which angel does the narrator end up listening to? We don’t know, but that seventh angel gets the last word, unfortunately.

“Seven Angels” has only been performed once, but I was there for it, and I can tell you it was just as much fun as the studio track. Featuring a rare Garry Tallent spotlight, Bruce had a lot of fun with this one-time-only (so far) performance:

Here’s hoping we see an encore performance soon!

Seven Angels
Recorded: June 29, 1990
Released: Tracks (1998)
First performed: May 18, 2014 (Uncasville, CT)
Last performed: May 18, 2014 (Uncasville, CT)

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