Top Songs About Angels and Heaven

By Dena Ross

A while back I scrolled through my iPod and realized that I listen to a lot of songs with the word "angel" in the title. It seems the topic of heaven's helpers is just as popular with music artists as it is with Beliefnet readers (because you all really do love angels).

Here are my 10 favorite "angel" songs. And, at the end of the gallery, Idol Chatter blogger Paul O'Donnell provides his picks for top 10 songs about heaven.

'Angel,' by Shaggy

So, it doesn't have the most intelligent lyrics in the world (Girl, you're my angel, you're my darling angel/Closer than my peeps you are to me, baby/Shorty, you're my angel, you're my darling angel ... ), but it does have a fun beat and flow, which makes it a nice party staple.

'Earth Angel,' by The Penguins

This oldie-but-a-goodie has been covered by so many artists over the past 50 years for a reason.

'Angel,' by Madonna

I remember as a little girl, putting on my cassette tape to sing along to this pretty song by the pop princess---and then promptly being scolded by my mom for singing along to the album's next track, "Like a Virgin."

'Angel,' by Aerosmith

Steven Tyler's pained vocals and beautiful guitar work by Joe Perry make this song one of my favorites from this legendary rock band.

'Angel,' by Sarah McLachlan

McLachlan's ethereal voice on this track uplifts my soul.

'How Do You Talk to An Angel,' by The Heights

Was I the only one who thought Jamie Walters' hotness was enough to keep "The Heights" on the air?

'Lips of an Angel,' by Hinder

I choose to ignore the fact that it's a song about cheating on your significant other--and instead focus on the lead singer's wonderfully raspy voice.

'Angel,' by Jimi Hendrix

The guitar god's poetry in this song gives me goose bumps.

'I'll Never Let You Go (Angel Eyes),' by Steelheart

One of the most awesome metal ballads of all time. Is it wrong to want this as my wedding song?

'She Talks to Angels,' by The Black Crowes

Who knew a song about drug addiction could be so beautiful.

Top 10 Songs About Heaven

By Paul O'Donnell

Heaven, along with heart, may be the most overused word in the pop lexicon. What I'm after here is not the tunes that insist that kisses are heaven or that heaven only knows what's going to happen to our love. To qualify, a song had to present a view of what awaits us all. And, of course, it had to rock. Here are my picks...

'Heaven for Everyone,' by Queen

Queen's late frontman, the lascivious rocker Freddie Mercury is most famous, perhaps, for "We Will Rock You." He may the last person you'd expect to hear preaching the kingdom of God, not in the sky, but on Earth: "Love, love, love, this could be heaven for everyone," he sings. But Mercury was no hippie, and his Kumbayah moment has bite: "What people do to other souls--destroy their goals, their basic pride and dignity is stripped and torn and shown no pity, when this should be heaven for everyone."

'In Heaven,' by The Pixies

In a punker's cynical vision of the Great Beyond, the Pixies point up the inherent contradiction in rewarding a selfless life with selfish pleasure. But that, they imply, is what humans really want. "In heaven," go the lyrics in their entirety, "you've got your good thing and I've got mine."

'Christmas Day in Heaven,' by Monty Python

Where the Pixies indict our selfishness, Monty Python puts the wind up the culture's cheapened aspirations for the ultimate bliss. Not only is heaven a place where "there's great films on TV: 'The Sound of Music' twice an hour and 'Jaws' One, Two, and Three"; "there's gifts for all the family. There's toiletries and trains. There's Sony Walkman Headphone sets and the latest video games."

'Heaven,' by Talking Heads

David Byrne's paradise has its treats: it's a party that never ends, and the band in heaven, "plays my favorite song. Plays it all night long." But for Byrne, the real point is that in heaven "nothing ever happens." Heaven, the opposite of Earth's "one d--n thing after another," is the absence of change.

'Airline to Heaven,' by Wilco

In his Dylanesque mode, Wilco leader Jeff Tweedy spoofs the idea that faith is a formula ("You can get away to heaven on this aeroplane, just bow your head and pray") or that that redemption can be bought from your local preacher-or else. ("Have your ticket in your hand before it's too late.")

'How Far Is Heaven,' by Los Lonely Boys

The Latin-influenced band fittingly struggles with a very Catholic approach to the pursuit of heaven, stressing works over faith. The singer frets guiltily over his past and promises to reform, but wants to know just how good one has to be to attain paradise. "I know I have to change my ways of living," he says, "I just want to know how far."

'Tears in Heaven,' by Eric Clapton

Written when his grief for his deceased 5-year-old son was still fresh, Clapton refuses to be comforted by easy sentiment about being reunited with our loved ones in heaven. Instead he questions whether we will be transformed unrecognizably by the experience of death. "Would you know my name," he asks his son, "if I saw you in heaven?"

'Will You Meet Me in Heaven?,' by Johnny Cash

This old chestnut, rendered in a haunting version by not only Johnny but several of his Carter relatives, answers Clapton definitively. "We can't be sure of how it's going to be when we walk into the light across the bar. But I'll know you and you'll know me, out there beyond the stars."

'Where the Streets Have No Name,' by U2

The band ended years of speculation about the spiritual underpinnings of this song--and where precisely the streets have no name---when they performed it at the Super Bowl in 2002 as the names 9/11 scrolled behind them. Before launching into the first verse, Bono could even be heard mumbling a line from Psalm 51 ("O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise"). The combination of the power chords and the mystical lyrics portray heaven as a place of passion and fire.

'Stairway to Heaven,' by Led Zeppelin

As I pointed out in a post last year, Robert Plant's lyrics have little to do with religion. But as I also pointed out in that post, it's practically a federal law that all best-song countdowns have to end with this tune. So how could I resist?

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