There Must Be an Angel (Playing with My Heart)

"There Must Be an Angel
(Playing with My Heart)"
Single by Eurythmics
from the album Be Yourself Tonight
Released 13 June 1985
Format 7", 12"
Recorded 1985
Genre Synthpop, gospel
Length
  • 5:22 (album version)
  • 4:31 (radio edit)
Label RCA
Writer(s) Annie Lennox
David A. Stewart
Producer(s) David A. Stewart
Eurythmics singles chronology
"Would I Lie to You?"
(1985)		 "There Must Be an Angel"
(1985)		 "Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves"
(1985)
Music video
"There Must Be an Angel (Playing with My Heart)" on YouTube

"There Must Be an Angel (Playing with My Heart)" is a 1985 song written and performed by the British musical duo Eurythmics. Released as the second single from their fifth album Be Yourself Tonight, the song features a harmonica solo by the American musician Stevie Wonder. The song became a worldwide success; most notably in Ireland, Norway and the United Kingdom, where it became the duo's only chart-topping single to date.[1]

Ever since the record has been covered by several musical artists, including Brittany Murphy, Fantastic Plastic Machine, Leningrad Cowboys, Luciano Pavarotti, Kylie Minogue, Jessica G. Pilnäs and, most noticeably, German pop group No Angels who scored their second number-one hit in Austria and Germany with their interpretation for the reissue of their album Elle'ments in August 2001.[2][3]

Original version

Upon its release, "There Must Be an Angel (Playing with My Heart)" became Eurythmics' first (and to date only) number-one single in the UK, also topping the charts in Ireland, Norway and Brazil. While the song peaked at number 22 on the US Billboard Hot 100, it became another Top 10 success for the band in Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Austria and Australia.

In 2013 the song was voted as the third best number one song of all time in the NME.

Video

In the video, Stewart portrays Louis XIV of France in the Court of the Sun King, while Lennox appears as an angelic singer brought forth to perform and entertain the King. Bored at first, Stewart eventually becomes enthralled with Lennox's performance as the song reaches its conclusion. The video clip features elaborate costuming and set design. It was directed by Eddie Arno and Mark Innocenti in Wimbledon Theatre and cost about £100,000.

Personnel

Formats and track listings

7" Single

12" Single

Limited 12" Remix Single

Charts

Chart (1985) Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[5] 3
Austrian Singles Chart[6] 9
Belgian Singles Chart[7] 7
Canadian Adult Contemporary Chart[8] 21
Canadian Singles Chart[8] 23
Dutch Singles Chart[9] 3
French Singles Chart[10] 8
German Singles Chart[11] 4
Irish Singles Chart[12] 1
Italian Singles Chart[13] 41
Japanese Singles Chart[7] 7
New Zealand Singles Chart[14] 5
Norwegian Singles Chart[15] 1
Polish Singles Chart[7] 1
South African Singles Chart[16] 6
Swedish Singles Chart[17] 2
UK Singles Chart[18] 1
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[19] 22
U.S. Billboard Dance/Club Play Songs Chart[19] 31
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales Chart[20] 36

Leningrad Cowboys version

"There Must Be an Angel
(Playing with My Heart)"
Single by Leningrad Cowboys
from the album Mongolian Barbeque
Released March 1997
Format CD
Genre Rock
Length 4:31
Label Johanna
Producer(s) Leningrad Cowboys
Leningrad Cowboys singles chronology
"Where's The Moon"
(1996)		 "There Must Be an Angel (Playing with My Heart)"
(1997)		 "Be Worry Don't Happy"
(1997)

In 1997 recorded the Finnish parody rock band Leningrad Cowboys a cover for their 1997 album Mongolian Barbeque. In that cover the mouth organ was replaced by an electric guitar for the instrumentation and the intro was so taken with the electric guitar, unlike the original this version is very different. The cover also served as a B-side for her cover of the song "You're My Heart, You're My Soul".

Track listing

CD single
  1. "There Must Be an Angel" (Radio edit) – 4:31
  2. "There Must Be an Angel" (Folk version) – 5:00
  3. "There Must Be an Angel" (Remix version) – 6:01
  4. "Dancing in the Street" – 3:14

No Angels version

"There Must Be an Angel"
Single by No Angels
from the album Elle'ments
B-side "100% Emotional"
Released 12 August 2001
Format CD single, vinyl single
Recorded 2001, Audiostudios,
(Berlin, Germany)
Genre Pop
Length 3:55 (radio edit)
Label Cheyenne/Polydor
Producer(s) Patrik Majer, Peter Plate, Ulf Leo Sommer
No Angels singles chronology
"Rivers of Joy"
(2001)		 "There Must Be an Angel"
(2001)		 "When the Angels Sing/Atlantis"
(2001)

Recording

In summer 2001, producers Patrik Majer, Ulf Leo Sommer, and Rosenstolz member Peter Plate consulted on a contemporary version of the track, re-recorded by German girl band No Angels. The song was one of a couple of tracks considered to be remade by the quintet, but was eventually picked when the producers of the animated feature The Little Polar Bear (for which band member Vanessa Petruo provided vocals) agreed to accept the track as film's theme song.[21] "We were speechless and very happy about [the decision]. The animated movie was a world premiere and something really big for us. We immediately said 'yes'," Lucy Diakovska said in an interview.[21] Sandy Mölling noted, that the song was an all-time favorite of the band: "I liked Annie Lennox' voice ever since I can remember."[22]

The track premiered on 9 July 2001, on the RTL Berlin radio network, receiving a positive reception from music critics, and on 17 July 2001 a preview was available on-demand in its entirety on the band's official website. Finally released as the band's third single on 12 August 2001 (see 2001 in music) in German-speaking Europe, the original CD single spawned both an unlugged and an orchestral version, latter featuring music by the Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg.[23] The record was subsequently included on the Special Winter Edition reissue of the Elle'ments album (2001).[21]

"There Must Be an Angel" was awarded for "Top Single Germany" at the 2001 Top of the Pops Awards, and received a gold certification by the IFPI.[24] Vanessa Petruo stated in 2005 that the song was "most unnecessary" of all cover versions the band had released between the years of 2001 and 2003.[25]

Music video

The music video for "There Must Be an Angel" was directed by Jörn Heitmann and filmed near the General-Steinhof-Kaserne at the Gatow Airport in Berlin-Spandau, Germany on 19 July 2001.[26] Inspired by Tony Scott's 1986 film Top Gun, the clip features the quintet as fighter pilots of the fictional U.S. military squadron 68 at an also-fictional airbase in Angelville, United States. Additionally, it incorporates a 1940s World War II theme, heavily inspired by performances of Marilyn Monroe, The Andrews Sisters and others during their USO shows. Among the aircraft shown in the video are MiG-21s, a B-57 Canberra, a F-104 Starfighter and a Dassault Mystère.[27]

"There Must Be an Angel" world premiered in early August 2001 on television, but was temporarily banned from music networks due to its military theme, following the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001.[28]

Chart performance

The group's first non-album release following "Daylight in Your Eyes" and "Rivers of Joy", the song was initially released on 12 August 2001 (see 2001 in music) in German-speaking Europe. It entered the charts straight at number-one on the German Singles Chart, staying at the top for five consecutive weeks, twelve weeks in the top forty, and seventeen weeks inside the top sixty.[29] It was eventually certified gold by the IFPI for more than 250,000 shipped copies and ranked twelfth on the 2001 Media Control year-end chart in Germany.[24]

In Austria, the single opened at number 8 on the Ö3 Austria Top 40 singles chart.[3] However, it was not until 23 September 2001, the song's fifth week of release, "There Must Be an Angel" eventually climbed to the top spot. It remained another week at number-one and stayed twenty-one weeks within the top sixty of the chart,[3] ranking nineteenth on the Austrian year-end chart in 2001.[30] In Switzerland, the single debuted at a moderate number 36 on the Swiss Singles Chart.[23] Benefiting from strong airplay however, the song reached number 2 in its third week of release, becoming the No Angels' second highest-charting single there to date.[23] As in Germany, "There Must Be an Angel" was certified gold by the Swiss arm of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry and ranked twenty-one on the Swiss year-end chart.[31]

Formats and track listings

These are the formats and track listings of major single-releases of "There Must Be an Angel."

CD single
  1. "There Must Be an Angel" (radio edit) – 3:55
  2. "There Must Be an Angel" (Unplugged version) – 4:22
  3. "There Must Be an Angel" (score version) – 5:34
  4. "100% Emotional" – 3:03
2-Track CD single
  1. "There Must Be an Angel" (radio edit) – 3:55
  2. "There Must Be an Angel" (Unplugged version) – 4:22

Credits and personnel
  • Keyboards and programming: P. Majer
    • Additional keyboards: Peter Plate
  • Guitars: Peter Weihe
  • Strings: The Hamburg Strings

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (2001) Peak
position
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[32] 1
Germany (Official German Charts)[33] 1
Romania (Romanian Top 100)[34] 17
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[35] 2

Year-end charts

Chart (2001) Peak
position
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 75)[36] 19
Germany (Media Control AG)[37] 13
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[23] 21

Other cover versions

References

  1. ↑ "EURYTHMICS - THERE MUST BE AN ANGEL (PLAYING WITH MY HEART) (SONG)". Swisscharts. Retrieved 2009-04-09.
  2. ↑ "Chart History". Chartsurfer. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-06-09.
  3. 1 2 3 "NO ANGELS - THERE MUST BE AN ANGEL (SONG) - Chart History". Austriancharts. Retrieved 2008-12-19.
  4. ↑ http://www.elgringooo.fr/index.php/2007/10/24/889-richard-cross-la-voix-angelique-de-must-be-talking-to-an-angel-eurythmics
  5. ↑ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives: Australian Chart Book. p. 105. ISBN 0-646-11917-6. N.B. The Kent Report chart was licensed by ARIA between 1983 and 19 June 1988.
  6. ↑ Steffen Hung. "Eurythmics - There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart)". austriancharts.at. Retrieved 2012-06-23.
  7. 1 2 3 "Song artist 244 - The Eurythmics". Tsort.info. Retrieved 2012-06-23.
  8. 1 2 "Results - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Retrieved 2012-06-23.
  9. ↑ Steffen Hung. "Eurythmics - There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart)". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 2012-06-23.
  10. ↑ Steffen Hung. "Eurythmics - There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart)". lescharts.com. Retrieved 2012-06-23.
  11. ↑ "Die ganze Musik im Internet". musicline.de. Retrieved 2012-06-23.
  12. ↑ Jaclyn Ward - Fireball Media Group. "The Irish Charts - All there is to know". Irishcharts.ie. Retrieved 2012-06-23.
  13. ↑ "Hit Parade Italia - Indice per Interprete: E". Hitparadeitalia.it. Retrieved 2012-06-23.
  14. ↑ Steffen Hung. "Eurythmics - There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart)". charts.org.nz. Retrieved 2012-06-23.
  15. ↑ Steffen Hung. "Eurythmics - There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart)". norwegiancharts.com. Retrieved 2012-06-23.
  16. ↑ Brian Currin. "South African Rock Lists Website - SA Charts 1969 - 1989 Acts (E)". Rock.co.za. Retrieved 2012-06-23.
  17. ↑ Steffen Hung. "Eurythmics - There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart)". swedishcharts.com. Retrieved 2012-06-23.
  18. ↑ http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/27723/eurythmics/
  19. 1 2 "Eurythmics - Chart history". Billboard. Retrieved 2014-03-29.
  20. ↑ Eurythmics. "Eurythmics - Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 2012-06-23.
  21. 1 2 3 Kale, Akira (2001-11-01). "Making of Der Kleine Eisbär". C4D-Treff. Archived from the original on 2007-12-29. Retrieved 2007-12-22.
  22. ↑ "Neue Single 'There Must Be an Angel!". NoAngels.tv. Retrieved on 22 December 2007.
  23. 1 2 3 4 "Chart History". Swisscharts. Retrieved 2007-06-09.
  24. 1 2 "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank ('There Must Be an Angel')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved 2009-03-22.
  25. ↑ "Vanessa Petruo Interview". Rent a Pocher. Retrieved on 30 August 2009.
  26. ↑ Willer, Beate. "Geheimer Video-Dreh der No Angels auf dem Airport Gatow". Berliner Kurier. Retrieved 2007-12-22.
  27. ↑ "No Angels drehen Video-Clip im Luftwaffenmuseum". BW-Fyler. 2001-12-18. Archived from the original on 2007-12-30. Retrieved 2007-12-22.
  28. ↑ Clips Collage. Retrieved 2007-12-22.
  29. ↑ "Chartverfolgung". Musicline (in German). Retrieved 2008-12-19.
  30. ↑ "Jahreshitparade 2001". Die Musikbranche (in German). Austriancharts. Retrieved 2008-12-19.
  31. ↑ "Swiss Year-End Charts 2001 2001" (in German). Swisscharts. Retrieved 2008-12-19.
  32. ↑ "Austriancharts.at – No Angels – There Must Be An Angel" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved 2012-07-06.
  33. ↑ "Musicline.de – No Angels Single-Chartverfolgung" (in German). Media Control Charts. PhonoNet GmbH. Retrieved 2012-07-06.
  34. ↑ https://web.archive.org/20090630031414/http://www.rt100.ro:80/top-100-edition.html?edition=313&go=Go. Archived from the original on 30 June 2009. Retrieved 18 February 2016. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  35. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – No Angels – There Must Be An Angel". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved 2012-07-06.
  36. ↑ "Jahreshitparade 2001". AustrianCharts.at. Retrieved 2012-06-09.
  37. ↑ "German Year-end Charts 2001". Media Control. Hung Medien. Retrieved 2012-07-07.
  38. ↑ "Max Raabe und Palast Orchester - News, Bilder, Konzerte und Videos 2013 - Neuigkeiten". Palastorchester.de. 2014-03-03. Retrieved 2014-03-29.
  39. ↑ Folha de S.Paulo, 1 November 2009. Retrieved on 4 February 2015.

External links

Preceded by
"Frankie" by Sister Sledge		 UK number one single (Eurythmics version)
21 July 1985 		Succeeded by
"Into the Groove" by Madonna
Preceded by
"Oua Oua" by Max.Brothers (featuring Kanui & Lulu)		 Austrian number-one single (No Angels version)
23 September 2001 – 6 October 2001 		Succeeded by
"Can't Get You out of My Head" by Kylie Minogue
Preceded by
"Follow Me" by Uncle Kracker		 German number-one single (No Angels version)
27 August 2001 – 24 September 2001 		Succeeded by
"Only Time" by Enya
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