Angels by My Side
Posted in Country Music, Religious, Going to Sleep on Jan 16th, 2009 No Comments »
From Beth Nielsen Chapman, written after she had been diagnosed with breast cancer, this is a song of hope - and fear. She places hope in God and his angels to care for her before she goes to sleep. Like Hansel and Gretel, lost in the wood, praying for angels to guard them, two at their head, two at their feet. There is fear here too, its undercurrent deep in the music, but in the last verse, when the piano shifts sideways into a new major chord, hope is there too.
‘Now I lay me down to sleep, the troubles of this world released. The promise of tomorrow keeps angels by my side.’
It’s simple, artless - and very moving.
