The song lyrics were written by the band Van Halen, as they were asked to write a song for the 1979 movie "Over the Edge" starring Matt Dillon. The movie (and the lyrics, although more obliquely) are about bored, rebellious youth with nothing better to do than get into trouble. If you see the movie, these lyrics will make more sense. It's a great movie if you grew up in the 70s/80s you'll definitely remember some of these characters from your own life. Fun fact, after writing the song, Van Halen decided not to let the movie use it.
Dropped off the edge again down in Juarez
"Don't even bat an eye
If the eagle cries" the rasta man says
Just cause the desert likes
Young girls flesh and
No angel came
No angel came
I don't think you even know
What you think you just said
So go on and spill your seed,
Shake your gun to the Rastaman's head
'Cause the desert, she must be blessed and
No angel came
No angel came (listen, darling)
No angel came
There's a time to keep it up, a time to keep it in
The Indian is told the cowboy is his friend
A time to keep it up, boys, a time to keep it in
The Indian is told the cowboy is his friend
You know that I can breathe even when I cheat
Should, should, should, should've been over for me
(Listen, darling)
No angel came
No angel came
No angel came (listen, darling)
No angel came
No angel came
No angel came
No angel came
"Don't even bat an eye
If the eagle cries" the rasta man says
Just cause the desert likes
Young girls flesh and
No angel came
No angel came
I don't think you even know
What you think you just said
So go on and spill your seed,
Shake your gun to the Rastaman's head
'Cause the desert, she must be blessed and
No angel came
No angel came (listen, darling)
No angel came
There's a time to keep it up, a time to keep it in
The Indian is told the cowboy is his friend
A time to keep it up, boys, a time to keep it in
The Indian is told the cowboy is his friend
You know that I can breathe even when I cheat
Should, should, should, should've been over for me
(Listen, darling)
No angel came
No angel came
No angel came (listen, darling)
No angel came
No angel came
No angel came
No angel came
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"I read an article about several hundred women in Juárez, Mexico, who had been taken out to the desert and brutally raped and murdered. When they didn't come home, their brothers would go and look for them, and many times they'd find nothing. Sometimes they'd find a hair barrette or a sock or something they knew was their sister's. The authorities haven't really done anything about it...they get into this serial-killer theory. I mean, how much serial can one man indulge in? So as the song started to develop, I really began taking the voice of the desert, singing in that perspective." [Tori Amos; A.P. Magazine, Oct99]
The song talks about the HUNDREDS of women in Juarez, Mexico who have been brutally and sadistically murdered in the last 10 years or so.
Juarez is the bordertown to El Paso, TX, and there are many factories over there that produce electronic parts that get back shipped over here. They pay these girls ridiculously low wages (A few dollars a day or less).
Who is killing these girls? Organized crime. The sad thing is that the government of Mexico is all tangled up in organized crime, and no one can help these girls. These sickos kill them for SPORT. They rape and mutilate their bodies, and bury them in the desert --- in other words -- femicide.
If you are interested in learning more about this, please google it, or you can contact me at chasemice@yahoo.com.
"No angel came...."
This lyric haunts me - in a gloriously divine way.
Tori has stated in the past that she wanted this song to sound as if it was being blasting out of a car parked near the border where a murder was taking place.
I agree with merchantpierce.
like so much of her work this displays how society feels it has been deceived and foolrd by the false promises of religion.