Angel In My Pocket - One to One

One to One was a Canadian music group from Ottawa, Ontario.  Made up of Louise Reny and Leslie Howe, they enjoyed their most success in Canada from the mid-80s to the early 90s.  Louise and Leslie actually went on later to work with Alanis Morissette on her early albums, with Leslie even producing the first two.  One to One’s most notable songs were “Angel In My Pocket”, “There Was a Time”, and “Hold Me Now”.

The song I’m writing about today is “Angel In My Pocket”, released in 1986 from their “Forward Your Emotions” album, which earned them a few Juno Award nominations.  It’s my favourite song of theirs and has become one of my favourite songs of the 80s overall, especially from a Canadian artist.

There are actually a couple of different versions of the song.  The video version is different from the version that appeared on the album.

That’s not a totally uncommon thing though, in this case there are two main differences.  Musically, the drum patterns and main guitar solo are different.  But more interestingly, the lyrics are different in a unique way: in the video version, the angel in her pocket is male, but in the album version she is female.

I’ll go into some more detail (actually too much detail!)  about the differences a bit further below.

Watching the music video now, two things struck me right away.  First, it’s such an aesthetically beautiful video.   Second, I can’t help but hear Gwen Stefani’s voice when I hear Louise’s.

Check out some of the screen captures I took below from the music video.  Apart from the poor quality from the YouTube clip, you can see how great the imagery is.

Any of these would be a great Instagram post today!  It even looks like some of them have nice filters applied.  Oh and I’d be lying if I didn’t say I had a crush on Louise when I was a teenager 🙂

Ok, enough talk, on to the differences.  I apologize in advance for cluttering up with lyrics with the drum pattern differences, the Virgo me can’t help but notice them.

Video Version

In the video version, the drums aren’t as prominent as in the album version. There is also a quiet intro before the main melody starts.  More obviously, in this version she’s referring to a male as the angel in her pocket.

0:00 – 0:12
Quiet intro

0:13 – 0:32
Drums and main melody starts.
Right before the lyrics start we hear a drum-drum-drum pattern, the only time we’ll hear that.

0:33 Verse

I’ve been livin’ on the edge of time [drum-drum]  
Never thinkin’ twice inside my mind [drum-drum]  
I’ve been given a second chance too [drum-drum]  
Since I found him I never lose

0:59 Chorus

I caught an angel in my pocket [drum-rest-drum]  
Caught an angel, he’s [drum-rest-drum] forever mine [drum-rest-drum]Drum-rest-drum happens three times during the chorus, but in the album version it happens four times.

1:13 Verse

Make three wishes, catch a falling star (falling star) [drum-drum]  
Take me somewhere, take me very far [drum-rest-drum]  
Freedom, fortune to name a few, too [drum-drum]  
He holds my secrets, he knows the truthAn interesting thing here is that after the second line (“Take me somewhere, take me very far”), we have a drum-rest-drum pattern, different from the first verse.

1:39 Chorus

I caught an angel (angel) in my pocket [drum-rest-drum]  
Caught an angel, he’s [drum-rest-drum] forever mine    
I caught an angel (angel) in my pocket [drum-rest-drum]  
Caught an angel ’til the end of time [drum-rest-drum]Another difference from the album version is that here in the first and third lines there is a subtle “angel” spoken mid-line.  This doesn’t happen in the album version.

2:10 Verse

Now I’m never alone, he will never leave [drum-rest-drum]  
I can dream the unknown every night (every night) [different drum pattern]  
Lead me into the shadows behind the door [drum-rest-drum]  
Lead me into a forest of lightHere after the second line we have an entirely different drum pattern.  I love how they mixed it up each verse.

2:36 – 2:50
This guitar solo is totally different from the album version.

2:51

I’ve been livin’ on this edge of time [drum-rest-drum]  
I made three wishes and now he’s mine

3:04 Chorus

I caught an angel (angel) in my pocket [drum-rest-drum]  
Caught an angel, he’s forever mine [drum-rest-drum]  
I caught an angel (angel) in my pocket [drum-rest-drum]  
Caught an angel ’til the end of time [drum-rest-drum]

3:34

Caught an angel [drum-rest-drum]  
Oh, oh I know that [drum-rest-drum] he’s mine  
Caught an angel [drum-rest-drum]  
I wanna keep [drum-rest-drum] him ’til the end of time

Album Version

There is no music video for this version, but you can hear the audio above.

Here, she sings about a female angel in her pocket.  As well, the song starts right away, there is no quiet introduction and there are more drums in this version.

0:00 – 0:22
Unlike the quiet intro of the video version, in the album version, the drums start right away, including multiple drum-pause-drum patterns, and leads into the melody. We also have the drum-drum-drum pattern right before the lyrics start, but in this version we will hear it again later after the guitar solo.

0:23 Verse

I’ve been livin’ on the edge of time [drum-drum]  
Never thinkin’ twice inside my mind [drum-drum]  
I’ve been given a second chance too [drum-drum]  
Since I found her I never lose

0:50 Chorus

I caught an angel [drum-rest-drum] in my pocket [drum-rest-drum]  
Caught an angel [drum-rest-drum], she’s [drum-rest-drum] forever mineHere we have the drum-rest-drum pattern four times instead of three.

1:03 Verse

Make three wishes, catch a falling star (falling star) [drum-drum]  
Take me somewhere, take me very far [drum-rest-drum]  
Freedom, fortune to name a few, too [drum-drum]  
She holds my secrets, she knows the truthAs in the video version, the second line has a different drum pattern here.

1:29 Chorus

I caught an angel [drum-rest-drum] in my pocket [drum-rest-drum]  
Caught an angel [drum-rest-drum], she’s [drum-rest-drum] forever mine  
I caught an angel [drum-rest-drum] in my pocket [drum-rest-drum]  
Caught an angel [drum-rest-drum] ’til the end of time [drum-rest-drum]Here there is no subtle ‘angel’ response as there is the video version.

1:59 Verse

Now I’m never [drum-rest-drum] alone, she will never leave [drum-rest-drum]  
I can dream the [drum-rest-drum] unknown every night (every night) [drum-rest-drum] [different drum pattern]  
Lead me into [drum-rest-drum] the shadows behind the door [drum-rest-drum]  
Lead me into [drum-rest-drum] a forest of lightIn this version we have the drum-rest-drum pattern mid-line as well as at the end of the lines.

2:25 – 2:39
Different guitar solo than the video version.
Right before the next verse starts, we hear a drum-drum-drum pattern, not heard since the right before the lyrics opened the song at the beginning.

2:40

I’ve been livin’ on this edge of time [drum-rest-drum]  
I made three wishes and now she’s mine

2:53 Chorus

I caught an angel [drum-rest-drum] in my pocket [drum-rest-drum]  
Caught an angel [drum-rest-drum] she’s forever mine  
I caught an angel [drum-rest-drum] in my pocket [drum-rest-drum]  
Caught an angel [drum-rest-drum] ’til the end of time [drum-rest-drum]Again we have the extra drum-rest-drum pattern mid-lines.

3:23

Caught an angel [drum-rest-drum]  
Oh, oh I know that [drum-rest-drum] she’s mine  
Caught an angel [drum-rest-drum]  
I wanna keep her [drum-rest-drum] ’til the end of time

I would love to hear from the band themselves about why they decided to have two different versions.  People online have their own opinions (what a shock!), but I didn’t see anything definitive.  Having two versions makes the song relatable for more people, which is nice.

In any case, whichever version you prefer, it’s such a beautiful song, and will always remind me of my teenage years.  I wish One to One’s music could be found on Apple Music, but as of now it doesn’t appear to be.  You’ll just have to listen to some of their other songs at the YouTube links I included near the beginning of the post!