"Angel in Your Arms" is a song composed by Herbert Clayton Ivey, Terrence Woodford, and Tom Brasfield, which was a 1977 Top Ten hit for Hot, and also a Top Ten country hit in 1985 for Barbara Mandrell.

Content

The song is about a woman who advises an unfaithful mate: "The angel in your arms this morning is gonna be the devil in someone else's arms tonight," meaning that she has assuaged his neglect and infidelities by indulging in illicit trysts of her own.

Hot version

Although "Angel in Your Arms" belongs to the tradition of cheating songs prevalent in country music, the song was introduced by pop/R&B act Hot on their self-titled debut album, recorded in 1976 at Wishbone Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama with Wishbone's owners Clayton Ivey and Terrence (Terry) Woodford producing. It was Hot's lead singer Gwen Owens who requested the group be given a country song, and Ivey and Woodford obliged with "Angel in Your Arms", whose third co-writer was Muscle Shoals resident Tom (Tommy) Brasfield. Although Hot was officially a trio consisting of Owens, Cathy Carson, and Juanita Curiel, Owens has stated that she recorded "Angel in Your Arms" with only Carson as background vocalist: Irene Cathaway, with whom Owens and Carson had been performing and who was expected to record with them at Muscle Shoals, was a no-show at the recording studio, and "Angel in Your Arms" was recorded prior to the recruitment of Curiel as Cathaway's replacement. Ivey played keyboards on Hot's recording of "Angel in Your Arms", which featured Mac McAnally on guitar. At the time of Hot's success with their single version, the group also recorded a Spanish-language version entitled "Angel en Tus Brazos".

Chart history

Picked up by Big Tree Records, "Angel in Your Arms" accrued sufficient airplay by February 1977 to enter the Billboard Hot 100, entering the Pop Top 40 that April to peak that July at #6; the track also charted R&B (#29) and Easy Listening (#9). Billboard ranked it as the No. 5 song for 1977. Certified a gold record for U.S. sales of one million units, "Angel in Your Arms" was also a hit for Hot in Australia (#27), Canada (#3) and New Zealand (#7).

C&W charting versions

Other versions

"Angel in Your Arms" has also been recorded by: