‘The A Team’

Written by Ed Sheeran.

The A Team is a song written and sung by Ed Sheeran. The A Team is an emotional, creative and powerful song. This song is about a girl named Angel, Ed had met at a homeless shelter when he was 18. This song illuminates the issues and flaws we have in society today and how there are all these ‘angels’ and how there is none to very little support and help for them in today’s world. This is shown through Angel being an addict to cocaine. Angel had probably moved to London with dreams and aspirations to achieve but these dreams slowly turned into nightmares as with her plans not working out and as a result being dragged into a deep dark hole where a series of events had lead her to the position she is in. These nightmares later turning to lucid dreams where she would imagine a better life than reality through taking cocaine. The title ‘The A Team’ is a metaphor in itself as it is referring to the use of cocaine as it is a class A drug.

I would recommend this text because it is an eye-opener and extremely creative and well-written text. It puts the 21st century in perspective for the ignorant and uneducated people and also for the people who are going through the same or similar experiences and to let them know that they aren’t alone. It takes pictures and puts them into words while snatching your emotions. They say a picture is worth 1000 words, this text and music video is that quote proved. Throughout the text, he subtly presents us with lyrics with very significant meaning. “The worst things in life come free to us” this is signifying the truth of the world and how we are oblivious to the fact of this. The lyrics explain to us through creating pictures in our heads the abuse, rape, bullying, lack of education, and wars are all things in this day that are free of change and impact people around us without anyone realising it takes the words of your tongue and puts them into pictures and emotion.

From the first to the last verse of ‘The A Team’ it describes Angel’s life for the worst of what it is. The lyrics in the first verse discusses the situation she is in and her appearance to society. Ed uses words such as ‘snowflakes’ for cocaine powder to relate Angel’s environment of a cold and snowy place to merge her addiction in a subtle but meaningful way. Her appearance is seen to be not accepted as she doesn’t have any job and has no benefit so she resorts to prostitution to fund her addiction. I personally think that she had no support and because of that this was her last resort and if she had it she might not have ended up where she was.

In the second verse, it begins to talk about Angel’s social life and how she tries to be accepted and fight to be accepted for who she is but is rejected. This is demonstrated through the lyrics “She tried to swim, stay afloat” this makes me think why people in society are so unaccepting and understanding towards people in need of help and instead reject and ignore them. It makes me feel sad and empathetic towards people like Angel and makes me wanna stick up and get help for them. Another important lyric that I thought was powerful was the line “dry house, wet clothes’ I thought this line was powerful because a ‘house’ was used instead of home which allows us to interpret that she would have come off the wet snowy streets being saturated, to this dry house where she was now being used for sex.

Lastly the bridge of the song. “An angel will die, Covered in white, Closed eyes and hopin’ for a better life, This time, we’ll fade out tonight, Straight down the line” Ed believed that Angel will eventually get taken by her addiction in which he writes “An angel will die, Covered in white” which has two meanings. The meaning of her dying from overdosing on cocaine or from the snow. It allows the listener to imagine Angel using the drug and imagining the life she wishes she had distracting herself from the life she has being reality.

This text connects to my own personal viewpoints because i can personally relate to the idea of taking drugs or medication in order to let myself feel a better life than what it is as i have depression and its a way to vent emotions and feelings in ways that you can’t in any other. The A Team is a song i genuinely appreciate and love the way it is written. It tells a true story while conveying a critical message about the issues and problems in society today that are being ignored.

 

 

White lips, pale face

Breathing in the snowflakes

Burnt lungs, sour taste

Light’s gone, day’s end

Struggling to pay rent

Long nights, strange men

 

[Pre-Chorus]

And they say

She’s in the Class A Team

Stuck in her daydream

Been this way since 18

But lately, her face seems

Slowly sinking, wasting

Crumbling like pastries

And they scream

The worst things in life come free to us

 

[Chorus 1]

‘Cause she’s just under the upper hand

And go mad for a couple of grams

And she don’t want to go outside tonight

And in a pipe she flies to the Motherland

Or sells love to another man

It’s too cold outside

For angels to fly

Angels to fly

 

[Verse 2]

Ripped gloves, raincoat

Tried to swim and stay afloat

Dry house, wet clothes

Loose change, bank notes

Weary-eyed, dry throat

Call girl, no phone

 

[Pre-Chorus]

And they say

She’s in the Class A Team

Stuck in her daydream

Been this way since 18

But lately, her face seems

Slowly sinking, wasting

Crumbling like pastries

And they scream

The worst things in life come free to us

 

[Chorus 1]

‘Cause she’s just under the upper hand

And go mad for a couple of grams

And she don’t want to go outside tonight

And in a pipe she flies to the Motherland

Or sells love to another man

It’s too cold outside

For angels to fly

 

[Bridge]

An angel will die

Covered in white

Closed eyes and hopin’ for a better life

This time, we’ll fade out tonight

Straight down the line

 

[Pre-Chorus]

And they say

She’s in the Class A Team

Stuck in her daydream

Been this way since 18

But lately, her face seems

Slowly sinking, wasting

Crumbling like pastries

And they scream

The worst things in life come free to us

 

[Chorus 2]

And we’re all under the upper hand

And go mad for a couple of grams

And we don’t want to go outside tonight

And in a pipe she flies to the Motherland

Or sells love to another man

It’s too cold outside

For angels to fly

Angels to fly

Fly, fly

For angels to fly

To fly, to fly

For angels to die

Join the conversation! 1 Comment

  1. Relevant, interesting details discussed here, Finn – Well done. You could include your personal reflections more explicitly throughout the response. It is clear that you are doing this in the final paragraph, however, use “I”, “me” etc. when giving your judgments for this personal response to a text that obviously has engaged you.

    Reply

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