Interestingly enough, there aren’t that many one-hit wonders in the yacht rock canon. Even the soft-rocking artists who didn’t have a lot of staying power often scored at least two hits. That didn’t really happen for Alan O’Day, who scored big with “Undercover Angel,” a No. 1 U.S. single in 1977.
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To be fair, O’Day had already written some big hits for other artists by that time (including another chart-topper). Here’s the story of how he wrote this big single, and how he received the opportunity to record it as well.
From Songwriter to Singer
Alan O’Day, born in Hollywood, kicked around the entertainment and music industry throughout the ’60s. His passion for music eventually manifested itself in songwriting, as he began pitching to other artists. Teen idol Bobby Sherman turned O’Day’s “The Drum” into a Top-30 hit in 1971, the songwriter’s first big success.
O’Day released an album as a solo act in 1973, but it didn’t make a dent. Luckily, his writer-for-hire efforts were kicking into high gear. In 1974, he gave The Righteous Brothers a big comeback hit with the nostalgia-laced “Rock and Roll Heaven.”
Later in the year, Helen Reddy released “Angie Baby,” also written by O’Day. The song might be one of the oddest No. 1 hits in U.S. history as it detailed a strange tale of a mysterious girl, a tale that deserves an article all its own just to try and get through all the plot twists. Even with that success, it appeared O’Day might never again get a chance to be an artist in his own right.
Going “Undercover”
O’Day received a break when Warner Bros. Records, for whom he had written many hits, briefly started up an offshoot label designed to let its writers record their material. Interestingly enough, O’Day was the only one who ended up getting the chance to do this. As for the meaning of “Undercover Angel,” he described it in an interview with the blog 30 Days Out:
“On one level it was a sexual/spiritual fantasy song (although it was NOT about masturbation, as some people claimed), on another level it was a carefully crafted attempt to create a hit song. On yet another level it was a positive message to go out and find your dream lover.”
O’Day clearly had an affinity for writing songs that can be interpreted a number of different ways. “Undercover Angel” isn’t quite as eerie as “Angie Baby.” Thanks to a quasi-disco beat, a cool breakdown, and an easygoing chorus, it smashed at radio and gave O’Day one of the biggest hits of the heyday of soft rock.
Behind the Meaning of “Undercover Angel”
“Undercover Angel” manages to suggest several different interpretations in the span of three verses and a chorus, so good on O’Day for leaving with so many different potential paths. The song does indeed imply a heavenly one-night stand alights upon a guy who’s struggling to find someone special: Crying on my pillow, lonely in my bed.
In the second verse, the song starts to transform a bit, as the narrator implies this apparition is there to give him a bit of a pep talk: She said, “Go find the right one, love her and then / When you look into her eyes you’ll see me again.” When he finally meets a living, breathing human, he knows how to check her authenticity: I’m looking for my angel in your sweet loving eyes.
You have to give credit to O’Day, who passed away in 2013, for carving out his own little niche in the pop music world. His three biggest hit songs all touch on otherworldly matters in some way. “Undercover Angel” let him bring these tendencies to the fore as an artist, and yacht rock immortality was the result.
Photo by GAB Archive/Redferns
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