Video hit Martina McBride

Martina McBride - Concrete Angel

"Concrete Angel" is a song written by Stephanie Bentley and Rob Crosby, and recorded by American country music artist Martina McBride. It was released in November 2002 as the fourth and last single from McBride's Greatest Hits album. The song went on to reach #5 on the country music charts.

Content

"Concrete Angel" is a power ballad, centering around a main theme of child abuse and in a different context, bullying. The narrator tells a story about 7-year-old Angela Carter. Near the end, her mother beats Angela to death. Some people, such as Angela's teacher, notice signs of abuse but attempt to ignore them.

Music video

Angela Carter (Noel Wiggins), is the 7-year-old daughter of an abusive mother. As she walks to school, a girl looks at her and laughs at her (which could imply she was also a victim of bullying). While she's at school, the teacher and her classmates ignore the bruises on her body, either because they think she just had a minor accident or they want to avoid having problems with her family. One day, a boy who is an angel (Luke Benward) befriends her. One night, Angela is talking to the boy who is in a house that no one lives in because the lights were out. But then, her mother catches her and beats her to death. After the beating, police officers and an ambulance are shown at her house. Angela's grave (marked 1995-2002) is shown, surrounded by a group of people, including her teacher, and her only friend. (It is implied that he was also beaten to death.) The boy passes through the adults, hugs the angel of Angela and both run to meet a group of abused children as they run off into the horizon.

When the video was originally released, it featured the phone number for the American Child Abuse Hotline and encouraged viewers to report abuse.

Cover versions

Spanish singer Marta Sánchez covered the song as "Cómo Un Ángel" in her album Soy Yo, released in 2002.

Canadian Idol winner Melissa O'Neil covered the song on the album High Notes.

Jackie Evancho covered the song in her debut-album Prelude to a Dream released in 2009 when she was nine years old.

The lyrics:

She walks to school with the lunch she packed

Nobody knows what she's holdin' back

Wearin' the same dress she wore yesterday

She hides the bruises with linen and lace

The teacher wonders but she doesn't ask

It's hard to see the pain behind the mask

Bearing the burden of a secret storm

Sometimes she wishes she was never born

Through the wind and the rain

She stands hard as a stone

In a world that she can't rise above

But her dreams give her wings

And she flies to a place where she's loved

Concrete angel

Somebody cries in the middle of the night

The neighbors hear, but they turn out the lights

A fragile soul caught in the hands of fate

When morning comes it'll be too late

[Repeat Chorus]

A statue stands in a shaded place

An angel girl with an upturned face

A name is written on a polished rock

A broken heart that the world forgot

[Repeat Chorus]