Introduction:
After struggling to find a place within the Nashville machine, Willie Nelson eventually gave up and decided to do things his own way. More than 50 years later, that gamble is still paying off, with the 92-year-old outlaw country legend up to 104 studio albums and counting. On this day (March 21) in 1981, he landed his seventh No. 1 hit with the emotional ballad “Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground” (which may or may not have been inspired by a member of the Hell’s Angels).
Willie Nelson Wrote This Song For His First Leading Film Role
Nelson penned the song for the Honeysuckle Rose soundtrack, a Western drama that he starred in alongside Amy Irving. The “Always On My Mind” crooner played aging country musician Buck Bonham, who is still grasping at fame.
“Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground” is about saving someone—And I patched up your broken wing—before letting them go (So leave me if you need to, I will still remember / Angel flying too close to the ground.)
The song’s subject isn’t entirely clear. Some believe Willie Nelson wrote “Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground” about ex-wife Connie Koepke, as their marriage was on the rocks at the time. However, others have speculated that the “angel” in question is Nelson’s friend Charlie Magoo, a member of the Hells Angels who died in a 1971 motorcycle crash. Magoo was just 33 years old.
It Still Gets Him Choked Up
“Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground” has remained a mainstay on Willie Nelson’s setlist throughout his illustrious career. And even now, to this day, performing it onstage still brings tears to his eyes.
“Yeah, there are a couple,” Nelson replied to a GQ reporter asking about songs that still made him “misty”. “’Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground’ is one. ‘Always on My Mind’ is another… I still think music is what brings us all together. Politics separates everybody. Music brings us back together.”
Additionally, Nelson has often performed the song as a tribute to his son Billy, who died by suicide on Christmas Day 1991. “I’ve never experienced anything so devastating in my life,” Willie told a friend at the time, according to People.