Willie Nelson was born in Abbott, Texas on April 29, 1933. In 2012 a statute of Willie was unveiled in Austin, but instead of choosing his birthday, organizers chose the appropriate date of April 20 at 4:20 p.m. for the man who released an album that features a song with Snoop Dogg called, “Roll Me Up And Smoke Me When I Die.” Anyway, today we celebrate with one of his great collaborations, this one with Ray Charles singing “Seven Spanish Angels.”
The song was released as a single in November 1984 and originally appeared on Nelson’s album, Half Nelson (1985) and on Charles’s album, Friendship (1984). Although Charles had several successful country recordings, this one was his most successful. I was surprised to hear that this song was so successful for Charles, as it is not the first country recording I think of when I think of Charles. But it is an excellent one. In the video below, Nelson explains that Charles brought the song to him and that “it is going to be a phonograph record pretty soon.”
Like Willie Nelson’s great recording of Townes Van Zandt’s “Pancho & Lefty” with Merle Haggard, “Seven Spanish Angels,” written by Troy Seals and Eddie Setser, recounts the story of an outlaw in Mexico. Instead of being about two men, though “Seven Spanish Angels” tells the story of an outlaw and his girlfriend. After the outlaw is killed in a gunfight with a posse, the woman exclaims, “Father, please forgive me; I can’t make it without my man.” Then she picked up his rifle, knowing it is empty, and points it at the men who then shoot and kill her.
The Seven Spanish Angels in the song “pray for the lovers in the valley of the guns.” When the smoke cleared, “seven Spanish angels took another angel home.” The line about “another angel” always made me wonder, does that mean they left the woman’s boyfriend behind?
What do you think happened at the end of “Seven Spanish Angels”? Leave your two cents in the comments.
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I once smoked a joint with Willie and and asked him about this song. This is what he explained to me-
The refrain in ‘Seven Spanish Angels’ was sung a total of 4 times throughout the entire song, each time ending with the verse – “And seven Spanish Angels, Took another angel home”. The refrain was first sung after the outlaw was gunned down, then again after the outlaw’s lover met her demise. Then it was repeated another 2 times to conclude the song. What this means is that both the outlaw AND his lady were swept up to heaven, along with an additional 2 of the posse members that were killed in the shootout. The moral point made here is that whether one being an outlaw or even a lawman, it’s all good in the end. Either way, you’re getting to heaven. Hope this clears up any confusion.
Thanks for the great story. Despite Willie’s explanation, I’m still not sure I see the two additional posse members in the song just because the chorus is repeated two additional times at the end (not unusual for a duet). There is otherwise no mention of anybody else dying besides the lovers, and the choruses all refer to the seven Spanish angels “praying for the lovers.” You make a good point that the placement of the first chorus likely means that both the outlaw and his lover were taken to heaven, although there is still some ambiguity. One thing great about good songs is that they can leave things open for interpretation. Even though Willie did not write the song, I will still listen to it in a different way in light of his explanation. Thanks for the comment!
questions questions: i feel sorry for the loyal and dedicated girlfriend in the song; she sacrificed herself for his memory even; maybe the outlaw had a hard life and got a bum rap in life: maybe his passionate dedication to her caused him to break the law for love? i don’t understand why the angels took either of them but maybe the cards were rigged against both of them from the start in a cruel world and that’s why the angels took both of them which is why it’s repeated at the end when she dies..hard to say this is just a guess