This song is a tribute to legendary punk poetess Patti Smith. The singer is making a comment about how Smith’s flamboyant earnestness is able to disarm his own cynicism.
When she sang about angels
She looked at the sky
Anybody else, anybody else, but I let it go by
When she sang about the fields
She raised up her arm
As if she was pushing back the cotton on some Midwestern farm
When she sang about a boy
Kurt Cobain
I thought what a shame it wasn't about
Tom Verlaine
When she sang about angels
She looked at the sky
Anybody else, anybody else, but I let it go by
Then she threw some names
Like she always did
She threw some names, she dropped some names
Like she used to when I was a kid
When she sang about angels
She looked at the sky
Anybody else, anybody else, but I let it go by
I let it go by
I let it go by
When She Sang About Angels was written by Robert Forster.
When She Sang About Angels was produced by The Go-Betweens.
The Go-Betweens released When She Sang About Angels on Tue Sep 19 2000.