Angel From Montgomery
The story behind one of America’s most beloved and unforgettable songs
As John Prine tells it, he just couldn’t write another song about old people.
“I said everything I wanted to in (his song) Hello In There,” Prine recalled saying roughly 50 years ago to a friend as the pair brainstormed song ideas together in a Chicago apartment. “I can’t do it.”
But Prine, then a letter carrier in his 20s who wrote songs while on breaks from his day job, was still inspired by the suggestion.
“I thought for a while and said, ‘How ’bout a song about a middle-aged woman who feels older than she is?’” he told writer Paul Zollo in an interview for the 2016 book More Songwriters on Songwriting.
His friend wasn’t interested. But the idea stuck with Prine, and by the time he got home later that night, an image had taken root in his mind.
“I had this really vivid picture of this woman standing over the dishwater with soap in her hands and just walking away from it all,” he said.
With that, Prine got to work and he already knew exactly what the song ’s opening line would be.
“I am an old woman named after my mother.”
Angel From Montgomery, Hello In There and many of Prine’s other songs were on people’s minds Tuesday after news broke that the Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter, a defining figure of the Americana genre, had died at age 73 in Nashville due to complications from the coronavirus.
Fans flooded social media with clips of Prine performing Angel From Montgomery, as well as covers done by scores of other prominent musicians ranging from such icons as Bonnie Raitt and John Denver to newer stars like Maggie Rogers.
“His words and melodies draw chuckles and blood, and tears of sorrow and redemption, all leading to truths widely known but never before articulated,” said Kyle Young, CEO of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. “John’s mind was a treasure chest, open to us all. We mourn his passing, even as we hold the treasure.”
For many, Angel From Montgomery, featured on Prine’s self-titled debut album in 1971, was one of the songs that best captured his unparalleled ability to write poignant lyrics about old people when he was young, and women when he wasn’t one.
“If you come up with a strong enough character, you can get a really vivid insight into the character that you’ve invented,” Prine told Zollo.
While writing Angel From Montgomery, Prine said he envisioned a woman living in Montgomery, Ala., who “wanted to get out of there.”
“She wanted to get out of her house and her marriage and everything,” he said. “She just wanted an angel to come to take her away from all this.” Then, Prine said he just “let the character write the song.”
“Once I’ve got an outline, a sketch in my mind, of who the person was, then I figure I’d better let them speak for themselves,” he said. “Rather than me saying, ‘Hey, so here’s a middle-aged woman. She feels she’s much older.’ It wouldn’t have been nearly as effective.”
Instead, Prine sings in his signature raspy drawl:
Make me an angel that flies from Montgomery
Make me a poster of an old rodeo Just give me one thing that I can hold on to
To believe in this living is just a hard way to go
Angel From Montgomery is now regarded as one of Prine’s bestknown works, gaining massive recognition after Raitt recorded a version of the song for her 1974 album, Streetlights.