Rocktober Day Fifteen: She Talks To Angels

I discovered The Black Crowes around 1990 when their first album Shake Your Money Maker came out. The single Hard To Handle (didn't realise it was a Tom Jones cover at the time) attracted my attention and I was quickly hooked. That album, as well as their second release The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion, are two of my favourite albums of all time. There's nothing better for driving than sticking some Crowes in the old CD stacker.

They toured Australia around 1991 and that hot, sweaty show at the old Hordern Pav was one of the best live gigs I've ever seen. Raw rock and roll of the best kind. Seeing them live last year was a very different story. Rubbish. Not altogether their fault.

Anyway, this song stands out because it is accoustic and beautiful and it tells a story that those who know someone with a drug addiction can relate to. A life lost to drugs and the pain that brings to the loved ones.

She Talks To Angels (wonderful live version from YouTube)

She never mentions the word addiction
In certain company
Yes, she'll tell you she's an orphan
After you meet her family

She paints her eyes as black as night now,
Pulls those shades down tight
Yes, she gives a smile when the pain comes,
The pain gonna make everything alright

Says, she talks to angels,
They call her out by her name
Oh yeah, she talks to angels,
Says they call her out by her name

She keeps a lock of hair in her pocket
She wears a cross around her neck
Yes, the hair is from a little boy,
And the cross is someone she has not met, not yet

Says she talks to angels,
Says they all know her name
Oh yeah, she talks to angels,
Says they call her out by her name

She don't know no lover,
None that I ever seen,
And to her that ain't nothing
But to me, it means, means everything.

She paints those eyes as black as night now
She pulls those shades down tight
Oh yeah, there a smile when the pain comes,
The pain gonna make everything alright, alright yeah

She talks to angels,
Says they call her out her name
Oh yeah-eah-eah, angels
Call her out by her name
Oh-ooh-oh-oh, angels
They call her out by her name
Oh-oh, She talks to angels
They call her out
Yeah-eah-eah, call her out
Don't you know that they call her out by her name?