"Precious Angel" is a song written by
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...
that first appeared on his 1979 album ''
Slow Train Coming
''Slow Train Coming'' is the nineteenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on August 20, 1979, by Columbia Records. It was Dylan's first album following his conversion to Christianity, and the songs either express per ...
''. It was also released as a single in the Netherlands. "Precious Angel'" is a religious love song, released during his "born-again Christian" period.
Music critic Michael Gray considers it one of the standout tracks on ''Slow Train Coming''.
It has been included on a number of Bob Dylan compilation albums, including ''
Dylan'' and ''Playlist: The Very Best of Bob Dylan '70s''. It was included in most shows during Dylan's
Gospel Tour in 1979 and 1980 but he has not played it in concert since then.
It was also covered by
World Wide Message Tribe
The Tribe, formerly the World Wide Message Tribe (WWMT), were a British Christian dance band. Their aim was "to communicate the gospel
Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second cent ...
on the 1998 album ''Heatseeker''.
Composition
Authors Oliver Keys and John Nogowski particularly praise the guitar playing of
Mark Knopfler
Mark Freuder Knopfler OBE (born 12 August 1949) is a British musician. He was the lead guitarist, singer and songwriter of the rock band Dire Straits from 1977 to 1995, and he is the one of the two members who stayed during the band's existence ...
on the song.
Themes
At a concert in
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...
on January 14, 1980, Dylan claimed that the song is addressed to the woman who brought him to
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...
.
This is consistent with the lyrics, particularly in the final verse where Dylan refers to his delivering angel as the torch that led him to the greater light of
Jesus
Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...
.
The
chorus
Chorus may refer to:
Music
* Chorus (song), the part of a song that is repeated several times, usually after each verse
* Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound
* Chorus form, song in whic ...
might be addressed to either the precious angel or to Jesus:
:''Shine your light, shine your light on me
:''Ya know I couldn't make it by myself''
:''I'm a little too blind to see''
The lyrics contain many
biblical
The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) biblical languages ...
references.
[ The theme of the song seems to be taken from ]2 Corinthians
The Second Epistle to the Corinthians is a Pauline epistle of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-author named Timothy, and is addressed to the church in Corinth and Christians in ...
4:4 to 4:6, in which the light of Christ is contrasted with the darkness faced by those deluded by the devil.[ The line "Now there's ]spiritual warfare
Spiritual warfare is the Christian concept of fighting against the work of preternatural evil forces. It is based on the belief in evil spirits, or demons, that are said to intervene in human affairs in various ways. Although spiritual warfa ...
, flesh and blood breaking down" appears to be a reflection of another verse from 2 Corinthians (10:3) which states "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh".[ The line in the chorus about blindness appears to be influenced by a passage from the ]Gospel of John
The Gospel of John () is the fourth of the New Testament's four canonical Gospels. It contains a highly schematic account of the ministry of Jesus, with seven "Book of Signs, signs" culminating in the raising of Lazarus (foreshadowing the ...
in which the blind man healed by Jesus proclaims that "Whereas I was blind, now I can see".[ The opening line of the chorus may be taken from the ]Book of Isaiah
The Book of Isaiah ( ) is the first of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible and the first of the Major Prophets in the Christian Old Testament. It is identified by a superscription as the words of the 8th-century BC prophet Isaiah ben Amo ...
9:1, which states "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelled in the land of the shadow of death, light has dawned".[ It also recalls the chorus from Dylan's earlier song "]I Shall Be Released
"I Shall Be Released" is a 1967 song written by Bob Dylan.
Dylan recorded two primary versions. The first recording was made in collaboration with the Band during the Basement Tapes sessions in 1967, and released on '' The Bootleg Series Volu ...
", in which Dylan sang about redemption through a "light come shining from the west down to the east".[
A line from the song continues the theme of the previous song on ''Slow Train Coming'', "]Gotta Serve Somebody
"Gotta Serve Somebody" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released as the opening track on his 1979 studio album '' Slow Train Coming''. It won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Male in ...
", stating that "You either got faith or you got unbelief and there ain't no neutral ground".[ In an echo of earlier songs such as "]Positively 4th Street
"Positively 4th Street" is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan, first recorded in New York City on July 29, 1965. It was released as a single by Columbia Records on September 7, 1965, reaching on Canada's ''RPM'' chart, on the U.S. ''Bi ...
", Dylan later addresses his "so-called friends" who have "fallen under a spell" while thinking "all is well", their cluelessness further echoing Mr. Jones from 1965's "Ballad of a Thin Man
"Ballad of a Thin Man" is a song written and recorded by Bob Dylan, and released in 1965 on his sixth studio album, ''Highway 61 Revisited''.
Recording
Dylan recorded "Ballad of a Thin Man" in Studio A of Columbia Records in New York City, located ...
."[ Dylan asks:]Book of Revelation
The Book of Revelation, also known as the Book of the Apocalypse or the Apocalypse of John, is the final book of the New Testament, and therefore the final book of the Bible#Christian Bible, Christian Bible. Written in Greek language, Greek, ...
9:2 which states "In those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die and death shall flee from them".[ The fourth verse of the song is directed at a "sister" who spoke of ]Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),*
*
*
was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...
and Muhammad
Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...
but not Jesus.[ Music critic ]Paul Williams Paul Williams may refer to:
Authors
* Paul Williams (Crawdaddy) (1948–2013), American music and science fiction journalist; founder of ''Crawdaddy'' and the Philip K. Dick Society
* Paul Williams (Irish journalist) (born 1964), Irish journalis ...
suggests that this is a dig at Dylan's ex-wife Sara
Sara may refer to:
People
* Sara (given name), a feminine given name
People with the given name
* Sara Aboobacker (1936–2023), Indian writer and translator
* Sara Ahmed (born 1969), British-Australian writer
* Sara Allgood (1880–1950), Ir ...
for keeping him from learning of Jesus sooner.
Identity of the woman
There has been much speculation over the exact identity of the precious angel the song is about.[ There are hints that she is black, particularly the phrase that he and the angel are "covered in blood, girl, you know our forefathers were slaves", referencing the slavery in Egypt of Dylan's Jewish ancestors and slavery of blacks in the United States before the ]American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
.[ Dylan biographer ]Clinton Heylin
Clinton Heylin (born 8 April 1960) is an English author. Heylin has written extensively about popular music, especially on the life and work of Bob Dylan.
Education
Heylin attended Manchester Grammar School. He read history at Bedford College ...
has suggested that the identity of the woman is Mary Alice Artes, who had been converted by the Vineyard Movement
The Association of Vineyard Churches, also known as the Vineyard Movement, is an international neocharismatic evangelical Christian association of churches.Despite the fact that some might see denominational labels as divisive, the founder of the ...
and subsequently helped Dylan on his path to Christianity, albeit after Dylan began the journey on his own.[
]
References
External links
Lyrics
at Bob Dylan's official site
Chords
at Dylanchords
{{Authority control
Songs written by Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan songs
1979 singles
1979 songs
Song recordings produced by Jerry Wexler
Song recordings produced by Barry Beckett
Columbia Records singles
American reggae songs
Gospel songs
Works based on the Book of Isaiah