“Kiss An Angel Good Mornin'”
Charley Pride
Written by Benjamin Peters
Billboard
#1 (5 weeks)
December 4, 1971 – January 1, 1972
As obvious a classic as exists in the country music canon, and I’m sure it was clear upon release like it would be for “Forever and Ever, Amen” and “Friends in Low Places” down the road.
For all of its overexposure, “Kiss an Angel Good Mornin'” still holds up. It’s two minutes in heaven, with Pride’s sunshine voice sneaking in a bit of mischievousness each time he closes out the chorus, while he maintains an innocent, plausible deniability across the rest of the record.
It’s remarkable how much this single towers over the rest of Pride’s impressive catalog of hits. For younger country fans who can only name one Charley Pride songs, it’s this one. It’s a shame that more of his old hits aren’t played on the radio anymore, but this one’s relative overfamiliarity still can’t dilute the punch it packs, even after all of these years.
“Kiss an Angel Good Mornin'” gets an A.
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You could not turn on your radio without hearing this song during its run. And with great reason. An incredible song by an incredible singer, and incredible production.
An absolute A in my book.
It definitely functions as the one people remember the most from Charley; but it is also important to remember that it was also a sizable crossover hit as well, getting up to #21 on the Hot 100. Granted, there were a lot of country/pop crossover hits throughout the 1970’s, but this was the one that got him notice outside of Nashville circles.
Not my favorite Charley Pride song but he had a solid run of songs that were really good – good enough to warrant an “A” and worth repeated listening. There actually exists an additional verse to the song, but it adds nothing to the story and Charley justifiably left it off.
I can count four Charley Pride songs that are part of the rotation on the two classic country stations I listen to. Grading on a curve, I guess I’ll credit these two stations for giving Pride more of a legacy than “just the one” song. Like most of Charley’s hits, the “sunshine” aspect of his vocals really elevates the performance. It’s hard to think of another artist of his era who could have turned this song into the ear candy that it is, and I suspect you’re right that they knew this would be his career record when they were listening to his performance in the recording studio. Personally, I wouldn’t consider it my favorite Charley Pride song but it would be in the top-5.
Is the linked version the original? Or re-recorded? It doesn’t seem as punchy as the version I usually hear on the radio.
Grade: A
Back when I was a kid, I had an “easy piano” songbook that had this song in it and I taught myself how to play it — as I was already familiar with it from frequent rotation on WKJC. (They loved, and still do love, playing 60s and 70s hits.)
This song is shockingly economical. It’s just over two minutes long, with two short verses and a simple three chord structure. But it does a lot with those simple ingredients, and is sold with an extremely charming vocal and production that’s aged well (no big strings or choirs here!). If this is going to be the one Charley Pride song everyone knows, then it’s an extremely solid introduction to his body of work.
Easily one of the top gateway songs into country music for non-country fans. It’s magnetic charms are inescapable, a slightly sanitized take on Conway Twitty’s playbook.
Pure gold, but the real thrill is discovering Pride mined a much richer vein of brilliant music.