I'm No Angel (song)
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"I'm No Angel" is a 1987 single, written by Tony Colton and Phil Palmer and recorded by Gregg Allman. The title track from his album of that year, the song was an unexpected hit, reaching #49 on the Billboard Hot 100 but gaining heavy album-oriented rock airplay and topping the Album Rock Tracks chart.
Frequently interpreted to be semi-autobiographical, "I'm No Angel" featured Allman's gruff vocals in an uptempo, New Orleans music-based[1] statement of boasting yet acknowledging of fault-strewn purpose:
- No, I'm no angel, no I'm no stranger to the street
- I`ve got my label, so I won't crumble at your feet
- And I know baby, so I've got scars upon my cheek
- And I'm half crazy, come on and love me baby ...
Laden with 1980s production touches from Rodney Mills such as heavy keyboards and drums, the record helped revive Allman's image to the pop and rock world, and may have even indirectly contributed to The Allman Brothers Band's successful reformation two years later.
Ironically, one of the people Allman had most not been an angel with, his former wife Cher, immediately identified with the song as well, and performed it in the high-profile opening slot of her 1989-1990 Heart of Stone Tour.[2]
In subsequent years, "I'm No Angel" has been part of Allman's solo concert repertoire, but has also been played by The Allman Brothers Band as well, with most of the pop gloss of the original recording now long since stripped out.
