B-side "Something to Save" Format 5" CD
7"
12" Length 7:14 | Released 18 March 1991 Genre Jazz Label Epic | |
"Cowboys and Angels" is a song written and performed by George Michael and released on Epic Records in 1991. Among other things, the song is notable for being written in waltz time. It became the first and only single released by Michael in his career that did not make the top 40 of the UK Singles Chart. It peaked at number 45 on release in March 1991.
The song's lowly sales figures were not a surprise as it was the fifth single to be released from the Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 album. The album was released in the UK on 3 September 1990 and in the US on 11 September 1990; each single had finished lower than its predecessor and "Cowboys and Angels" continued the pattern, although the other four had all reached the threshold of the top 40.
"Cowboys and Angels" was also Michael's longest single to date, at 7 minutes 14 seconds. The saxophone solo is by Andy Hamilton.
In a 2014 BBC one-hour documentary based on Michael's 2012 performance at the Palais Garnier during his Symphonica Tour, Michael revealed the song was about a short lived love triangle where he was in love with a man while a female friend was in love with him, but none knew of the others' feelings.