I've Got 2 Wings

Album: Wonderful Crazy Night (2015)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • The Reverend Utah Smith was a guitar-playing Louisiana preacher who performed around the South in the 1940s with enormous white wings strapped to his back. Elton John's lyricist Bernie Taupin wrote this song about the winged musical evangelist.
  • Asked by Bernie Taupun what drew him towards Smith, Taupin replied: "I have this terrible tendency in my work to resurrect the neglected [laughs]. It's great ammunition for songs. I mean, a Louisiana guitar-playing evangelist who wears a pair of wings? What's not to love about that?"
  • Here is a YouTube clip of The Reverend Utah Smith performing one of his tunes.

Comments: 1

  • Charger from TennesseeVery glad to hear this, I thought it was about the Mormons, lol!
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Janis Ian

Janis IanSongwriter Interviews

One of the first successful female singer-songwriters, Janis had her first hit in 1967 at age 15.

Lace the Music: How LSD Changed Popular Music

Lace the Music: How LSD Changed Popular MusicSong Writing

Starting in Virginia City, Nevada and rippling out to the Haight-Ashbury, LSD reshaped popular music.

Jimmy Jam

Jimmy JamSongwriter Interviews

The powerhouse producer behind Janet Jackson's hits talks about his Boyz II Men ballads and regrouping The Time.

Dar Williams

Dar WilliamsSongwriter Interviews

A popular contemporary folk singer, Williams still remembers the sticky note that changed her life in college.

Commercials

CommercialsFact or Fiction

Was "Ring Of Fire" really used to sell hemorrhoid cream?

Reverend Horton Heat

Reverend Horton HeatSongwriter Interviews

The Reverend rants on psychobilly and the egghead academics he bashes in one of his more popular songs.