Songfacts®:

• Written by Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music saxophonist Andy Mackay, "Angel Eyes" is a sleek, sophisticated song that uses religious imagery to describe a woman whose gaze holds a spiritual power over the singer. An evocative ode to desire and longing, "Angel Eyes" also touches on the uncertainties of love:
  
  Oh, angel eyes
  Am I deceived
  Or did you sigh?
  For all I know
  You let your love light
  Shine on me
• "Angel Eyes" was the third single taken from Roxy Music's sixth album, Manifesto, after "Trash" and "Dance Away." The album original is rock-driven, but the band recorded a glossy disco version for the single release. The new version peaked at #4 in the UK and was followed by an extended dance remix pressed on 12-inch, an emerging format in 1979.
  
  "After a short early career as an album track on our 1978 album Manifesto, 'Angel Eyes' was reborn as a brilliant dance remix anticipating a whole world of music in the '80s and up to the present," Mackay recalled to The Mail on Sunday on June 28, 2009. "It became a big hit as a single and in clubs."
• American R&B icon Luther Vandross sings uncredited backing vocals on this song. Before breaking out as a solo artist with "Never Too Much" in 1981, Vandross was a highly sought-after session singer, working with stars like Bette Midler, Chaka Khan, David Bowie, Roberta Flack, and Stevie Wonder.
• With music television on the rise, Roxy Music shot their first video for "Angel Eyes." The band collaborated with British fashion designer Antony Price on the clip, featuring Ferry singing in a pink suit surrounded by billowing dry ice and two women playing a harp. Mackay explained to The Mail on Sunday: "Our lack of filmmaking experience and perfectionism meant we didn't really have enough time and had to edit various bits together for the last verse. It still looks good though and shows how much we anticipated both music and style in the decade that followed."
• By coincidence, at the same time this song was popular, the Swedish group ABBA was also in the UK Top 10 with an unrelated song named "Angeleyes." In April 2022, "Angeleyes" gained renewed interest on TikTok, with users sharing nostalgic memories on the video app over a sped-up version of the Voulez-Vous cut.
• Manifesto was Roxy Music's first album in four years. Following 1975's Siren, the band took an extended hiatus, with Ferry releasing three solo albums: Let's Stick Together (1976), In Your Mind (1977), and The Bride Stripped Bare (1978). As opposed to the traditional "Side One" and "Side Two," Manifesto is split into the Europe-inspired "East Side" and the America-inspired "West Side," with "Angel Eyes" appearing on the former along with the previous single, "Trash."