Hank Williams -- "Angel of Death"
A sober statement on the reality of death from a man who was, at the time he recorded this demo, rarely sober. The timing here is eerie, as it is with Gram Parsons' "In My Hour of Darkness." Shortly after recording this demo, Hank had his own encounter with the Angel.
It's hard to imagine this song embellished with fiddle or steel guitar -- the stark austerity of the demo is just right. Compared with the earnest but plaintive reording of "The Log Train," there's no pathos in "Angel of Death," just a strict, stern statement on human mortality couched in the terminology of the religion that Hank seemed to embrace so sincerely in his heart but so poorly in his deeds.
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