Of Angels and Angles Lyrics

Lyric discussion by Breakfast 

Cover art for Of Angels and Angles lyrics by Decemberists, The

According to tradition, in the 6th century Pope Gregory I is supposed to have seen some beautiful blond-haired and blue-eyed children in a Roman slave market. He asked after their background and was told they were Angles (one of the northern germanic tribes who gave their names to England), his reply to this was "Non Angli, sed angeli" - "Not Angles but angels."