AllMusic critic William Ruhlmann describes "Late for the Sky" as a "slow, piano-based ballad in [Browne's] familiar style" that is "a typically eloquent description of romantic discord.
"[1] Ultimate Classic Rock critic Michael Gallucci says that while the album plays like "one long breakup montage" the title track is key to the story, telling of "the moment where that tiny glimmer of hope is wiped out by cold, hard reality.
"[4] The song starts by describing an argument in which the singer and his lover discuss their relationship from when it began until he realizes that now when he looks at her he sees "nobody I'd ever known.
[1] The song ends with a restatement of the bridge in which the singer states that he is rushing to catch an early flight because he is "late for the sky.
[7] Los Angeles Times critic Robert Hilburn said that "Late for the Sky" was "perhaps the album's best designed work", describing its theme as "the agony of discovering the reality of an incomplete relationship.
[10][11] The song was used in Martin Scorsese's 1976 film, Taxi Driver, in a scene where Robert De Niro's character "loses what's left of his loose grip on reality.