diff --git a/beetsplug/edit.py b/beetsplug/edit.py
index 191091295..5c7796ee8 100644
--- a/beetsplug/edit.py
+++ b/beetsplug/edit.py
@@ -46,7 +46,12 @@ def edit(filename, log):
     cmd = util.shlex_split(util.editor_command())
     cmd.append(filename)
     log.debug(u'invoking editor command: {!r}', cmd)
-    subprocess.call(cmd)
+    try:
+        subprocess.call(cmd)
+    except OSError as exc:
+        raise ui.UserError(u'could not run editor command {!r}: {}'.format(
+            cmd[0], exc
+        ))
 
 
 def dump(arg):
diff --git a/docs/changelog.rst b/docs/changelog.rst
index f3460cfde..43c2893d7 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.rst
+++ b/docs/changelog.rst
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ Fixes:
   LyricsWiki page markup. :bug:`1912` :bug:`1909`
 * :doc:`/plugins/lyrics`: Also fix retrieval from Musixmatch and the way we
   guess the URL for lyrics. :bug:`1880`
+* :doc:`/plugins/error`: Fail gracefully when the configured text editor
+  command can't be invoked. :bug:`1927`
 
 
 1.3.17 (February 7, 2016)