Heart Like a Wheel

December 8, 2011 • 3:46 am

This lovely song was written by the French-Canadian sisters Kate and Anna McGarrigle, known to folkies but perhaps not to many others. (Kate, once married to Loudon Wainwright, died of cancer last year.) I think this is the best McGarrigle song; it’s strange and haunting, almost medieval.

Linda Ronstadt did the most famous cover, but here the song is performed here by all three, joined by sister Jane McGarrigle and Maria Muldaur (remember “Midnight at the Oasis”?). The order of solos are Linda, Anna, and Kate (at the piano), and the harmony at the end is of high caliber.

There’s a great live version by Linda Rondstadt here, and the pure McGarrigle version is here.

22 thoughts on “Heart Like a Wheel”

  5. Simply beautiful, Jerry. Harmony singing like theirs just melts the hardest heart, and now, several minutes after the hearing, the goosebumps are slowly receding.

    Thanks for the link.

  6. Just a very minor point.
    I am not sure if it is correct to call a person French-Canadian just because they live in Montreal.
    Especially when their name McGarrigle indicates a different (Scottish)ethnic background.

    1. Wikipedia: Anna McGarrigle and Kate McGarrigle were born in Montreal of mixed English and French-Canadian background, but lived their childhood in the Laurentian Mountains village of Saint-Sauveur-des-Monts, Québec, northwest of Montreal, where they learned piano from village nuns.

      Okay?

      1. Not really.

        Their mixed background makes them perfect Canadians. And this is how they always refereed to themselves: Canadians.

        BTW. Wikipedia lists the McGarrigle sisters as “Canadian people of English descent”

  8. It’s not a far leap from the McGarrigle sisters to British folk. Here is another haunting song with a bit of a medieval feel. Definitely the most beautiful song with a banjo in it, imo 🙂

      1. It’s from the album Pour Down Like Silver. Richard and Linda had recently converted and become Sufi Muslims when it was recorded.
        I think one of his best tunes is The End Of The Rainbow a beautiful tune with some of the bleakest lyrics you’ll ever hear. I thought it was us atheists who were supposed to think like this.

  9. A lovely and sad song. There’s nothing “medieval” about it–have a listen to real medieval music for comparison. It sounds like a traditional modal celtic melody with added accompaniment. I never heard of these sisters before, so thanks for introducing me to them and their music.

  10. I was knocked out by the McGarrigles debut album in 1975 and became a lifelong fan; I had the chance to see Kate and Anna and much of their extended family at a Town Hall concert in NYC in the late 80s or early 90s. For my money, I prefer “Talk to Me of Mendocino” slightly over “Heart Like a Wheel.”

    What a wonderful bonus to also see a link to Richard and Linda Thompson and “Dimming of the Day.” I discovered Thompson’s work at about the same time, 1975, and have seen him perform live only once, in a sublime solo acoustic concert about 4 or 5 years ago. There are a couple of very good DVDs of Thompson concert performances, including one from Austin and another of his 1,000 years of popular music concert.

    Please be aware that Thompson’s 1981 all-instrumental album, Strict Tempo, has just been released on CD.

  11. Indeed, it is a gorgeous song, gorgeously sung. Which reminds me: I have several of the sisters’ albums and have set myself to converting my 12 feet of albums to CDs. Your mention reminds me to get off my ass and just do it.

  12. Kate, once married to Loudon Wainwright, died of cancer last year

    Also they are the parents of Rufus Wainwright, a fine singer in his own right.

  13. I have to give a shout out to Maria Muldaur since she didn’t just disappear in 1974… like many she just disappeared from pop 40 music radio. She has put out 30 or so albums and if anything her voice is only better. She’s a hella singer of jazz and country tinged blues.

    Here’s a taste

  14. When I saw the name of this post I thought of Shirley Muldowney, the first female pro drag racer. The movie about her has the same name.

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