Kate and Anna McGarrigle: Heart Like a Wheel (Caffe Lena, 1990)

[@yvessouchon9708]

These two sisters were one of God's gift to humanity, that's for sure... Their fame reaches far, wide and deep, like Leonard Cohen (another genius who was a friend of theirs), and their songs are cherished by people who look for meaning, beauty, and true feelings, rather than bling, rage and noise. Every song by Kate and Anna is a gem, a perfect blend of words, melody and harmonies. Their voices are intense yet fragile, powered by emotion, not the desire to show off, ie the exact opposite of the Big Screamers who attract millions of fans nowadays because, sadly, most humans are more easily aroused by flashy/trashy performances than by subtle art like that of the Mc Garrigle sisters. Kate and Anna, your songs have accompanied me from my early 20s to my mid 60s already, and 'if when we die we go somewhere' (as Tom Paxton sang) I will take the magic memory of them with me. Thank you, thank you SO MUCH.

[@sophiaw.7356]

Beautiful music, beautiful voices. . I am a longtime FAN.

[@TheKnittingSongbird]

I get goosebumps listening to this, especially when they harmonise...and the words ring so true...RIP Kate, you'll be missed...

[@anthonybagnall4885]

This always has me in tears , so beautiful , along with Go Leave

[@peterdavidallison]

I first listened to this recording many years ago now, in a moment lost. It has raised me up and crushed me succinctly in equal measure ever since.

[@5491notnihc]

When I pass over this song will be in my ears. Beautiful, beautiful sound.

[@3kencloud]

Beautiful! The title song from Kate and Anna’s Album of the same title. A very special record!

[@veerness]

so beautiful, I hear it over and over again. and my tears running down my face.

[@Massivo07]

Rest in peace Kate. Your music was so pure, the words were so honest and true. Listen, listen.

[@AmericanShats]

This is so beautiful. It makes me cry every time I watch it. Rest in peace, Kate. Thank you.

[@flyboysevere]

Beautiful and so true . Thanks for all the music . R.I.P.

[@viralbuthow000]

Just discoveres these women on Saturday Night Live show from 1977. Fascinating how a simple song sung so delicately can be so powerful. RIP Kate.

[@flungingpictures]

This lyric contains some of the most stinging, poignant lines in any love song. Rest thee well Kate. Thanks for the songs. = Heart Like a Wheel (Caffe Lena, 1990) Kate and Anna McGarrigle Some say a heart is just like a wheel When you bend it, you can't mend it Though my love for you is like a sinking ship And my heart is on that ship out in mid ocean

[@pmfnr]

Wow, I can't believe this exists. Thank you so much for posting this haunting, beautiful moment of song.

[@DanPurdy1]

Such a special song presented so well.

[@thomasbrindle3692]

This is just so beautiful and quietly devastating. I also love the simplicity of the filming... somehow I was reminded of the nightclub scene in Annie Hall where we see Annie (Diane Keaton) giving a lovely rendition of Seems Like Old Times, a song whose joy ("seems like old times, having you to walk with...) contrasts with the sadness of Heart Like a Wheel. Two sides of the same coin I guess...

[@veerness]

I fall in love with Kate. I love her emotions and I have to cry everytime when I see her smile while she is singing.

[@MrJacsongs]

What a beautiful hymn. Kate will be missed.

[@cacampbell3654]

Thank you for expressing so precisely, how I felt, the deep wounding I feel still, Kate and Anna. Your song holding my broken heart all these many long years as I've struggled to heal! ❤️🌟💪 Companions for life, and after death ...

[@ccdg1066]

C A Campbell Blessings upon you

[@cacampbell3654]

@@ccdg1066 Thank you! 🥰

[@lindseyilsley8362]

".... and my love for you is like a sinking ship and my heart is on that ship out in mid-ocean"

[@Eistear]

Truly unique. So sad to haer of Kate's passing. We miss your lovely songs.

[@munsterfloyd]

Such unique harmonies. ❤️

[@ticklishtrout]

Privileged to have this song in the house as a youngster, go well Kate, RIP

[@TheBham54]

love this...miss their music

[@lennoxkiel]

Very sad news Kate thnxxx that I have known your beautiful voice and songs. May you rest in peace condoleances for all who loved you especially your family.

[@venusgordeyeva1650]

Amazing song and gorgeous ladies.

[@Magicbrianwood]

devastating fragility. We will miss you Kate

[@tinchurch]

their voices are so fragile...gorgeous!

[@chrisharro]

Anna - your sister will be terribly missed but she will live on in your songs. As you said of her, "she departed in a haze of song and love." I'm sure you have your favourite songs - this is mine...

[@jimrebr]

When I 1st heard and learned to sing this song, I didn’t know the McGarrigle sisters, but I felt their songs deeply as a teenager…My heart is on that ship out in mid ocean 🌊

[@captnyro]

Goodbye, lovely Kate. I'll miss you, but your music will always be a part of my life.

[@TheB1gfoot]

sublime harmonies. RIP Kate.

[@veerness]

I am in love with Anna so so beautiful

[@labora4best]

The particularity of music ...is that you do not have to be alive to spread LOVE around you! RESPECT, LOVE and that is forever, till we embrace eachother someday then! That is, in finis, what it is all about. Bernard

[@karbethong]

That was beautiful, girls. That's why I liked you so much. Miss you.

[@brianharney1326]

karbethong mcgarrigles

[@nightimelady]

this is better than the album version, I wish they had released a live version or an alternative studio version like this... so wonderful!

[@KMGDA49]

Rest in peace Kate. Thank you and Anna for this beautiful song.

[@jayjohnstonmsma]

just a great love song

[@lnl3237]

So grateful to Linda Ronstadt-she led me to Kate and Anna. Ms. Ronstadt was grateful, too.

[@jim4928]

It's not the only recording of this song. You can hear it on the CD "Kate and Anna McGarrigle".

[@lskarin]

I know little about music. But I think I perceive the McGarrigle sisters able to do harmony where it doesn't matter who does the low part and the high part. And they do it seamlessly. Pick your language between French or English. One of my students lent me Pronto Monto vinyl album. Hooked instantly; Vulnerble and strong -- I hope the McGarrigle sisters get recognized for how good they are.

[@flungingpictures]

3/3 And it's only love, only love That can wreck a human being and turn him inside out That can wreck a human being and turn him inside out Some say a heart is just like a wheel When you bend it, you can't mend it And my love for you is like a sinking ship And my heart is on that ship out in mid ocean And it's only love only love And it's only love and it's only love only love only love And it's only love and it's only love

[@labora4best]

In life or already HIGHER.. Still DEEP into my beating heart. And for always. Even if I die. And get anywhere at least... Bernard

[@ThinkingManNeil]

Fare thee well, Kate; your talent, art, and passion will live forever. N.

[@kevinjackson4590]

i miss cafe lena and the parting glass, since ive moved away from upstate

[@dustraman]

I don't hold the idea of Heaven close to my heart, except maybe in music. but this song is outright angelic - in a non-sloppy, non-cheesy, non-mushy, never-campy way. first chords are like quietly crying "Clear prop!" before taking you up for a 3-minute just-above-noospheric flight... a chef-d'oeuvre, & RIP Kate...

[@madeleinehague648]

Happy Celestial Birthday, beautiful Kate.

[@gmikestallings]

Good Catholic girl KNOWS how to suffer---seriously suffering we were told made us strong. The emotion and meaning in this song seems to support this idea. I have never experienced any other musical poetrey LIKE it.

[@eljeffe1815]

Goodbye Kate. I love your songs.

[@allongbeard]

You touched my heart Kate.....Goodby

[@marymary1877]

Lovely

[@MarieProvost77]

Swear to God, before watching this one, I was like, "I'm not gonna cry. I don't have to cry every danged time" (as a reaction to this song). Well, I think you can guess how that went...

[@cookiesandmilk3207]

Pure Canadian genius. God rest her soul.

[@MrMusicguyma]

A paragon of broken-heart songs. It is in Hank Williams's league, and I can think of no higher praise.

[@bgbreakdown]

We love you, Kate!

[@unclebobunclebob]

Damn, nobody told me that Kate McGarrigle died. Now I'm mourning by myself. I loved their songs. They really knew how to sing and write outside the box, with spirit and individuality. (I know, that's ironic for a duo). But this duo was like one.

[@BonRain8734]

So many others have tried to perform this song...they will never succeed in delivering the heartfelt and transcendent experience that these genius sister do with their own song. Sorry, Linda!

[@meandmm]

rest in peace kate :(

[@mikmcd2075]

how good are these two too..

[@DouggMacKenzie]

RIP, dear Kate.

[@SaskiaCornell]

R.I.P. dear Kate - you will be missed. Saskia

[@paullavan6098]

Great. Just that.

[@flungingpictures]

2/3 They say that death is a tragedy It comes once and it's over But my only wish is for that deep dark abyss 'Cause what's the use of living with no true lover When harm is done no love can be won I know it happens frequently What I can't understand Oh please God hold my hand Why it should have happened to me

[@BoogaaPJ]

Waanzinnig! is dutch for oustanding. Thanks!

[@marienique]

My oh my.

[@KennBurch]

Is that Kate and Anna's parents in the wedding pictures? RIP Kate McGarrigle. Thanks for the beautiful truth of your songs.

[@rrgomes]

@Mundlimup Kate is playing the piano.

[@caveatemp]

And with that song, they broke the world in two.

[@markbrack6075]

perfect response

[@caveatemp]

@@markbrack6075 And to say anything else would diminish it, BUT!!! The rhyme of 'over' with 'lover' is just fantastic. It's so deceptively perfect. And it's the refrain 'it's only love' that breaks the huge stone in half. Mendocino is also a perfect song. And Kitty Come Home is insanely beautiful. Thank God and those nuns that schooled them in music for their gift to the music world.

[@TRYINGULTRAS]

love is all

[@rrgomes]

@Mundlimup Where it's currently the middle of the night, if I'm not mistaken.

[@mizook6]

Did the McGarrigle record Poison Ivy League in the 60-70s

[@peterlowrey]

Very sad. RIP.

[@sunshinerythym]

what a shame this is the only recording of theirs for this song, I dont think it gets the timbre and sweetness of their voices......when I first heard this song I went around singing it for days even now !lol they had a very special sound together

[@jype2000]

Goodbye Kate, travel peacefully.

[@geebud1880]

Could anyone help me with this: Joan Baez is supposed to have commented quite UNkind in her biography of 1988 on her cooperation with the McGarrigle Sisters - the book has no Index. Does anyone know the details - the comment or page?

[@rrgomes]

The wedding pictures aren't of K&A's parents. This clip was taken from "Caffe Lena", a 1991 documentary about the folk club in Saratoga Springs, NY, that was founded by Lena Spencer. I believe the woman in the photos is Lena.

[@constancewalsh3646]

Thank you so much for source of wedding photos, the one in particular with Bride's frown - immeasureable depths.

[@mariev9233]

Thanks very much

[@TheBitterWeed]

Sad news. RIP Kate.

[@guruofsnot]

I assume these wedding photos are of mother and father McGarrigle? Martha looks so much like her grandmother.

[@jeffradol9675]

I assume it was of Lena. Her husband left her for a Skidmore College girl and settled in New England. It was probably at the memorial service for Lena. BTW Linda Ronstadt said this song change her musical landscape.

[@TRYINGULTRAS]

me to

[@marychowen]

beautiful and poignant!

[@shivanet]

bye kate. next universe

[@Movielunatic]

Tarja Merivirta also sings Heart Like a Wheel!

[@dreamwell2020]

Music that matters is very often a misfit in its original context. Nick Drake's is to Led Zeppelin's as this is to Meatwood Flack.

[@WeissritterOG]

FOR MY GOOD PAL WHEELY