| Track | Album/Single |
|---|---|
| Going Back To Harlan | Matapedia |
| Heart Like A Wheel | Kate & Anna McGarrigle |
| Kiss & Say Goodbye | Kate & Anna McGarrigle |
| Love Over And Over | Love Over And Over |
| Matapedia | Matapedia |
| Mother Mother | Heartbeats Accelerating |
| Oh My Heart | Pronto Monto |
| Proserpina | (see below)* |
| Talk To Me Of Mendocino | Kate & Anna McGarrigle |
| Stella By Artois | Pronto Monto |
| Sunflower | La Vache Qui Pleure |
| Was My Brother In The Battle | Songs Of The Civil War |
McGarrigles playlist
Really not easy to reduce the McGarrigle sisters output to just a few but I’ve given it my best shot. Could easily have included most of the stunning first album produced by Joe Boyd – Go Leave for example – and in a Top 20 there’d be a couple of tracks from Dancer With Bruised Knees, and the nostalgic Saratoga Summer Song now issued for the first time on the Tell My Sister CD. Heck, go buy that!
* Kate McGarrigle’s last song, Proserpina, was unveiled at her final performance in London in 2009 and that performance remains unreleased as far as I know – apart from footage from this Royal Albert Hall gig which can be found on YouTube. You can also hear a moving version by Kate’s daughter, Martha Wainwright, on her 2012 album, Come Home To Mama. And, just released this month, Proserpina is also available on Sing Me the Songs: Celebrating the Works of Kate McGarrigle with Kate singing briefly at the start from that same RAH concert, before Sloan and Martha Wainwright finish the song.
“The sound of those voices together was one of the most astounding things I had heard in my musical life.” Joe Boyd
Joe Boyd Remembers Kate McGarrigle
Merric Davidson is a retired publisher who started this site in 2013. He posts toppermost on Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram.
TopperPost #2
The Everly Brothers
Listening to Matapedia, I decided to do a Toppermost pick of Kate and Anna only to find it’s been done. And it includes two of my choices – Matapedia and Talk To Me Of Mendocino. I’d have included more of Heartbeats Accelerating but really trying to choose 10 is an impossibly unsatisfying pastime. Take the lot. I don’t think I’ve ever been disappointed by a recording. They’ve contributed on lots of other favourite records of mine too – whether with Emmylou Harris or The Albion Band or others. I only saw them once and it was a memorable concert. Great picks Merric.