My Top 10 Heart songs. Some of the big ones… the classics… show up here. A coupe of lesser known cuts as well, but from here on out, we’re is the company of really special songs. This batch mostly pulls from their 70’s catalog, but surprisingly, we do dip into their most recent release as well. Rest assured though, you’re definitely going to know at least a couple of these songs.
#10 Kick it Out – Little Queen (1977)
written by Ann Wilson
Heart’s second album, Little Queen has only appeared once so far on this list, with the title track at #24… but with this entry you’re about to see a lot more. Kick It Out, a compact, sassy song with a swaggering, in-your-face attitude explodes off the album as a the perfect “side 1” (in the old days) closer. You had to think about things like that back in the day of vinyl. Kick it Out is pure pure rock & roll with a killer electric guitar riff-to kick things off, With a compact running time of 2 minutes 44 seconds, the song gallops along like the “tail-shaking filly” they’re singing about. Steve Fossen really shines on bass in this number, counter-pointing Roger Fisher’s guitar riffs all over the place. The addition of Nancy’s honky-tonk piano adds to the just-this-side-of-trashy lyrics about a young woman who is just too much for her hometown when she decides she’s got to rock out.
Ann wrote the song solo, and she said in a concert intro that it’s basically about her. She likens herself to an untamed horse who was just born to be wild and free. Someone who likes to have fun and loves her men, but will never be captured and tamed… “a hard, racy game of give and take, she leaves them dazed, half-crazed in her wake.” I love who if this song had been written and sung by a man, it would be borderline sexist, but coming from a woman, it’s more an anthem to living life to the fullest and embracing your wild energies. Energy is really what Kick it Out is all about, and has in spades. I get so revved up just listening to it.
The song was released as a third single from the Little Queen album. It didn’t do that great, peaking at #79, but I remember hearing it quite a bit on rock & roll radio. I’ve included the original studio track, and live version from 2010, but I couldn’t find a good live version from their early days which really capture the energy of their youth. Still, the song rocks, and it anchors my Top 10.
#9 Heaven – Alive in Seattle (1993)/Beautiful Broken (2016)
written by Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson, Sue Ennis
This was a surprise appearance in my Top 10! First appearing on the band’s Alive in Seattle DVD in 2003 as a new song debuting at the concert, I never really noticed Heaven. To be honest, I’m not sure if I own the DVD (and if I do, I probably watched it once, and shelved it) and I don’t own the CD. I do have their last studio album, 2016’s Beautiful Broken, where they included a studio recording of Heaven, and it made quite an impression on me as one of those songs where you listen to Ann sing and wonder how she does it. This marks the highest position for Beautiful Broken, which had three songs in my Top 40. Not sure if it’s a comment that all three were written over 15 years ago.
With a decided middle-eastern influence, and some unusual instrumentation, Ann playing an autoharp, Nancy on a bowed guitar, and Craig Bartok playing a pedal steel, it’s got a great, exotic sound and a powerful build to that chorus, where Ann crushes the vocals. I really enjoy Nancy and Craig’s backing vocals as well. Oh man, I just listened to the chorus again while writing this and it just sends chills up and down my spine. The lyrics are so powerful too… “Hang on, hang on , hang on strong to me. Let me show you, let me show you how sweet the strong can be.”
I’m really glad Heart chose to record a version of this song for Beautiful Broken or I probably wouldn’t have discovered it and have the song luxuriating in my Top 10! I’ve included first, the live version, which is amazing in and of itself, but the studio version as well.
#8 Barracuda – Little Queen (1977)
written by Ann Wilson, Roger Fisher, Nancy Wilson, Michael DeRosier
Ten years ago I would have said Alone was probably Heart’s best known song, but in recent years, with the kids all grooving back on 70’s and 80’s music, I think Barracuda has rightfully reclaimed it’s place as the most well-known Heart song. Some might wonder why this song isn’t higher on my list, and I’m sure many would rank it higher than some of the songs I’ve got above it, but honestly, all my Top 10 songs are very close together in ranking, and as you will see, I tend to favor Heart’s mellower side.
But back to Barracuda… what a song! That incredible galloping guitar intro that captures the attention of everyone who hears it, and things just don’t let up. The drums kick in and pull you in further, just to throw you face first into Ann Wilson’s powerful, take-no-prisoners voice. And you do not mess around with Ann on this song. She is laying it out for you, no-holds barred. (But we’ll get to they lyrics later). Upon first listen, Barracuda comes across as a straight-forward rock & roll song, but listen more closely, the unusual time signature shifts, the intriguing use of acoustic guitar to add texture to the song, the extensive use of back and forth harmonics from Roger Fisher and Howard Leese’s dueling guitar outro, and the magnificent, propulsive drumming with complex fills that really enhance the song, and quite possibly are some of the reasons why drummer Michael DeRosier gets songwriting credit.
Chosen as the first single from their third studio album (second official), the song became their second Top 20 hit, climbing all the way to #11. But anyone who was listening to the radio at the time, knows that Barracuda was all over the airwaves. Heart had captured the attention of rock & roll radio big time. The story of Barracuda is well-known, and I’ve recounted it earlier in this blog, but here’s the short version. Mushroom Records wanted to capitalize on the success of Heart’s first album, Dreamboat Annie, so they took out a full-page ad in Rolling Stone Magazine of the Wilson sisters, bare-shouldered and back to back with the quote, “It was only our first time…” implying they were incestuous, lesbian lovers. When a male radio promoter approached her after a concert and asked how her “lover” was, Ann assumed he meant Mike Flicker, the band’s manager. After he revealed he was talking about her sister Nancy, in reference to the ad, Ann became outraged, went back to her hotel room, and wrote the lyrics for Barracuda on the spot. The song cleverly uses aquatic metaphors, referring to Nancy as “the porpoise” and using a barracuda to represent all the money-hungry, misogynist, male music industry types they’d had to deal with. It’s a scathing, sarcastic torrent or rage the Ann and Nancy got to vent every time they performed the song.
There’s not much more to say about this blistering piece of come-uppance, other than, it’s got it all. Searing vocals that Ann still performs live to this day, crazy rock & roll that hits like a bulldozer, smart, biting lyrics, and intricate musicianship. Below is the official 1977 video for the song (listen to how crisp the recording is, and make note of DeRosier’s incredible drumming) and the link to a live version taken from the Alive in Seattle DVD so you can hear how she hits those crazy notes live.
#7 High Time – Dog & Butterfly (1978)
written by Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson, Sue Ennis
Here’s a bit of a dark horse from the Dog & Butterfly album. A jittery, rock & roll number that brings together great guitar work and wacky time signature shifts with some optimistic lyrics and you’ve got a great song that most people probably have ever heard. You’re welcome, enjoy it.
High Time isn’t necessarily a song that wows you on first listen, but I found it really grows on you. The twitchy-twangy acoustic guitar creates a bit of a skittery vibe as the song opens, with some interesting keyboards reminiscent of The Who’s Baba O’Reilly, then Ann’s voice comes bobbing in, weaving around Nancy’s strumming and the time signature changes provide some disorienting moments before the drums come rolling in to herald that chorus, which brings all the disparate parts together in unity. By the time the second chorus comes around, those nifty Heart harmonies come in before things get interesting in the bridge with Roger and Howard really enjoying some really nice guitar work, driven by Nancy’s acoustic. As I’m beginning to understand is often the case, Michael DeRosier’s drumming stands out again, keeping things driving forward. I love the way the bridge builds into a soaring moment that takes off in the form of Roger’s thrilling guitar solo.
High Time is really special to me because I remember it so clearly from that very first concert I ever attended. As you’ll see in the video below, that ending where Howard, Nancy and Roger all run up to the drum platform and do those big chords at the end is burned in my mind from seeing them do it at the Music Hall in Boston. It’s a very hopeful song as well, with Ann saying it’s a song about freedom. I’ve included the audio track from the Dog & Butterfly album, then a very special clip of Heart’s crew setting up for a concert, then Howard, Nancy and Ann on roller skates (!) rehearsing the number before morphing into the the band performing it live. I find it curious, that I can’t find any evidence that they ever performed the song in concert again after the Dog & Butterfly tour. It’s high on my list through, coming in at my 7th favorite Heart song!
#6 Crazy On You – Dreamboat Annie ( 1975)
written by Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson
While Barracuda may be the most recognizable Heart song, I think Crazy on You is their most definitive. Appearing on their debut album, Dreamboat Annie, Crazy On You was the third single released in Canada, but their first single to be released to the U.S.A. Something unique in so many ways, not sounding like anything else on the radio at the time, Crazy On You heralded the Heart signature, blending acoustic guitar finery with blistering hard rock guitar riffs, both in service of the most amazing female vocals to be heard in rock & roll.
Nancy Wilson sets us up with a Spanish influenced acoustic guitar introduction the really shows off her skills. She wrote the intro after the songs was already completed, but she really wanted to be able to lead into the driving rhythm part that was inspired by a Moody Blues song called Question. Roger Fisher came up with the electric guitar riff that drives the song. Nancy was inspired by the lyrics that Ann had written in response to two major factors in her life, the fact of falling in love with her ‘magic man’ Michael Fisher, and the state of the world, most notably the Vietnam War that had caused Fisher to become a draft dodger by moving to Canada. Ann has said, “The world had gone to hell in a hand basket and the culture was just standing on its ear and everything was overwhelmingly in trouble, bombs and devils and the Vietnam War and the gas crisis. It was very frustrating. So I poured that frustration into the words of the song. I was in a very close relationship with Michael. When you’re in that situation you just climb up into your love’s lap and say: ‘Oh God, what do we do about this world?’ That’s the feeling of the song.”
Ann’s visceral howling of those words, “let me go crazy on you…” are such a release, such a rock & roll moment. In an article, Ann estimated that she has sung the song more than 16,000 times, but it still resonates with her, and remains fresh for her when she does perform it. Surprisingly, despite the longevity of the song, it only climbed to #35 on the Billboard Hot 100 when it was released, but it got them into the Top 40, it was all over AOR radio, and paved the way for the Top 10 Magic Man shortly after. I think for quite a while, Crazy on You was probably my favorite Heart song. The amazing acoustic guitar work fostered my early love of Nancy Wilson, which eventually gave way to an ever deeper love for Ann, when I truly came to understand the power of that voice.
And you’ve got three versions of the song to choose from below. The first is the studio version lifted from Dreamboat Annie, the second is live in 1979 from the Dog & Butterfly tour (I enjoy how she sneaks some Hijinx into her intro – that track from Dog & Butterfly narrowly missed the Top 40, coming in at #45), and the third is thirty-four years later when the original line-up was reunited to perform when the band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.