Now that we’ve finished up the first edition of Ranked featuring Pam Tillis, we’re moving on to the Chicks! We’ll be ranking everything from the Natalie Maines era.
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We know that this legendary band has a lot of fans among our readership. What do you think should be the top ranked songs by the Chicks? Which album should do the best overall in the rankings? Any deep cuts that we might leave off?
Let us know in the comments!
Best Songs-Long Time Gone,Landslide,Bitter End,Tonight The Heartaches On Me,Tortured Tangled Heart, Don’t Waste Your Heart, but really this was a hard list to make.
Best Album- Home
Possible missed songs-Live Wire and Nothing Compares 2 U cover
I’ve got “live wire” and “nothing compares 2 u” on my initial list of 77 tracks!
Best – Top of the World, Tonight the Heartache’s on Me, Truth No 2, Cowboy Take Me Away, Am I the Only One…
Best Songs: “Not Ready To Make Nice”; “Sin Wagon”; “I Hope”; “Voice Inside My Head”; “White Trash Wedding”; “March March”
Best Album: Taking The Long Way
Song that I think they should still do (and that they haven’t done): “Love Is A Rose”
Ooh, they would nail that. I’d love to hear Maines sing “Long Long Time” with Martie’s fiddle as the string section.
Oh man…”Home”, “Taking the Long Way”, and “Gaslighter” have so many gems for me. Taking the Long Way is probably my favorite. There are so many deep cuts to chose from that deserve to be listed, but “Young Man” floored me when it came out. One of those rare songs that really makes you stop dead in your tracks.
“Young Man” is the song that my son and I go back to all the time!
No taking breaks on this website. I’m looking forward to this! I’m not sure I could nail down a favorite song but my favorite album is Taking the Long Way. Gaslighter had so many great cuts too.
As far as some deep cuts that could be overlooked, a quick search of my iTunes library (remember those?) shows duets with Asleep at the Wheel, Rosie O’Donnell, Ricky Skaggs, Sheryl Crow, Steve Martin, Taylor Swift & Tony Bennett as well as covers of Sing, Rainbow Connection, Stand by Your Man and You Can’t Hurry Love and a one-off single (The Neighbor). There are probably plenty more out there; I certainly found out about a lot of unknown songs in the Pam Tillis feature.
I wish I had done this post before launching the Pam Tillis feature. The discussion is helpful and hopefully builds some anticipation for the series.
In terms of “missed” songs, I know they have several live duets with Sheryl Crow but not sure which if any were officially released. They had a song with Asleep at the Wheel on one of those albums and a song with Ricky Scaggs for a Bill Monroe tribute album. They also had a song on one of Tony Bennett’s duets albums.
My favorite songs of theirs are “Not Ready to Make Nice”, “You Were Mine”, and “Without You”. While not a Chicks song and so outside of this discussion, I also really liked the Court Yard Hounds’ “I Miss You”.
This site helped make me a Chicks fan after initially dismissing them as too pop. Never been happier to be wrong. Looking forward to this.
This! I’m so excited for this feature.
There are so many amazing songs and I’m interested to see how many deep cuts make it in the top 20
My favorite Chicks songs of all time are “Cowboy Take Me Away,” “You Were Mine,” and “Without You.” Each of them hold a special place in my heart and bring back great memories from when they came out. “Tonight The Heartache’s On Me” and “I Can Love You Better” are favorites of mine, as well. Also love their contribution to Asleep At The Wheel’s Ride With Bob album with their version of “Roly Poly.”
Unfortunately, my mom and step dad were not the biggest Chicks fans during their heyday. They especially didn’t like Natalie Maines’ voice and Mom wasn’t crazy about some of their fashion choices. While I regretfully let them sway my opinion on other artists at the time (Ex: Shania), The Chicks’ music was just too good for me to let that happen with them. Therefore, I ended up enjoying most of their songs in secret whenever one of them came on while in the car with them (That is, if they didn’t change the station first, as they sometimes did). My dad, however, did like them, and when I picked up a copy of their Fly album some years later, we both would always have a great time listening to it together in the car. :) It’s worth mentioning though, that my mom has been way less critical of them in more recent years and doesn’t seem to mind them at all now (She also likes Shania now, too).
Really looking forward to this new edition of Ranked!
As ever, I want The Chicks to re-record this, the best single from either Court Yard Hounds album. As is, I’d have it in the top tier of my rankings, if the CYH material were included, but Natalie’s vocals would elevate it even more as a full Chicks cut: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ztq6IOp6GM
My favorites off the top of my head are “Top of the World”, “Truth #2” (those harmonies), “Long Time Gone,” “Easy Silence,” and their live cover of “Mississippi”
Honestly it’s impossible to choose their best album because every album has something to offer. In my opinion their most cohesive album will always be “Taking the long way”. Although their first 3 albums (with Natalie) is nothing to sneeze at.
Looking forward to this…
I also love their mash up of “Daddy Lessons” and “Long Time Gone” with Beyonce!