Song · Emmylou Harris
“Wrecking Ball” by Emmylou Harris
From the album Wrecking Ball (1995)
“Wrecking Ball” by Emmylou Harris appears on 3 radio countdowns from 3 stations between 2009 and 2026. It was first released in 1995 on the album Wrecking Ball. Its best result is #352 on the WFPK Top 500 Songs of the '90s. In the combined RockLists rankings it is #6,597 indie & aaa song of all time.
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Emmylou Harris made Neil Young's "Wrecking Ball" the title track of her 1995 album, and she brought the author along for it: Young sings harmony on her version. He had written it for his 1989 album Freedom, and the title is a pun, less about knocking buildings down than about a ball in the other sense, a dance.
Harris put it out as a two-track CD single, paired with Lucinda Williams' "Sweet Old World", and the album it named went on to win a Grammy, though at least one reviewer didn't rate the title song as the record's high point.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 857 | WXPN | WXPN 885 Desert Island Songs (2009) | 885 |
| 2025 | 352 | WFPK | WFPK Top 500 Songs of the '90s | 500 |
| 2026 | 852 | WYEP | WYEP Greatest Songs of All Time | 1180 |
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