Song · Joni Mitchell
“Coyote” by Joni Mitchell
From the album Hejira (1976)
“Coyote” by Joni Mitchell appears on 14 radio countdowns from 6 stations between 2001 and 2026. It was first released in 1976 on the album Hejira. Its best result is #79 on the WYEP Best Songs of the Past 50 Years. In the combined RockLists rankings it is #506 indie & aaa song of all time and #93 of the '70s.
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"Coyote" opens a window onto Joni Mitchell's life on the road: it was the lead single from Hejira, her eighth album, released on Asylum in 1976, and the title character was inspired by Sam Shepard, with whom she was briefly linked during Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue tour. Mitchell herself later called it a flirtation, and the song crackles with that push and pull.
She produced it and plays guitar alongside Larry Carlton, with Bobbye Hall on percussion and Jaco Pastorius's bass slithering underneath like a second voice, while Henry Lewy recorded and co-mixed. It's folk jazz with restless feet. Martin Scorsese's 2019 film about the tour caught her playing it at Gordon Lightfoot's house, with Dylan and Roger McGuinn strumming along.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 406 | WFPK | WFPK 2001 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2000 |
| 2004 | 180 | WXPN | WXPN 885 All-Time Greatest Songs (2004) | 885 |
| 2007 | 827 | WTMD | WTMD Top 897 Songs of All Time | 897 |
| 2009 | 148 | WXPN | WXPN 885 Desert Island Songs (2009) | 885 |
| 2010 | 322 | WXPN | WXPN 885 Ultimate Road Trip Songs (2010) | 885 |
| 2016 | 516 | WYEP | WYEP 913 Countdown 2016 | 913 |
| 2019 | 614 | WYEP | WYEP Big Spring Countdown 2019 | 1017 |
| 2019 | 614 | WYEP | WYEP Labor Day Weekend Countdown 2019 | 1099 |
| 2020 | 225 | WXPN | WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2020 |
| 2022 | 93 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '70s | 908 |
| 2023 | 1220 | WYEP | WYEP Countdown to Fall 2023 | 1229 |
| 2024 | 79 | WYEP | WYEP Best Songs of the Past 50 Years | 1049 |
| 2024 | 327 | KEXP | The Best Opening Tracks of All Time | 738 |
| 2026 | 928 | WYEP | WYEP Greatest Songs of All Time | 1180 |
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