Song · Rachael Yamagata
“Worn Me Down” by Rachael Yamagata
From the EP EP (2003)
“Worn Me Down” by Rachael Yamagata appears on 5 radio countdowns from 4 stations between 2004 and 2024. It was first released in 2003 on the EP EP. Its best result is #78 on the WXPN 885 Greatest Songs of the New Millennium (2013). In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #370 alternative song of 2004.
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"Worn Me Down" first surfaced on Rachael Yamagata's five-song debut EP in October 2003, and the following June it led off her first full-length album, Happenstance, on RCA. It's the song people know her by, and it's easy to hear why: a plainspoken melody that doesn't bother with tricks, and a voice that sounds older than its years, raspy and wrung out with feeling. Critics reached for Tori Amos, P.J. Harvey and KT Tunstall when they tried to pin it down.
For Happenstance she cut it again, and the second pass bulks it up: a glossier production, edgier electric guitars and drums, and orchestration shoved right to the front. Germany got it as a single in 2004, and what had started as a quiet confession came out sounding like a torch song with teeth.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 82 (tie) | WBER Rochester, NY | WBER Listener Countdown 2004 | 227 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 78 | WXPN | WXPN 885 Greatest Songs of the New Millennium (2013) | 885 |
| 2018 | 287 | WTMD | WTMD Listeners' Top 897 Songs, 2003-2018 | 896 |
| 2022 | 566 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the 2000s | 907 |
| 2024 | 733 | WXPN | WXPN The 885 Greatest Songs of the 21st Century (2024) | 885 |
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