Anna McGarrigle's breakup ballad, built around the metaphor of a bent bicycle wheel. McKendree Spring made the first commercial recording on their album McKendree Spring 3, arranged in a folk-rock style with flute and piano.
The title track of Ronstadt's 1974 breakthrough album Heart Like a Wheel. Producer Peter Asher and string arranger Gregory Rose wrapped McGarrigle's poetic lament in sweeping strings, elevating it into polished country rock through Ronstadt's crystalline vocal. Though never released as a single, it became a signature piece on her first No. 1 Billboard 200 album.