Levi Stubbs' Tears
A song of domestic ruin and Motown comfort, and the first single from the third album.
Billy Bragg, from Talking with the Taxman About Poetry (1986)
- Written by
- Billy Bragg
- Released
- 1986
- Length
- 3:28
- Album
- Talking with the Taxman About Poetry
Levi Stubbs' Tears was the first single from Talking with the Taxman About Poetry and peaked at 29 in the UK. The title refers to the Four Tops lead singer Levi Stubbs, whose music remains a source of comfort to the song's protagonist through years of abandonment, injury and domestic violence. The song also refers to the songwriter Barrett Strong, the producer Norman Whitfield and the Holland-Dozier-Holland team. Dave Woodhead plays trumpet and flugelhorn and Simon Moreton adds percussion. Pitchfork's Stephen M. Deusner called it absolutely devastating, and NME ranked it 207 on its 2014 list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.
Norman Cook sampled a guitar riff from it in his 1989 single Won't Talk About It, which Bragg sang in a falsetto soul style. Cook's group Beats International released their own hit version of the song in 1990, without the riff sample. The Redskins played a live version on the 1987 miners' strike benefit EP Wake Up!
Live
A recording of Bragg's set at the Glastonbury Festival on 20 June 1987 on the Internet Archive includes it.
On stage
- 1987-06-20, Glastonbury Festival, Pilton, England Recorded set on the Internet Archive.
Covers and versions
- Beats International (1990) Their own hit version, without the guitar riff sample.
- The Redskins (1987) A live version on the miners' strike benefit EP Wake Up!
More songs by Billy Bragg
A New England, Greetings to the New Brunette, Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards, California Stars, Sexuality
Sources
- Levi Stubbs' Tears, Wikipedia
- Billy Bragg: Volume 1, Pitchfork (2006-05-03)
- Billy Bragg Live at Glastonbury Festival on 1987-06-20, Internet Archive (1987-06-20)