Billy Bragg & Johnny Marr & Kirsty MacColl
Billy Bragg
Billy Bragg
Billy Bragg
Billy Bragg
Billy Bragg
Billy Bragg
Billy Bragg
Billy Bragg
Billy Bragg
Billy Bragg
Billy Bragg
Billy Bragg
Billy Bragg
Billy Bragg
Billy Bragg
Billy Bragg
Billy Bragg
Billy Bragg
This song was the first single released from Bragg’s third album, Talking with the Taxman about Poetry. Its title refers to The Four Tops lead singer Levi Stubbs, whose music remains a source of comfort to the protagonist through domestic mistreatment, violence and abandonment.
The song starts at t...
With the money from her accident
She bought herself a mobile home
So at least she could get some enjoyment
Out of being alone
No one could say that she was left up on the shelf
It's you and me against the World kid she mumbled to herself
Chorus:
When the world falls apart some things stay in place
Levi Stubbs' tears run down his face
She ran away from home in her mother's best coat
She was married before she was even entitled to vote
And her husband was one of those blokes
The sort that only laughs at his own jokes
The sort a war takes away
And when there wasn't a war he left anyway
Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong
Are here to make everything right that's wrong
Holland and Holland and Lamont Dozier too
Are here to make it all okay with you
One dark night he came home from the sea
And put a hole in her body where no hole should be
It hurt her more to see him walking out the door
And though they stitched her back together they left her heart in pieces on the floor
When the world falls apart some things stay in place
She takes off the Four Tops tape and puts it back in its case
When the world falls apart some things stay in place
Levi Stubbs' tears...
Levi Stubbs’ Tears was written by Billy Bragg.
Levi Stubbs’ Tears was produced by John Porter & Kenny Jones.
Billy Bragg released Levi Stubbs’ Tears on Mon Sep 22 1986.