Album · Billy Bragg
Talking With the Taxman About Poetry by Billy Bragg
Talking With the Taxman About Poetry is an album by Billy Bragg, released in 1986. 2 songs from it have charted on rock radio countdowns, with 15 countdown appearances in total. The biggest is “Greetings to the New Brunette”, on 10 lists with a best position of #38.
Talking With the Taxman About Poetry, Billy Bragg's third album, arrived in September 1986, and the one-man band finally let some company into the room. Until then Bragg's records had been little more than that blunt English voice and a lone guitar; this time John Porter and Kenny Jones produced, and a crew of extra musicians fills out the edges without sanding off the folk-punk bite.
The songs still move between the two things he writes about most, politics and love, and the singles, "Levi Stubbs' Tears" and "Greetings to the New Brunette", wear the bigger arrangements lightly, the old sting intact inside a fuller band sound.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs from Talking With the Taxman About Poetry on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greetings to the New Brunette | 10 | #38 | – | 1986–2026 | |
| 2 | Levi Stubbs Tears | 5 | #24 | – | 1986–2007 |
Only songs that appear on at least one countdown are listed. Release data from MusicBrainz.