Song · Richard Thompson
“Persuasion” by Richard Thompson with Teddy Thompson
Released 1992 With Teddy Thompson
“Persuasion” by Richard Thompson with Teddy Thompson appears on 6 radio countdowns from 2 stations between 2001 and 2020. It was first released in 1992. Its best result is #85 on the WXPN 885 Desert Island Songs (2009). In the combined RockLists rankings it is #1,250 indie & aaa song of all time.
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"Persuasion" started life as an instrumental that Richard Thompson and Peter Filleul wrote for the film Sweet Talker, and it only found its words when Tim Finn, a fellow Capitol Records artist, gave it lyrics. Thompson admired what Finn had done so much that he made the song a regular part of his own live sets, and it has followed him around ever since.
His versions have piled up over the years: live takes on Celtschmerz (1998) and Live From Austin, TX (2005), a studio recording with his son Teddy Thompson on Action Packed (2001), the retrospective of his Capitol years, and a solo acoustic reading on Acoustic Classics in 2014. Each time, it's a reminder that Thompson can make somebody else's words sound like a page torn from his own diary.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 1843 | WFPK | WFPK 2001 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2000 |
| 2004 | 138 | WXPN | WXPN 885 All-Time Greatest Songs (2004) | 885 |
| 2009 | 85 | WXPN | WXPN 885 Desert Island Songs (2009) | 885 |
| 2013 | 343 | WXPN | WXPN 885 Greatest Songs of the New Millennium (2013) | 885 |
| 2014 | 296 | WXPN | WXPN 885 All-Time Greatest Songs (2014) | 885 |
| 2020 | 471 | WXPN | WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2020 |
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