Levi Stubbs' Tears Levi Stubbs' Tears "Levi Stubbs' Tears" is a song by Billy Bragg. It was the first single released from Bragg's 1986 album "Talking with the Taxman about Poetry". The song's title refers to The Four Tops lead singer Levi Stubbs, whose music remains a source of comfort to the protagonist through years of abandonment, injury, and domestic violence. A guitar riff from the song was sampled by Norman Cook and featured in his 1989 song "Won't Talk About It", also featuring Billy Bragg on "falsetto soul" vocals. When Cook formed Beats International they released their own hit version of the
Cuddly Dudley (singer) band, The Embraceable Four, with whom he supported The Platters on their 1960 UK tour, and released a second single, a cover of Chuck Berry's "Too Pooped To Pop". In 1961 he became the lead singer with "The Redcaps", with whom he released a single "Sitting on a Train". Originally known as "Red-E-Lewis and the Redcaps" (named after Gene Vincent's The Blue Caps) original lead singer Reddy Lewis (Edward Stubbs) had left to form the Red Cats, with Jimmy Page on guitar. The Redcaps comprised Mick Green, Vic Cooper, Frank Farley, Johnny Patto and Johnny Spence, and from May–July 1961