That is the name of the Billy Bragg compilation that came out this year: Must I Paint You A Picture?: The Essential Billy Bragg. I bought it the same time I bought the reissued version of Talking to the Taxman about Poetry that we played over and over on the trip to the salty coast last month. This weekend's trip without end was a perfect time to get into the three disc set and remind myself of some old pals.

I do not have a CD of his 1991 release Don't Try This At Home, just a couple of casettes that my wife and I bought in the winter of 1992 before we needed only one copy. One of my favorites from fifteen or so years ago, "Cindy of 1000 Lives" was on it and it included on disc two of the best of. The lyrics are here and a 4 MB wma file of it is here. The Revolveresque backward guitar (no doubt via "Start!" by The Jam) is excellent as is the entire instrumentation. A couple of tracks later is "Tank Park Salute" about the death of his Dad when he was a teen. That brings out the same weepery for me as Garnet Rogers' "King of Rome" - which is a song about pigeon racing. I don't expect you to understand why a song about pigeon racing makes me verklempt, just appreciate that it does.

Anyway, if you have lost your Bragg or never had it, this is a good intro. It even has his version of "Walk Away Renee" which contains not one word from the lyrics from "Walk Away Renee".