If You Want to Defeat Your Enemy Sing His Song

If You Want to Defeat Your Enemy Sing His Song is the third album by The Icicle Works. The album was released in 1987.

If You Want to Defeat Your Enemy Sing His Song
Studio album by The Icicle Works
Released	March 1987
Genre	Post-punk, new wave, neo-psychedelia
Length	39:02 (LP) 59:25 (CD)
Label	Beggars Banquet (U.K.) RCA Records (U.S.)
Producer	Ian Broudie
The Icicle Works chronology
The Small Price of a Bicycle (1985) If You Want to Defeat Your Enemy Sing His Song (1987) Blind (1988)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]

In 2011, Cherry Red Records issued a 3-CD expanded edition of If You Want to Defeat Your Enemy Sing His Song. Disc 1 featured the original album in its entirety, disc 2 featured a wealth of related demos, b-sides, and remixes, and disc 3 featured a complete live concert entitled Live at the Town And Country Club, 1986.

Track listing

Original release

LP version
All songs written by Ian McNabb.

1. "Hope Springs Eternal" – 4:06
2. "Travelling Chest" – 4:40
3. "Sweet Thursday" – 4:17
4. "Up Here in the North of England" – 5:12
5. "Who Do You Want for Your Love?" – 3:54
6. "When You Were Mine" – 4:37
7. "Evangeline" – 4:05
8. "Truck Driver's Lament" – 5:18
9. "Understanding Jane" – 3:21
10. "Walking With a Mountain" – 4:44

CD version
The original CD version contained four bonus tracks: "Everybody Loves to Play the Fool", "I Never Saw My Hometown 'Til I Went Around the World", "Into the Mystic" and "Don't Let It Rain on My Parade".

All songs written by Ian McNabb, except "Into the Mystic" written by Van Morrison.

1. "Hope Springs Eternal" – 4:06
2. "Travelling Chest" – 4:40
3. "Sweet Thursday" – 4:17
4. "Up Here in the North of England" – 5:12
5. "Who Do You Want for Your Love?" – 3:54
6. "Everybody Loves to Play the Fool" – 4:08
7. "When You Were Mine" – 4:37
8. "Don't Let It Rain on My Parade" – 4:35
9. "Evangeline" – 4:05
10. "Truck Driver's Lament" – 5:18
11. "Understanding Jane" – 3:21
12. "I Never Saw My Hometown 'Til I Went Around the World" – 2:48
13. "Walking With a Mountain" – 4:44
14. "Into the Mystic" – 3:40

2011 expanded edition

Disc 1 follows the same track listing as the 10-track LP version of this album.

2011 expanded edition disc two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"I Never Saw My Hometown 'Til I Went Around the World"	Ian McNabb
2.	"Into the Mystic"	Van Morrison
3.	"Sweet Thursday (extended single mix)"	McNabb
4.	"Don't Let It Rain on My Parade (full version)"	McNabb
5.	"When You Were Mine (single version)"	McNabb
6.	"Evangeline (demo version)"	McNabb
7.	"Everybody Loves to Play the Fool"	McNabb
8.	"Waiting in the Wings"	Chris Layhe
9.	"It Makes No Difference"	Robbie Robertson
10.	"Sea Song"	Robert Wyatt
11.	"Nature's Way"	Randy California
12.	"Waylaid"	Layhe
13.	"The Needle and the Damage Done"	Neil Young
14.	"Sweet Thursday (acoustic)"	McNabb
15.	"Don't Let It Rain on my Parade (single version)"	McNabb
16.	"Impossibly Three Lovers"	McNabb
17.	"John Geoffrey Muir, Shopkeeper"	McNabb, Layhe, Chris Sharrock

Live at the Town and Country Club, 1986 disc three

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Hollow Horse"	Ian McNabb, Chris Layhe
2.	"Perambulator"	McNabb, Layhe
3.	"Who Do You Want for Your Love?"	McNabb
4.	"Understanding Jane"	McNabb
5.	"Love Is a Wonderful Colour"	McNabb
6.	"Travelling Chest"	McNabb
7.	"Sweet Thursday"	McNabb
8.	"Into the Mystic"	Van Morrison
9.	"Hope Springs Eternal"	McNabb
10.	"When It All Comes Down"	McNabb
11.	"All the Daughters (Of Her Father's House)"	McNabb
12.	"Birds Fly (Whisper to a Scream)"	McNabb
13.	"A Factory in the Desert"	McNabb
14.	"In the Cauldron of Love"	McNabb
15.	"Should I Stay or Should I Go"	Joe Strummer, Mick Jones
16.	"Roadhouse Blues"	The Doors

Personnel

• Robert Ian "Boots" McNabb – guitar, vocals, keyboards, harmonica
• Chris Layhe – bass, vocals, keyboards
• Chris Sharrock – drums, percussion

with:

• Dave Green – keyboards
• Mike Timmoney – keyboards
• Ritchie Close – keyboards
• Ian Broudie – keyboards; guitar solo on "When You Were Mine"
• Alison Limerick – backing vocal on "Evangeline"

References

1. Raggett, Ned. "If You Want to Defeat Your Enemy Sing His Song – The Icicle Works | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. All Media Network, LLC. Retrieved 31 October 2017.