| Persuasion | |
| Cover: | Persuasion_Tim_Finn_song.png |
| Caption: | Australasian CD single |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Tim Finn |
| Album: | Before & After |
| Released: | June 1993 |
| Studio: | Festival Studios, Sydney |
| Genre: | Pop |
| Length: | 4:14 |
| Label: | Capitol Records |
| Producer: | Tim Finn, Mark Hart |
| Prev Title: | Islands |
| Prev Year: | 1992 |
| Next Title: | Hit the Ground Running |
| Next Year: | 1993 |
"Persuasion" is a song written by Richard Thompson, Peter Filleul and Tim Finn. It was originally composed by Thompson and Filleul as an instrumental for the film Sweet Talker; Capitol Records stablemate Finn added the lyrics and released it in June 1993 as the lead single from his fourth studio album, Before & After. The song reached number 6 on the New Zealand charts, number 62 in Australia and number 76 in Germany.
Thompson admired Finn's lyrics and frequently played the song live himself, with versions appearing on his live albums Celtschmerz (1998) and Live From Austin, TX (2005). A studio version with his son Teddy Thompson was released on Action Packed (2001), the retrospective of Thompson's time with Capitol Records, and a solo acoustic version was included on his 2014 release Acoustic Classics.
| Chart (1993) | Peak position | |
|---|---|---|
| scope=row | Australia (ARIA Chart)[1] | 62 |
| scope=row | United Kingdom (Official Charts Company)[2] | 43 |
