Lyr Add: Isabel Makes Love upon National Monuments

Subject: Lyr Add: ISABEL MAKES LOVE UPON NATIONAL MONUMENTS
From: Little Hawk
Date: 13 Dec 10 - 12:25 PM

I always loved this one....such a bizarre and witty idea...

ISABEL MAKES LOVE UPON NATIONAL MONUMENTS

Words & Music: Jake Thackray

Isabel makes love upon national monuments
With style and enthusiasm and anyone at all.
Isabel's done Stonehenge and the Houses of Parliament,
But so far little Isabel's never played the Albert Hall.
Many a monolith has seen Isabel,
Her bright hair in turmoil, her breasts' surging swell.
But unhappy Albert, so far denied
The bright sight of Isabel getting into her stride.

The Forth Bridge, The Cenotaph, Balmoral and Wembley.
The British Museum and the House of Lords.
So many ticks in her National Trust catalogue,
But so far the Royal Albert Hall has not scored.
Countless cathedrals can now proudly show
Where Isabel's white shoulder blades have briefly reposed.
Miserable Albert, still waiting for
The imprint of Isabel on his parquet floor.

In Westminster Abbey she lay upon a cold tombstone,
The meat in a sandwich of monumental love,
With old po-faced Wordsworth unblinking beneath
And a bright-eyed young Arch-Deacon breathless above.
Many a stony faced statue has flickered its eyes
And swayed to the rhythm of her little panting cries.
But oh! wretched Albert never yet has known
Isabel's pretty whinnying echo round his dome.

On the last night of the Promenades she waved to the conductor
And there and then on the podium, with scarcely a pause,
With a smile and a bow and a loud "Rule Britannia!"
He completed her collection to enormous applause.
Rapturous Albert now knows full well
He's captured forever elusive Isabel.
Prettily dishevelled but firmly installed
And faithfully for evermore to the Royal Albert Hall.

No more frantic scramblings up the dome of St. Pauls.
No more dank rambles on Hadrian's Wall.
With style and enthusiasm and anyone at all,
Isabel makes love in the Royal Albert Hall.

Subject: RE: One of Jake Thakray's best
From: John Foxen
Date: 13 Dec 10 - 12:50 PM

Another one of his very best has to be Brother Gorilla which sets an incredibly high standard for anyone trying to translate a French song. It's as if Brassens had been born in Bradford

Subject: RE: One of Jake Thakray's best
From: Little Hawk
Date: 13 Dec 10 - 01:34 PM

I've never heard that one, but I've seen the title somewhere.

Subject: RE: One of Jake Thakray's best
From: Gurney
Date: 13 Dec 10 - 01:41 PM

It is on YouTube, along with several more.

Subject: RE: One of Jake Thakray's best
From: Little Hawk
Date: 13 Dec 10 - 02:03 PM

Ah. Good.

Subject: RE: One of Jake Thakray's best
From: Little Hawk
Date: 13 Dec 10 - 04:30 PM

Just listened to Brother Gorilla. ;-) Very good.

Subject: RE: One of Jake Thakray's best
From: Smokey.
Date: 13 Dec 10 - 05:18 PM

I heartily recommend 'The Ballad of Billy Kershaw' from the 'On Again' album.

The man was a genius with words.

Subject: RE: One of Jake Thakray's best
From: nager
Date: 13 Dec 10 - 10:00 PM

About 20 years ago I was lucky enough to find a copy of Jake's Progress - Rollicking, Frolicking, Uproarious Verse in a small second hand shop in the tiny town of Gulgong in western NSW, Australia. I paid 50 cents for it I think. It was published in 1977 and contains the words to about 50 of his songs with excellent cartoons by Bill Tidy as well. I also have many of his songs on CD and tape and, as mentioned there are some wonderful items on Youtube. I used to contribute to a Jake Thackray website too and am sure there is plenty of stuff there for those who want to find out more. Jake was one of the best and I have been a fan since I first saw him on TV when I was a teenager - many, many years ago.

Subject: RE: One of Jake Thakray's best
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 14 Dec 10 - 03:45 AM

Yes I have alway's been a fan of his too when I was very young, funny enough only thinking about him the other day and looked forward to his appearances on tv back then. I remember a song not sure of the actual title but in it was the phrase 'No more La de bloody da, I love you much.'

Subject: RE: One of Jake Thakray's best
From: DG&D Dave
Date: 14 Dec 10 - 04:00 AM

Someone in Rugby borrowed my copy of Jakes Progress and never returned it. Sob!
Anyone who can write a song with the opening line:
"I love a good bum on a woman" (On again)
deserves appreciation.
Cheers.
Dave B.

Subject: RE: One of Jake Thakray's best
From: David C. Carter
Date: 14 Dec 10 - 04:03 AM

Patsy,The title is simply "LAH-DI-DAH"


David

Subject: RE: One of Jake Thakray's best
From: GUEST,Ray
Date: 14 Dec 10 - 05:24 AM

I had the pleasure of meeting Jake several times back in the 70s and early 80s and recording a couple of his concerts (even borrowing his awful guitar on one occasion when the support didn't turn up!). A thoroughly nice bloke only under-rated by himself.

He was the ultimate wordsmith and the only person I know of has ever introduced a latin pun into a song line.

Subject: RE: One of Jake Thakray's best
From: C-flat
Date: 14 Dec 10 - 06:36 AM

I'm a huge fan too.
I was once required to supply a comedic review-style song for a particular annual masonic gathering and was struggling with until I had a memory of Jake on "That's Life".
By imitating his moody, deadpan delivery I found the comedy of the subject matter (freemasons/ceremonies/etc) so much easier to expose. The song practically wrote itself and was well recieved on the night.
The biggest difficulty in performing the song is that I can't seem to do it without taking on the voice and mannerisms of the great man himself. I was particularly pleased to be asked when Thackray had ever recorded it.
I can only hope that Jake would be flattered rather than offended by my attempt because, in effect, he wrote it when I couldn't.
Those powerful memories of his performances really inspired me.
With him it was all about the songs themselves. From what I've read he didn't like to perform, suffering badly from stagefright, and seemed to hate celebrity, so you have to hope he enjoyed the craft of writing them at least.

Subject: RE: One of Jake Thakray's best
From: GUEST,Silas
Date: 14 Dec 10 - 06:54 AM

This is also one of my favourite Jake songs, however, I was talking to him many years ago about this very song and why he never seemed to sing it in public any more. His answer was quite interesting. He told me that he was singing this song on stage a year or so before, and halfway through he realised that although he was singing, he was actually thinking about replacing a broken window in his garage and if he had enough putty to do the job or whether he needed to by some more. He realised to himself that the song meant nothing to him anymore and he never sang it again! Tragic really for such a great song.
Incidentally, the chords for this song and another favourite 'Leopald Allcocks' are exactly the same.

Subject: RE: One of Jake Thakray's best
From: Dave Roberts
Date: 14 Dec 10 - 07:07 AM

Jake was the best; unique and irreplaceable. My own favourite is 'Sister Josephine' which, to me, is the perfect comic song - catchy, memorable and, most of all, uproariously funny.

Subject: RE: One of Jake Thakray's best
From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler
Date: 14 Dec 10 - 07:34 AM

I just love the rhyming of:-
"Leopold Alcocks you've been here since Feb'ry,
Go home and leave me alone with my debris".

(Second attempt at posting, first one vanished into the ether).

Subject: RE: One of Jake Thakray's best
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 14 Dec 10 - 04:50 PM

DG&D Dave - condolences on your loss...

Just wondering if there's a connection between Jake's Jake's Progress and Alan Bleasdale's 1995 drama series of same name with Robert Lindsay (and other stellar cast)..?

Kitty

Subject: RE: One of Jake Thakray's best
From: Little Hawk
Date: 15 Dec 10 - 11:08 AM

My absolute favorite is "Sister Josephine" too.

Subject: RE: One of Jake Thakray's best
From: GUEST,Silas
Date: 15 Dec 10 - 11:09 AM

I would love to know just who Josephine is, he wrote quite a few songs about her...

Subject: RE: One of Jake Thakray's best
From: GUEST,Silas
Date: 15 Dec 10 - 11:11 AM

Sorry, for Josephine, read Isobel in my last pst!

Subject: RE: One of Jake Thakray's best
From: Little Hawk
Date: 15 Dec 10 - 11:14 AM

Hmmm. You think she was real, then? I always figured Jake just created his bizarre characters out of thin air, but I may be wrong.

The very idea of a woman who insists on making love only on national monuments and doesn't care who she does it with is utterly hilarious! You have to have a really unusual mind to come up with such things.

Subject: RE: One of Jake Thakray's best
From: GUEST,Silas
Date: 15 Dec 10 - 11:19 AM

I just don't know. Leopold Allcocks was apparanty a real person as was Molly Metcalf. The Bigger the Bull was supposed to be about a real peson too, so who knows?

Subject: RE: One of Jake Thakray's best
From: Little Hawk
Date: 15 Dec 10 - 12:11 PM

Having Leopold around for long must have been utterly hellish... ;-)

Subject: RE: One of Jake Thakray's best
From: GUEST,Ray
Date: 16 Dec 10 - 09:26 AM

Jake always said that "Leopold Allcocks" was about a teaching colleague of his - Regie Sedgewick - who was somewhat accident prone. I suspect most of the names in his songs were invented to fit in with the rest of the words.

Subject: RE: One of Jake Thakray's best
From: alanabit
Date: 17 Dec 10 - 02:37 AM

"Isobel..." is probably my favourite Jake Thackray song too. The man was irreplaceable.

Subject: RE: One of Jake Thakray's best
From: Little Hawk
Date: 17 Dec 10 - 09:34 AM

The very idea of a woman who insists upon making love on national monuments!!! Sheer madness. The man was obviously some kind of comic genius. One has to wonder what his personal life with the ladies was like, but it may have been really quite mundane, I suppose. "On Again, On Again!" seems to provide some insight into his feelings about the female gender. ;-)

Subject: RE: One of Jake Thakray's best
From: Silas
Date: 17 Dec 10 - 09:36 AM

Well, there is always the ballad of Billy Kershaw, that will give food for thought...

Subject: RE: One of Jake Thakray's best
From: GUEST,Ray
Date: 17 Dec 10 - 10:06 AM

"On again, On again" is entirely true - isn't it?

Seriously, Jake was a total professional and not at all like his songs. I recall whilst having a quiet pint after one concert, 30 odd years ago, that the topic of conversation revolved around the best product to clean the rails on his son's model railway.

Subject: RE: One of Jake Thakray's best
From: Little Hawk
Date: 17 Dec 10 - 10:21 AM

Yes, "On Again" is certainly true of a great many women I have known, Ray...not all of them, perhaps, but a great many. I've also known one or two men like that...knew one that could talk the paint off a wall and the balls off a Cape Buffalo, I assure you. Furthermore, none of it was worth your time! His longsuffering wife eventually divorced him, and to this day she despises the custom of "small talk" and will not put up with it for very long.