Subject: RE: Obit: Jake Thackray
From:
Nigel Parsons
Date: 30 Dec 02 - 01:30 PM
With no apologies, I reproduce the 'Obit' from the Daily Telegraph in full
"JAKE THACKRAY, who died on Christmas Eve aged 64, was a folk singer whose surreal and lugubrious songs made him a firm favourite on such television programmes as The Frost Report, The Braden Beat and That's Life with Esther Rantzen.
His distinctive Yorkshire tones, gravelly voice and hangdog expression were combined with a reassuring mixture of classical and jazz chords. These were played on a nylon string guitar (which often needed re-tuning in large venues such as the London Palladium and the Royal Albert Hall).
Although he never allowed himself to be restricted by the requirements of metre, or even rhyme, Thackray's subtle wit always made up for any defects. He was not above placing a rhyme which might be expected at the end of a sentence in the middle, or even within a multi-syllabic word, thus adding to the humorous effect.
His subject matter was quirky, imaginative and often bawdy. But despite being described as the "North Country Noel Coward", he insisted that his strongest influences came from the French chansoniers, particularly Georges Brassens. Indeed, his compositions were unique in that they combined the tradition of English music-hall with French melodies.
One of his best known numbers, the satirical love song Lah Di dah concerned a new fiancé's declaration to his love, repeating the refrain "Lah-di-dah" as he assured her that he would put up with all her boring relations: I'll be polite to your daddy! Frightfully lah-di-dah,/ Although he always bores me to my boots/I love you very much.
Other numbers had a reassuring feel, even when, they dealt with risque subjects. The Castleford Ladies' Magic Circle recounted how its members liked to indulge in a satanic orgy, then "pop off home for cocoa and The Epilogue". Another concerned a young woman with the unusual ambition of making love on all the monuments in the National Trust Guide:
"Isabel makes love upon national monuments
With style and enthusiasm and anyone at all.
She's done Stonehenge and the Houses of Parliament
But so far little Isabel's never played the Albert Hall."
The son of a policeman, Jake Thackray was born in Yorkshire on February 22 1938 and attended a Jesuit boarding school at Dolgelly, where he thought of becoming a priest, but instead went on to Durham University and trained as a teacher.
Having spent four years teaching in France (where he wrote songs as a professional aid), Thackray returned to Leeds, where he continued to teach for another six years before his work in folk clubs led to an appearance on an early morning farming programme on local radio. From there he progressed to BBC Radio's Northcountryman show, on which he exuded the Yorkshireman's love of his pint and of rugby.
In 1967 Thackray was given a recording contract at EMI. His debut album, The Last Will and Testament of Jake Thackray, was well received and resulted in numerous appearances on popular television shows. At one stage he was required to produce a topical song each week for 'That's Life'. "Some of the songs were duff," he later recalled, "absolutely bloody duff, and I blush to think about having sung them."
His second album, Jake's Progress (1969), received popular and critical acclaim, and led to a live album recorded at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London in 1972. Five years later he released "On Again! On Again!", followed in 1981 by Jake Thackray and Songs, a live album. He also published a book of lyrics, illustrated by the cartoonist Bill Tidy.
Thackray recognised that, although he was much sought after to perform at large venues in Britain and abroad, his work was best suited to small clubs. He once confessed, however, that he "never liked the stage much".
In later life Thackray and his wife Sheila settled at Monmouth; she survives him, with their three sons.
In his song The Last Will and Testament of Jake Thackray, he left instructions as to what he expected from those whom he left behind:
No tearing of hair, no wringing of hands,
No sighs, no lack-a-days
No woe-is-mes and none of your sad adieus.
Go go go and get the priest
And then go get the booze, boys."
Good-night & God bless Jake!
Nigel
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