Jake Thackray
Encyclopedia
John Philip "Jake" Thackray (27 February 1938 – 24 December 2002), was an English
singer-songwriter
, poet
and journalist
. Best known in the late 1960s and early 1970s for his topical comedy songs performed on British television, his work ranged from satirical to bawdy to sentimental to pastoral, with a strong emphasis on storytelling, making him difficult to pigeonhole.
Jake Thackray sang in a lugubrious baritone
voice, accompanying himself on a nylon-strung guitar
in a style that was part classical, part jazz. His witty lyrics and clipped delivery, combined with his strong Yorkshire
accent and the northern setting of many of his songs, led to him being described as the "North Country Noël Coward
", a comparison Thackray resisted, although he acknowledged his lyrics were in the English tradition of Coward and Flanders and Swann
"who are wordy, funny writers". However, his tunes derived from the French chansonnier tradition: he claimed Georges Brassens
as his greatest inspiration, and he was also influenced by Jacques Brel
and Charles Trenet
. He also admired Randy Newman
. He was admired by, and influenced, many performers including Jarvis Cocker
, Mike Harding
, Momus
, Ralph McTell
, Morrissey
, Alex Turner
, Jasper Carrott
and Nick Drake
.
, the son of Ernest Thackray, a policeman, and Ivy May Thackray, née Armitage. He was educated at the Jesuit-run St. Michael's College in Leeds and a Jesuit boarding school in Dolgellau
, north-west Wales, and considered joining the priesthood, but instead chose to study Modern Languages at Durham University
. After graduation he spent four years teaching English
, mainly in France
– in Lille
, Brittany
and the Pyrenees
– but also including six months in Algeria
at the height of the war for independence
in 1961–1962. During his time in France he had some of his poetry published, and discovered the chansonnier tradition and in particular the work of Georges Brassens. "I missed out on rock and all my influences were French," he would later say.
, Leeds. Teaching himself to play the guitar, he found that one way to get unruly pupils to take an interest in their studies was through his songs. This and performing in folk clubs led to appearances on local BBC
radio programmes, which brought him to the attention of producer Norman Newell
. Thackray recorded 30 songs with Newell, eleven of which were released as his debut album, The Last Will and Testament of Jake Thackray
, in 1967. Its title track exhorted his friends to mark his passing with a party, and then forget him. The album also included "Lah-Di-Dah", in which a prospective bridegroom assures his bride he loves her so much he'll try to be nice to her dreadful family.
This in turn led to a BBC television slot, composing a weekly topical song for Bernard Braden
's consumer magazine programme Braden's Week. He was not immediately popular – his first appearance in late 1968 provoked letters demanding his dismissal – but he eventually won over the audience. After Braden's Week was cancelled in 1972, Thackray took up the same role on its successor show, That's Life!
. In nearly thirty years of performing he would make over a thousand radio and TV appearances, including slots on The David Frost
Show and Frost Over America, and his own show, Jake's Scene, on ITV
.
In 1968 he married Sheila Marian Clarke-Irons, a 21-year-old student. His second album, Jake's Progress
, was recorded at Abbey Road Studios
while the Beatles put the finishing touches to their Abbey Road album next door. Released in 1968, it abandoned the orchestral arrangements of its predecessor for a small acoustic band. It included the song "The Blacksmith and the Toffee Maker", which Thackray adapted from a story in Laurie Lee
's Cider with Rosie
. He began recording a new album in 1970, but these recordings were scrapped. In 1971 he released Live Performance
, a live recording of 14 songs from his 1970 performance at the Queen Elizabeth Hall
in London (an expanded, 29-song double CD of the same performance would be released in 2006).
A third studio album, Bantam Cock
, followed in 1972. Its title track became a folk standard and was covered by folk singer Fred Wedlock
, folk group The Corries
and comedian Jasper Carrott
among others. Other songs included "Isabel Makes Love upon National Monuments", "Sister Josephine", and "Brother Gorilla", an English adaptation of Georges Brassens' "Le gorille". In 1973 he opened for Brassens when he performed at the inauguration of the Sherman Theatre
in Cardiff
, which he would describe as the high spot of his career.
After Bantam Cock Thackray's television appearances continued, but his recording career stalled. A compilation album, The Very Best of Jake Thackray
, was released in 1975. His final studio album, On Again! On Again!
, appeared in 1977. Its title track, a long-winded tirade about women who talk too much, would see Thackray accused of misogyny, but the album also included "The Hair of the Widow of Bridlington", a song of female self-determination in the face of social disapproval. It also featured two more Brassens adaptations, "Isabella" (based on Brassens' "Marinette") and "Over to Isobel" (based on "Je rejoindrai ma belle"). The same year he published a book of lyrics, Jake's Progress, illustrated by Bill Tidy
.
From the late 1970s he had made most of his living on the live circuit, touring in Europe, North America and the Far East, but in 1982 he returned to television with Jake Thackray and Songs
, a six-part series on BBC2 featuring Thackray and guests, including Richard and Linda Thompson
and Ralph McTell
, performing in a variety of venues. An album of the same name, recorded live at the Stables Theatre, Wavendon, Milton Keynes
, as part of the recordings for the TV show, followed in 1983. Thackray's last release during his life was a compilation, Lah-Di-Dah
, released in 1991.
Although he gave up teaching for show business
, Thackray did not really like being what he called "a performing dick". He was uncomfortable with big audiences, and would settle for a pub or community hall in preference to the grandeur of the London Palladium
(although he appeared there in a Royal Variety Performance
). He became disillusioned with stage life – he is recorded as saying "I'd never liked the stage much and I was turning into a performing man, a real Archie Rice [the hack music hall comic in John Osborne
's The Entertainer
], so I cancelled gigs and pulled out" – and he was plagued by a self-doubt and a breakdown in confidence that Ralph McTell describes as "catastrophic". His style of work was also falling out of fashion: his literate, witty lyrics and tales of rural Yorkshire had little resonance in the punk
and Thatcher
years, folk audiences had lost interest in contemporary song, and in the days of alternative comedy
his bawdy humour was deemed sexist and outdated. He ultimately gave up performing in the early 1990s, and turned to journalism – for four years he wrote a weekly column for the Yorkshire Post
.
, South Wales
– where he had settled with his family in the late 1960s – beset by health and financial problems: he had developed a serious drink problem, and was declared bankrupt in 2000. He had always been an observant Roman Catholic, and became increasingly religious in his later years, limiting his musical activities to performing the Angelus
at his local church. He died of heart failure on 24 December 2002 at the age of 64, leaving his widow, Sheila, from whom he was separated, and three sons, Bill, Sam and Tom.
-born poet
Ian McMillan based on Thackray's songs and their characters, Sister Josephine Kicks the Habit, premiered in 2005 and toured the north of England. A rewrite by Alan Plater
was due to tour the UK in 2007, but is on hold following the death of executive producer Ian Watson.
2006 saw a major retrospective. EMI released an expanded, 29-song double CD edition of Live Performance
, and Jake in a Box, a 4-CD box set containing Thackray's four studio albums and six singles in their entirety, plus 25 unused tracks recorded in the Last Will and Testament sessions in 1967, eleven songs recorded for the abandoned album in 1970, and a handful of other rarities. Comedian and writer Victor Lewis-Smith
produced a television documentary, Jake on the Box, for the BBC.
In an interview on the BBC's Culture Show
(broadcast 8 August 2009), Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys
cited Thackray as an influence, and in another 2009 interview with XM Radio Turner cited Thackray when specifically discussing their song entitled "Cornerstone." Similarly the Courteeners' songwriter Liam Fray cites Thackray as influence on the group's MySpace page.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
, poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
and journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
. Best known in the late 1960s and early 1970s for his topical comedy songs performed on British television, his work ranged from satirical to bawdy to sentimental to pastoral, with a strong emphasis on storytelling, making him difficult to pigeonhole.
Jake Thackray sang in a lugubrious baritone
Baritone
Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
voice, accompanying himself on a nylon-strung guitar
Classical guitar
The classical guitar is a 6-stringed plucked string instrument from the family of instruments called chordophones...
in a style that was part classical, part jazz. His witty lyrics and clipped delivery, combined with his strong Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
accent and the northern setting of many of his songs, led to him being described as the "North Country Noël Coward
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
", a comparison Thackray resisted, although he acknowledged his lyrics were in the English tradition of Coward and Flanders and Swann
Flanders and Swann
The British duo Flanders and Swann were the actor and singer Michael Flanders and the composer, pianist and linguist Donald Swann , who collaborated in writing and performing comic songs....
"who are wordy, funny writers". However, his tunes derived from the French chansonnier tradition: he claimed Georges Brassens
Georges Brassens
Georges Brassens , 22 October 1921 – 29 October 1981), was a French singer-songwriter and poet.Brassens was born in Sète, a town in southern France near Montpellier...
as his greatest inspiration, and he was also influenced by Jacques Brel
Jacques Brel
Jacques Brel was a Belgian singer-songwriter who composed and performed literate, thoughtful, and theatrical songs that generated a large, devoted following in France initially, and later throughout the world. He was widely considered a master of the modern chanson...
and Charles Trenet
Charles Trenet
Charles Trenet was a French singer and songwriter, most famous for his recordings from the late 1930s until the mid-1950s, though his career continued through the 1990s...
. He also admired Randy Newman
Randy Newman
Randall Stuart "Randy" Newman is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, composer, and pianist who is known for his mordant pop songs and for film scores....
. He was admired by, and influenced, many performers including Jarvis Cocker
Jarvis Cocker
Jarvis Branson Cocker is an English musician and frontman for the band Pulp. Through his work with the band, Cocker became a figurehead of the Britpop movement of the mid-1990s. Following Pulp's hiatus Cocker has led a successful solo career...
, Mike Harding
Mike Harding
Mike Harding is an English singer, songwriter, comedian, author, poet and broadcaster. He is known as 'The Rochdale Cowboy' after one of his hit records...
, Momus
Momus (artist)
Nick Currie , more popularly known under the artist name Momus , is a songwriter, blogger and former journalist for Wired...
, Ralph McTell
Ralph McTell
Ralph McTell is an English singer-songwriter and acoustic guitar player who has been an influential figure on the UK folk music scene since the 1960s....
, Morrissey
Morrissey
Steven Patrick Morrissey , known as Morrissey, is an English singer and lyricist. He rose to prominence in the 1980s as the lyricist and vocalist of the alternative rock band The Smiths. The band was highly successful in the United Kingdom but broke up in 1987, and Morrissey began a solo career,...
, Alex Turner
Alex Turner (musician)
Alexander David Turner is an English musician, best known as the lead vocalist, guitarist and main songwriter of the English rock band Arctic Monkeys...
, Jasper Carrott
Jasper Carrott
Jasper Carrott OBE is a British comedian, actor, television presenter and personality.-Early life:...
and Nick Drake
Nick Drake
Nicholas Rodney "Nick" Drake was an English singer-songwriter and musician. Though he is best known for his sombre guitar based songs, Drake was also proficient at piano, clarinet and saxophone...
.
Early life
John Philip Thackray was born in LeedsLeeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
, the son of Ernest Thackray, a policeman, and Ivy May Thackray, née Armitage. He was educated at the Jesuit-run St. Michael's College in Leeds and a Jesuit boarding school in Dolgellau
Dolgellau
Dolgellau is a market town in Gwynedd, north-west Wales, lying on the River Wnion, a tributary of the River Mawddach. It was the county town of the former county of Merionethshire .-History and economy:...
, north-west Wales, and considered joining the priesthood, but instead chose to study Modern Languages at Durham University
Durham University
The University of Durham, commonly known as Durham University, is a university in Durham, England. It was founded by Act of Parliament in 1832 and granted a Royal Charter in 1837...
. After graduation he spent four years teaching English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, mainly in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
– in Lille
Lille
Lille is a city in northern France . It is the principal city of the Lille Métropole, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country behind those of Paris, Lyon and Marseille. Lille is situated on the Deûle River, near France's border with Belgium...
, Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
and the Pyrenees
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain...
– but also including six months in Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
at the height of the war for independence
Algerian War of Independence
The Algerian War was a conflict between France and Algerian independence movements from 1954 to 1962, which led to Algeria's gaining its independence from France...
in 1961–1962. During his time in France he had some of his poetry published, and discovered the chansonnier tradition and in particular the work of Georges Brassens. "I missed out on rock and all my influences were French," he would later say.
Musical career
In 1964 Thackray returned to his native Yorkshire, teaching at Intake School in BramleyBramley, Leeds
Bramley is a district in west Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is an old industrial area and home to a lot of 19th century architecture alongside 20th century council housing in the east and private suburban housing to the west. It has its own railway station which is on the Caldervale and...
, Leeds. Teaching himself to play the guitar, he found that one way to get unruly pupils to take an interest in their studies was through his songs. This and performing in folk clubs led to appearances on local BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
radio programmes, which brought him to the attention of producer Norman Newell
Norman Newell
Norman Newell, OBE was born in Plaistow, Essex , and was a successful British record producer in the 1950s and 1960s, as well as co-writer of many notable songs...
. Thackray recorded 30 songs with Newell, eleven of which were released as his debut album, The Last Will and Testament of Jake Thackray
The Last Will and Testament of Jake Thackray
-External links:*...
, in 1967. Its title track exhorted his friends to mark his passing with a party, and then forget him. The album also included "Lah-Di-Dah", in which a prospective bridegroom assures his bride he loves her so much he'll try to be nice to her dreadful family.
This in turn led to a BBC television slot, composing a weekly topical song for Bernard Braden
Bernard Braden
Bernard Chastey Braden was a Canadian-born English actor and comedian.Braden was born in Vancouver, British Columbia and educated at Magee Secondary School, Kerrisdale, Vancouver. He produced plays on CJOR Vancouver in the late 1930s and early 1940s. He married Barbara Kelly in 1942 and they moved...
's consumer magazine programme Braden's Week. He was not immediately popular – his first appearance in late 1968 provoked letters demanding his dismissal – but he eventually won over the audience. After Braden's Week was cancelled in 1972, Thackray took up the same role on its successor show, That's Life!
That's Life!
That's Life! was a magazine-style television series on BBC1 between 26 May 1973 and 19 June 1994, presented by Esther Rantzen throughout the entire run, with various changes of co-presenters. The show was generally recorded about an hour prior to transmission, which was originally on Saturday...
. In nearly thirty years of performing he would make over a thousand radio and TV appearances, including slots on The David Frost
David Frost
Sir David Frost is a British broadcaster.David Frost may also refer to:*David Frost , South African golfer*David Frost , classical record producer*David Frost *Dave Frost, baseball pitcher...
Show and Frost Over America, and his own show, Jake's Scene, on ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
.
In 1968 he married Sheila Marian Clarke-Irons, a 21-year-old student. His second album, Jake's Progress
Jake's Progress (album)
-Personnel:*Jake Thackray - vocals, guitar*Frank Horrox - piano*Ike Isaacs - guitar*Frank Clarke - bass*Geoff Love - musical supervision-External links:*...
, was recorded at Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios is a recording studio located at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music company EMI, its present owner...
while the Beatles put the finishing touches to their Abbey Road album next door. Released in 1968, it abandoned the orchestral arrangements of its predecessor for a small acoustic band. It included the song "The Blacksmith and the Toffee Maker", which Thackray adapted from a story in Laurie Lee
Laurie Lee
Laurence Edward Alan "Laurie" Lee, MBE was an English poet, novelist, and screenwriter, raised in the village of Slad, and went to Marling School, Gloucestershire. His most famous work was an autobiographical trilogy which consisted of Cider with Rosie , As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning and...
's Cider with Rosie
Cider with Rosie
Cider with Rosie is a 1959 book by Laurie Lee . It is the first book of a trilogy that continues with As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning and A Moment of War...
. He began recording a new album in 1970, but these recordings were scrapped. In 1971 he released Live Performance
Live Performance (album)
-CD track listing:-External links:*...
, a live recording of 14 songs from his 1970 performance at the Queen Elizabeth Hall
Queen Elizabeth Hall
The Queen Elizabeth Hall is a music venue on the South Bank in London, United Kingdom that hosts daily classical, jazz, and avant-garde music and dance performances. The QEH forms part of Southbank Centre arts complex and stands alongside the Royal Festival Hall, which was built for the Festival...
in London (an expanded, 29-song double CD of the same performance would be released in 2006).
A third studio album, Bantam Cock
Bantam Cock
-External links:*...
, followed in 1972. Its title track became a folk standard and was covered by folk singer Fred Wedlock
Fred Wedlock
Fred Wedlock was a folk singer best known for his UK hit single "The Oldest Swinger In Town". Wedlock performed at many venues in Britain and Europe, presented programmes for West Country TV and acted with the Bristol Old Vic and the Ministry of Entertainment, as well as undertaking after-dinner...
, folk group The Corries
The Corries
The Corries were a Scottish folk group that emerged from the Scottish folk revival of the early 1960s. Although the group was a trio in the early days, it was as the partnership of Roy Williamson and Ronnie Browne that it is best known.-Early years:...
and comedian Jasper Carrott
Jasper Carrott
Jasper Carrott OBE is a British comedian, actor, television presenter and personality.-Early life:...
among others. Other songs included "Isabel Makes Love upon National Monuments", "Sister Josephine", and "Brother Gorilla", an English adaptation of Georges Brassens' "Le gorille". In 1973 he opened for Brassens when he performed at the inauguration of the Sherman Theatre
Sherman Theatre
Sherman Cymru, also known by its previous name Sherman Theatre, is a performing arts venue in the Cathays district of Cardiff. It was built as a twin-auditorium venue in 1973 with financial support from University College, Cardiff....
in Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
, which he would describe as the high spot of his career.
After Bantam Cock Thackray's television appearances continued, but his recording career stalled. A compilation album, The Very Best of Jake Thackray
The Very Best of Jake Thackray
-CD track listing:-External links:*...
, was released in 1975. His final studio album, On Again! On Again!
On Again! On Again!
-External links:*...
, appeared in 1977. Its title track, a long-winded tirade about women who talk too much, would see Thackray accused of misogyny, but the album also included "The Hair of the Widow of Bridlington", a song of female self-determination in the face of social disapproval. It also featured two more Brassens adaptations, "Isabella" (based on Brassens' "Marinette") and "Over to Isobel" (based on "Je rejoindrai ma belle"). The same year he published a book of lyrics, Jake's Progress, illustrated by Bill Tidy
Bill Tidy
William Edward "Bill" Tidy, MBE , is a British cartoonist, writer and television personality, known chiefly for his comic strips. Bill was awarded an MBE in 2000 for "Services to Journalism". He is noted for his charitable work, particularly for the Lord's Taverners, which he has supported for over...
.
From the late 1970s he had made most of his living on the live circuit, touring in Europe, North America and the Far East, but in 1982 he returned to television with Jake Thackray and Songs
Jake Thackray and Songs
-Personnel:*Jake Thackray - vocals and guitar*Alan Williams - string bass*John Etheridge - guitar-References:** and track listings at jakethackray.com...
, a six-part series on BBC2 featuring Thackray and guests, including Richard and Linda Thompson
Linda Thompson (singer)
Linda Thompson is a British singer. Born Linda Pettifer in Hackney, Thompson became one of the most recognised names—and voices—in the British folk rock movement of the 1970s and 1980s, in collaboration with her former husband and fellow British folk rock musician, guitarist Richard...
and Ralph McTell
Ralph McTell
Ralph McTell is an English singer-songwriter and acoustic guitar player who has been an influential figure on the UK folk music scene since the 1960s....
, performing in a variety of venues. An album of the same name, recorded live at the Stables Theatre, Wavendon, Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes , sometimes abbreviated MK, is a large town in Buckinghamshire, in the south east of England, about north-west of London. It is the administrative centre of the Borough of Milton Keynes...
, as part of the recordings for the TV show, followed in 1983. Thackray's last release during his life was a compilation, Lah-Di-Dah
Lah-Di-Dah
Lah-Di-Dah is a compilation album by Jake Thackray, released by EMI on LP and CD in 1991.-Track listing:Side one # "Lah-Di-Dah"# "On Again! On Again!"# "Country Bus"# "Worried Brown Eyes"# "The Cactus"# "Jolly Captain"...
, released in 1991.
Although he gave up teaching for show business
Show business
Show business, sometimes shortened to show biz, is a vernacular term for all aspects of entertainment. The word applies to all aspects of the entertainment industry from the business side to the creative element ....
, Thackray did not really like being what he called "a performing dick". He was uncomfortable with big audiences, and would settle for a pub or community hall in preference to the grandeur of the London Palladium
London Palladium
The London Palladium is a 2,286 seat West End theatre located off Oxford Street in the City of Westminster. From the roster of stars who have played there and many televised performances, it is arguably the most famous theatre in London and the United Kingdom, especially for musical variety...
(although he appeared there in a Royal Variety Performance
Royal Variety Performance
The Royal Variety Performance is a gala evening held annually in the United Kingdom, which is attended by senior members of the British Royal Family, usually the reigning monarch. In more recent years Queen Elizabeth II and The Prince of Wales have alternately attended the performance...
). He became disillusioned with stage life – he is recorded as saying "I'd never liked the stage much and I was turning into a performing man, a real Archie Rice [the hack music hall comic in John Osborne
John Osborne
John James Osborne was an English playwright, screenwriter, actor and critic of the Establishment. The success of his 1956 play Look Back in Anger transformed English theatre....
's The Entertainer
The Entertainer (film)
The Entertainer is a 1960 film adaptation of the stage play of the same name by John Osborne, which told the story of a failing third-rate music hall stage performer who tried to keep his career going even as his personal life fell apart....
], so I cancelled gigs and pulled out" – and he was plagued by a self-doubt and a breakdown in confidence that Ralph McTell describes as "catastrophic". His style of work was also falling out of fashion: his literate, witty lyrics and tales of rural Yorkshire had little resonance in the punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
and Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
years, folk audiences had lost interest in contemporary song, and in the days of alternative comedy
Alternative comedy
Alternative comedy is a term that originated in the 1980s for a style of comedy that makes a conscious break with the mainstream comedic style of an era, and typically avoids relying on a standardised structure of a sequence of jokes with punch lines. Patton Oswalt defines it as "comedy where the...
his bawdy humour was deemed sexist and outdated. He ultimately gave up performing in the early 1990s, and turned to journalism – for four years he wrote a weekly column for the Yorkshire Post
Yorkshire Post
The Yorkshire Post is a daily broadsheet newspaper, published in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England by Yorkshire Post Newspapers, a company owned by Johnston Press...
.
Retirement and death
In the 1990s Thackray withdrew to his home in MonmouthMonmouth
Monmouth is a town in southeast Wales and traditional county town of the historic county of Monmouthshire. It is situated close to the border with England, where the River Monnow meets the River Wye with bridges over both....
, South Wales
South Wales
South Wales is an area of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the east and south, and Mid Wales and West Wales to the north and west. The most densely populated region in the south-west of the United Kingdom, it is home to around 2.1 million people and includes the capital city of...
– where he had settled with his family in the late 1960s – beset by health and financial problems: he had developed a serious drink problem, and was declared bankrupt in 2000. He had always been an observant Roman Catholic, and became increasingly religious in his later years, limiting his musical activities to performing the Angelus
Angelus
The Angelus is a Christian devotion in memory of the Incarnation. The name Angelus is derived from the opening words: Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariæ The Angelus (Latin for "angel") is a Christian devotion in memory of the Incarnation. The name Angelus is derived from the opening words: Angelus...
at his local church. He died of heart failure on 24 December 2002 at the age of 64, leaving his widow, Sheila, from whom he was separated, and three sons, Bill, Sam and Tom.
Revival in interest
In May 2002 a group of fans formed the Jake Thackray Project with the intention of making more of Thackray's work available to the public. With Thackray's cooperation, the project team, led by record producer David Harris, received permission from EMI to produce a double CD of 42 songs not on any then-available release, limited to 200 copies, which was released in November 2002 with cover art by Bill Tidy. After Thackray's death the following month EMI consented to a further edition of 100 copies. This revival of interest led to the release of two mass market CDs the following year: The Very Best of Jake Thackray on EMI, and The Jake Thackray Collection on HMV. The Jake Thackray Project went on to release a series of remastered live recordings. A musical written by BarnsleyBarnsley
Barnsley is a town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Dearne, north of the city of Sheffield, south of Leeds and west of Doncaster. Barnsley is surrounded by several smaller settlements which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley, of which Barnsley is the largest and...
-born poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
Ian McMillan based on Thackray's songs and their characters, Sister Josephine Kicks the Habit, premiered in 2005 and toured the north of England. A rewrite by Alan Plater
Alan Plater
Alan Frederick Plater, CBE, FRSL was an English playwright and screenwriter, who worked extensively in British television from the 1960s to the 2000s.-Career:...
was due to tour the UK in 2007, but is on hold following the death of executive producer Ian Watson.
2006 saw a major retrospective. EMI released an expanded, 29-song double CD edition of Live Performance
Live Performance (album)
-CD track listing:-External links:*...
, and Jake in a Box, a 4-CD box set containing Thackray's four studio albums and six singles in their entirety, plus 25 unused tracks recorded in the Last Will and Testament sessions in 1967, eleven songs recorded for the abandoned album in 1970, and a handful of other rarities. Comedian and writer Victor Lewis-Smith
Victor Lewis-Smith
Victor Lewis-Smith is a British satirist, producer, critic and prankster. He is known for his sarcasm and biting criticism.-Radio and recordings:...
produced a television documentary, Jake on the Box, for the BBC.
In an interview on the BBC's Culture Show
The Culture Show
The Culture Show is a weekly BBC Two Arts magazine programme. It is broadcast in the UK on Thursday nights at 7pm, focusing on the best of the week's arts and culture news, covering books, art, film, architecture, music, visual fashion and the performing arts...
(broadcast 8 August 2009), Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys
Arctic Monkeys
Arctic Monkeys are an English indie rock band. Formed in 2002 in High Green, a suburb of Sheffield, the band currently consists of Alex Turner , Jamie Cook , Nick O'Malley and Matt Helders...
cited Thackray as an influence, and in another 2009 interview with XM Radio Turner cited Thackray when specifically discussing their song entitled "Cornerstone." Similarly the Courteeners' songwriter Liam Fray cites Thackray as influence on the group's MySpace page.
Studio albums
- The Last Will and Testament of Jake ThackrayThe Last Will and Testament of Jake Thackray-External links:*...
— EMIEMIThe EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
— 1967 - Jake's ProgressJake's Progress (album)-Personnel:*Jake Thackray - vocals, guitar*Frank Horrox - piano*Ike Isaacs - guitar*Frank Clarke - bass*Geoff Love - musical supervision-External links:*...
— EMI Records — 1969 - Bantam CockBantam Cock-External links:*...
— EMI Records — 1972 - On Again! On Again!On Again! On Again!-External links:*...
— EMI Records — 1977
Live albums
- Live PerformanceLive Performance (album)-CD track listing:-External links:*...
— EMI Records — 1971; reissued 1976; reissued in 2006 as an expanded double CD - Jake Thackray and SongsJake Thackray and Songs-Personnel:*Jake Thackray - vocals and guitar*Alan Williams - string bass*John Etheridge - guitar-References:** and track listings at jakethackray.com...
— Dingles Records — 1983 - Live at the Lobster Pot — 2005
- Live at the Lobster Pot volume 2 — 2005
- Jake Thackray - Live in Germany — JTP - 2005
Compilations
- The Very Best of Jake ThackrayThe Very Best of Jake Thackray-CD track listing:-External links:*...
— EMI Records — 1975 re-released 20031975 in music-January–April:*January 2 - New York City U.S. District Court Judge Richard Owen rules that former Beatle John Lennon and his lawyers can have access to Department of Immigration files pertaining to his deportation case.... - Lah-Di-DahLah-Di-DahLah-Di-Dah is a compilation album by Jake Thackray, released by EMI on LP and CD in 1991.-Track listing:Side one # "Lah-Di-Dah"# "On Again! On Again!"# "Country Bus"# "Worried Brown Eyes"# "The Cactus"# "Jolly Captain"...
— EMI Records — 1991 - The Jake Thackray Project — JTP — 2002 (Limited edition of 300)
- The Jake Thackray Collection — HMVHMVHis Master's Voice is a trademark in the music business, and for many years was the name of a large record label. The name was coined in 1899 as the title of a painting of the dog Nipper listening to a wind-up gramophone...
— 2003 - Jake in a Box (4 CD Box set) — EMI Records — 2006