Jake Thackray

Forum

What can I say that hasn't already been said? A thinking man's comedy songwriter, eloquent to the point of mastery, gentle, extremely funny and hugely enjoyable.

>>By Bob   (Sunday, 1 Dec 2002 15:39)



You could say that he's dead

>>By Li   (Friday, 27 Dec 2002 22:05)



and the world is a much poorer place for his passing. R.I.P. Jake

>>By Li   (Friday, 27 Dec 2002 22:08)



I saw him perform several times and I took people with me who would never by any stretch of the imagination be called fans yet they really enjoyed his concerts.
I am saddened that I cannot look forward to seeing him again on stage and will play the cd I made out of his lp's tonight in his memory.

>>By Ken   (Sunday, 29 Dec 2002 15:29)



Sleep well ol' son. God bless.

>>By Lawrie   (Sunday, 29 Dec 2002 16:12)



I sit here having just heard the news and am devestated
I saw him in concert in little folk clubs over the years and loved
every one then drifted away . Recently I came back to the folk scene
and at last replaced my worn out jake albums I thought they where just as brilliant as I remember .I hope his family and friends remember him
with as much affection and laughter as I remember Him.I saw him first
on the bernard braden show and he sang about his grannies
counting sheep and I was hooked.I sit here with tears in my eyes .Thanks for it all brian

>>By Brian   (Sunday, 29 Dec 2002 23:47)



Listen to his words and enjoy our national language at it's best

>>By Ron   (Monday, 30 Dec 2002 17:26)



I remember jake from my early school days as an excellent
teacher. He inspired my interest in music. I am so sad to
learn of his death. I would have loved to have had one last
chat with him.

>>By elly B   (Tuesday, 31 Dec 2002 03:14)



can anyone supply me with a copy of the jake thackray project cd?

>>By crazyjoe   (Thursday, 2 Jan 2003 07:33)



A genius has left us. We are all richer for the experience.

>>By Ramsers   (Thursday, 2 Jan 2003 19:21)



I remember Jake as he was the "star turn" the first time I ever played in public. It was at the Carlton Hotel folk club in Cheltenham. It must have been in the early 70s.

His songs speak for themselves. I remember him as a kind, warm, sensitive and funny person. One of my heros.

>>By Tony Cima   (Friday, 3 Jan 2003 18:47)



WOW,
and also oh no!
Jake Thackray ( and others of his ilk, Ralph McTell to name just one) shaped my entire taste in music. I am so so sad that i am just too young! to have heard him play live, my mother has though!!!!! on many a drunken occasion. this would be the only reason i would like to swap lives with my mother!

I am now desperately searching the internet for cd's that i dont have, ie pretty much all of them! i got Lah di Dah for my mums birthday, but since my parents split up, my dad did a runner with all the vinyl, and now the daft git has gone and lost it!
does anyone have anything they can spare? make me a cd, i would buy from a proper shop, but i dont think it is possible?!!!!! even a good tape copy wouldbe better than anything!
if any one is kind enough to help, contact me at e.judson@btopenworld.com, pretty please??????

>>By pretty brown eyes......   (Sunday, 5 Jan 2003 05:35)



" if you come around to mourn for grandad dont dress up in black cos, although me grandads dead and buried odds on he'll be back yes!"

"lady if your bosom is heaving dont waste your bosom on me, let it heave for a man whose breathing, a man who can feel, a man who can see!"

"...not a do with a few ham sandwiches a sausage roll or two and a small port wine please! Roll the carpets right back and get cracking with your old girl, love it up, sup it up, hell of a kind of a time!"

" and if the coppers come around well tell them, the parties mine boys!"



....... nuff said really.



>>By Pretty brown eyes   (Sunday, 5 Jan 2003 05:49)



I saw 'The camera and the song' one afternoon on television and it brought back the memories of past TV slots I had seen him on in my dim and distant past. I vowed to hunt out his work, which I did, song book and albums. Then in the late seventies I saw him perform at Wolverhampton Polytechnic, as it was then, a tremendous fun-filled evening of his unique style. I loved his guitar playing. Over the years I have committed to memory lots of his songs which I love playing/singing - the lyrics are always excellent on the tongue and ears and the strings feel so good too!
I have looked long and hard for other music books and recordings!

I am so sad that he will no longer be around to perform any more. But I guess that he'll be nonchalantly sipping at a pint of something good on a bar stool, somewhere on-high, telling stories and singing his songs to his ethereal audience! Lucky them!

>>By David Wellings   (Monday, 6 Jan 2003 20:48)



Your silken wings he'll shed, he will paint Paradise red
Angels saints and seraphim
Please don't expect that much respect
From him.


>>By Rick   (Tuesday, 7 Jan 2003 13:43)



I had the immense pleasure of taking Jake on a tour of the Gulf States in June/July 1980. What a gentleman. For a promoter, he was the ideal - always on time, eager to learn about the new places we were to visit, and 100% performance every night.

The people loved him, and so did I.

>>By Robert Smith, Starcast   (Sunday, 12 Jan 2003 11:34)



I met him, I talked with him. I watched his performances and listen daily to his records.

A wordsmith unsurpassed. a musician of consumate skill overflowing with musicality. ( A proper bloody player) as he might say if he were less modest.

Listening to his tales, his stories...Entrancing!

Well as he would have said.."Nobody else is loved as well by Isabel as me"
I think Jake, that we who were lucky enough to be around when you were.....We loved you just as well as Isabel !

>>By FANFORLIFE   (Friday, 24 Jan 2003 21:11)



I saw Jake once at a pub in London. During the interval I encountered him in a corridor. "Please", I requested, "do the 'Last Will And Testament'". "That takes me back a bit," he replied. He had not done it by the end of the show. I despaired. Then, after taking his bow, he said "Someone asked me for this song during the show. I'd like to play it now." I hope he is singing it happily in the great Pub in the Sky.

>>By Liz   (Saturday, 25 Jan 2003 00:52)



I never met Jake but first heard him weekly on 'The Braden Beat' and on numerous occassions and shows since then. I will always remember his dry wit. His songs were masterful in, not only their humour, but in their content, the way he put the lyrics together to work as both a vehicle of humour and story-telling, whether it was a topical story or otherwise. I left the UK 30 years ago (for Bernie Braden's native land, Canada) and brought several of Jake's albums with me where they have been enjoyed by many others.
A great lyricist, a great humourist, a great satirist and a great teacher (not only to secondary school children), Jake we will miss you.

>>By Streetca   (Sunday, 26 Jan 2003 10:50)



Still a chance to get those Project CDs folks, EMI just granted us another 100 licence free.

Come to :
http://www.jakethackray.com for more info or email me at
david@g8ina.enta.net

Cheers

David
Producer, JT Project.

>>By David Harris, Producer, JT Project   (Sunday, 26 Jan 2003 16:09)



I went to see Jake about six times he was always very entertaining
Although he gave the impression that he was very shy.

God rest...Jake

>>By bill woolham   (Tuesday, 28 Jan 2003 20:47)



It must have been .... ten yearsago that I last saw Jake at The Tramshed in Woolwich. The gig was badly promoted and there were probably about 20 of us (maximum) who had turned up but this did not phase him a bit. He just took his chair off the stage onto the ground, encouraged us all to sit around in a loose semi-circle and played, chatted, took requests, told stories ..... it was one of the most enjoyable evenings of my life.

Around that time, too he played Joe Stead's birthday party at Well Hall Open theatre, immediately preceeded by Jon Benns singing a tribute to him. Jake had been held up in traffic and was late arriving - in fact Jon didn't know that he had arrived and so thought he was safe. Unbeknownst to him, he performed the whole song with Jake standing behind him with that wonderfully expressive look of his.

The first verse, so far as I can remember was:
"I wish I could fish for lyrics like Jake
He can make every other word rhyme.
Invincible, he'll battle with each syllable,
Incredible!
The clever bugger does it every time!"

Jake - rest in peace, and thanks for the many, many hours of entertainment you gave us.

>>By Barry Howard   (Wednesday, 5 Feb 2003 15:07)



One of only a few people who could have you in tears of laughter within seconds of starting a song.
A talent that will never be repeated, and a master
comic talent.
Jake, thanks for all your songs. I hope that one day you get the recognition you should have had years
ago.

>>By Tony   (Tuesday, 6 May 2003 23:02)



Surely, the BBC should screen some of the great man's past television performances. The series from around 1980/81 should do! The man was a genius and the human race could learn a lot from his wise and sensitive observational songs. May God bless him. Nuff said.

>>By Big Jake Fan   (Thursday, 12 Jun 2003 03:16)



The self-doubt that obviously crept into Jake's performances in his latter performances was very sad. I never had the pleasure of seeing him live and I regret it very much. He always had high praise for other songwriters and musicians. But you know, he was the best kind, he was the best kind. I feel very sad at his passing and it grieves me that not only has the BBC, to the best of my knowledge, not had any tributes to him on the television, I don't seem to hear any of this great man's songs on radio. Come on, let's hear it for Jake!

>>By I Quite Liked Him, I Quite Liked Him   (Thursday, 12 Jun 2003 03:23)



I never saw him live or met him but when I learned of his early death I had to go and get a reminder of this very clever , humorous and shy guy
the songs are all fuuny and will allow me to remember what a great national trust this country and every body who heard him has and will miss.

God Rest Jake.

>>By Robbo D   (Sunday, 13 Jul 2003 21:04)



The discussion board is currently closed.