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Spurred on by the D-Day celebrations and the upcoming First World War anniversaries, I’ve been listening to Jake’s Remembrance again. It’s a brilliant short-ish homage to the fallen and should be heard more often in the coming months and years in my opinion. Pester your local radio stations to play it on November 11 (or any other suitable date for that matter).
Good idea.
I spent much of last week crying at the heroic exploits of our forefathers but was struck by a comment made by one of the men who made the remark, on seeing the body of a German soldier, that he looked “just like one of us”, which brought to mind Jake’s line, “(He) seemed to be about as foreign as you and me”.
Brilliant.Regulars at Jakefests might be interested to learn that William Thompson (now a strapping 6’3″” 16 year-old) has just won his school’s Young Musician of the Year competition, beating off the strong classical competition, singing and playing The Remembrance. The judges and audience (young and old) were captivated by the song…and the performance. His video and recording are available on his YouTube channel: willandhiscamerathompson.
Well done William ! 🙂
This is one of the “strongest” songs I know … and I hope I’ll hear it live next time we meet.Congratulations young Will! What a great way to find a whole new audience! (I have seen your video and think it’s brilliant)
Pam
As it’s close to Remembrance Sunday I thought i’d revisit this topic.
Was asked to do a pp presentation on WW1 propaganda as seen on
cigarette cards (!) so I might be using Jake’s song as an intro. Still
one of the most powerful anti-war songs I know.A truly magnificent song which should be played every Remembrance Day. I think we need a national campaign. For those who may have missed it, this link takes you to a performance of the song, together with a slideshow, put together by my son, Will, last year:
Please, do watch Will’s interpretation of this moving song; listen to the words.
The last survivor of WW1, Harry Patch, has been quoted as saying “War is organised murder, and nothing else”. I can’t disagree with that. It’ll be a white poppy for me.
I passed this information to a friend who is good at finding unusual snippets of information, and circulating them, so I contacted her about Will’s video. A few days ago she posted a very simple but brief comment headed “We will remember them – and those who sent them to their death” with a picture of the ceramic red poppies, followed by a quote from Harry Patch – “War is organised murder, nothing else”.
So I thought she should see Will’s video of The Remembrance and she has now published an item about it at
The Remembrance, by Jake ThackrayI have her permission to pass this on, so here it is.
Further to my previous correspondence – I had a message to say that Jonathan Porritt had received the link I mentioned in my last and sent this: “Thanks for forwarding on that link to the song by Jake Thackray – very moving. And effectively put together in terms of images from 20th Century wars, and images from 21st Century wars.”
And this morning we watched the YouTube clip at my Church service.
I’m very glad this topic came up as I went to find the song on YouTube and the BBC video. It’s so powerful, moving and well-crafted. It deserves to be broadcast more. I wondered if Malcy, if you read this on return from your epic Russian email tour, could look again at the chords you worked out for this website. Jake seems to be playing something different – imaginative and faultless as usual.
HIya Jonathan.
The chords on this site are the way I play it, which I learned when JT and Songs came out in the 80s – and after a move to Leicester Poly and back, I never had a copy of the song between then and the Project CD, so it way well have evolved a bit, or even become simplified after 20 years of me playing it in folk clubs. In any case, the Tabs are supposed to be simple versions that allow all standards on players to play the song – they aren’t supposed to be perfect reproductions of everything Jake plays, and even if they sound right they may not be the same chords Jake plays, as I tried to keep to standard chords.
If I had had the DVD then I could have seen the chords and copied them (after waiting till the invention of the DVD player !) but as with most of the tabs, they had to be approximations of what you heard on records. The fast chord changes Jake plays on “this was a couple of weeks before we got killed in the war”, for example, were probably not audible on the tape I made on my sister’s record player in 1983 – wherever that is ! :o) Mea culpa.
I’ll ask around for a more accurate version for you and incorporate it. into the tab.
Malcy
Hi Malcy
I hope you didn’t take my comment as negatively critical of your tabs. They are very useful and must have been a lot of work to publish. It’s just that I watch the video and clips, and am constantly wondering ‘how does he do that?’ Comparisons are, as they say, odious but his chord varieties and progressions make Georges Brassens’ seem quite ordinary.
Hiya Jonathan.
There’s not a guitarist among us who doesn’t think that, especially now we’ve had the opportunity to see Jake play live in DVD clarity ! The tabs, I think, are for the 99% of us who only play C, G and the other one, so we can all have a go : while the other 1% are more advanced enough to work out Jake’s fingering for themselves by buying and watching the DVD. 😮
I’ve asked for a flasher, more accurate version of the tab for you, and will incorporate it into my version when it arrives.
Malcy
Hi, Jonathan, and all.
Most people I have asked to compile you a more superior version of the tab than mine, are snowed under with publicising and promoting the DVD, I’ve found. The process of working the songs out, and then transcribing them, is quite laborious, so someone will fit it in when DVD fever has subsided and Christmas preparations are over, I’m sure. Again, I’m sorry you found that the original version didn’t match what Jake’s doing close enough for your liking : it really wasn’t the point of the tabs to duplicate exactly what Jake was doing, they were just to allow people of all abilities to play along to the songs and learn them, as a sort of study aid.
Malcy
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