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Edmund’s site contains this information:
16th December 1984 University Theatre, Newcastle upon Tyne "Jake was well received … until he started into "One of Them". Quite a few people stood up and walked out muttering or shouting their protests." (Greg Gregory)
One of Them always needs some explanation before performance if it is not to be completely misconstrued. I well remember some people initially laughing at the song (to my horror), despite Jake’s intro telling them what the song was about. My own experience doing the song in a folk club recently was to have one or two people at the sound check saying ‘you can’t possibly sing that’, but with an explanation the song seemed to be well received in the actual performance.
I hate bottling out and changing any of the words, but it is ‘rapist’ in Bantam Cock and ‘raped’ in Family Tree which I would be most likely to alter, if push came to shove. I believe that Jake himself changed ‘rapist’ to ‘demon’ in performances towards the end of his career.
Edmund’s site contains this information:
16th December 1984 University Theatre, Newcastle upon Tyne "Jake was well received … until he started into "One of Them". Quite a few people stood up and walked out muttering or shouting their protests." (Greg Gregory)
One of Them always needs some explanation before performance if it is not to be completely misconstrued. I well remember some people initially laughing at the song (to my horror), despite Jake’s intro telling them what the song was about. My own experience doing the song in a folk club recently was to have one or two people at the sound check saying ‘you can’t possibly sing that’, but with an explanation the song seemed to be well received in the actual performance.
I hate bottling out and changing any of the words, but it is ‘rapist’ in Bantam Cock and ‘raped’ in Family Tree which I would be most likely to alter, if push came to shove. I believe that Jake himself changed ‘rapist’ to ‘demon’ in performances towards the end of his career.
Jenny Thompson (aged 9) writes:
The show worked very well surprisingly enough.
I wasn’t sure it would work because of the big changes e.g. female butcherPlot:
Billy Kershaw has fallen in love with Isabelle the girl from the kiss
And her mother isn’t pleased about it.
The brigadier in love can’t decide between Margaret (widow of Bridlington)
& sister Jo .
The blacksmith and the toffee–maker’s children want them to go in to a home for the elderly.
My favourite bit was Billy Kershaw’s song.I recommend this to people of all ages as it is really funny and gives a good introduction to Jake and is very enjoyable e.g. the Brigadier song
Jenny TAs far as I know Jake never did Jumble Sale live – see the detailed set lists on the Unofficial Jake Thackray Homepage site for evidence of this. I agree that it is the arrangement of the studio recording which kills the song off – I have only heard Jamie McCoan’s rendition live at a Jakefest and it completely changed my view of the quality of the song.
‘iacta was my alea’ is a reference to Julius Caesar’s words on crossing the river Rubicon in 49 BC (alea iacta est = the die was cast): in crossing this river and entering Italy with an army at his back Caesar effectively declared civil war and made himself a public enemy to the Roman people. Caesar’s ‘alea iacta est’ is one of the two most famous quotations associated with him (the other being ‘veni, vidi, vici’). Presumably Jake studied Latin as part of his Jesuit education and Caesar would almost certainly have been on the menu for any schoolboy in the fifties and sixties.
Here ends the lesson (from a Latin teacher!).
Paul
‘Jake Thackray and Songs’ was a brilliant series of six programmes broadcast in the early eighties on BBC2. It captures Jake at his most natural, performing in small theatres, taking risks in front of the punters, as he would say. Unfortunately it is not available on DVD or in any other format at present, although behind the scenes I have no doubt that efforts are underway to persuade the BBC to release some of this wonderful footage. As to whether or not you can download the material, I am not sure.
Worth trying the Netsounds website (http://www.netsoundsmusic.com), which has a search engine linked to dozens / hundreds of dealers. There is always plenty of Thackray there, although the 45 of Lah-di-dah is not there at the moment. I have seen copies occasionally on eBay, however.
Hope this helps.
Paul
Welcome aboard, Nick!
No, you haven’t bored anyone. This is one place where people are always interested to hear memories of Jake – what you say about Jake’s note is wonderful, and all too typical of the man. As well as this site, have you discovered the Topica discussion list for Jake Thackray? Sign up there (www.topica.com) for free.
Do keep your eyes peeled for future Jake events – there are several things coming up in the next few months.
ATB
Paul(with apologies to Jake) Give some women the ghost of a chance to flaunt it, thereupon they go on again, on again, on again, on again, on again, on again, on…
We guarantee their display will dispel all male melancholia…
Must stop quoting Miss World, it’s much too easy!
