Jake Thackray (27 February, 1938 - 24 December, 2002) was a singer-songwrit… Read Full Bio ↴Jake Thackray (27 February, 1938 - 24 December, 2002) was a singer-songwriter in the tradition of French chansonniers such as his friend and inspiration Georges Brassens. Born in Yorkshire and educated at the highly respected University of Durham, Thackray became a teacher in the early 1960s and started singing, both in folk clubs and to amuse his students. He became a familiar figure on television in the late 1960s, often composing a new song every week. He recorded several albums and was a popular stage performer, but Thackray preferred the smaller, more intimate atmosphere of folk clubs. He retired from recording in the mid 1970s and scaled down his performances to his favoured small venues.

Jake's precise diction and risque lyrics won him comparison to Noël Coward; his distinctive nylon-stringed guitar technique is deceptively complex.

Jake retired to Monmouthshire in Wales in the 1990s, where he died in 2002.

A musical based on his work, Sister Josephine Kicks The Habit, made its debut in 2005. After many years out of print, Jake's music has started to reappear - Jake In A Box collects all of his EMI work and a number of live albums have appeared, highlighting Jake's rapport with his audiences, his tall tales, and his warmth as a performer.

Old Molly Metcalfe
Jake Thackray Lyrics

We have lyrics for these tracks by Jake Thackray:

Bantam Cock It was a grand upstanding bantam cock, So brisk and stiff…
Brother Gorilla Through the bars of a large enclosure The village ladies int…
Caroline Diggeby-Pratte Words & Music: Jake Thackray Miss Caroline Diggeby-Prat…
Country Bus Country bus, north country bus, Clumsy and cumbersome, rumbu…
Country Girl Country Girl She wakes up on a Saturday Yawns all the time…
Family Tree Up my, my family tree There hangs my curious pedigree, My lo…
Famous People You are unwise to think we love you. You are unwise…
I Stayed Off Work Today I stayed off work all day the day I met…
Isabella Nobody else is loved so well by Isobel, my Isobel Oh…

Isobel Makes Love Upon National Monuments Isobel makes love upon national monuments With style and ent…
It Was Only A Gypsy I am a handsome policeman. I am bold and versatile. My…
Joseph Joseph, Joseph, in your cattle stall, Joseph, Joseph, what d…
Lah-Di-Dah Now we're agreed that we're in love We'll have to face…
Lah-Di-Dah (2006 Remaster) Now we're agreed that we're in love We'll have to face…
Leopold Alcocks Leopold Alcocks, my distant relation, Came to my flat for a…
On Again! On Again! I love a good bum on a woman, it makes…
Personal Column Right behind the headlines of the papers there′s a space…
Sister Josephine Oh, Sister Josephine, What do all these policemen mean By …
Sophie I should like to know, I'd like to find out, What my…
The Ballad Of Billy Kershaw Back off, Boo-ga-loo, I said Back off, Boo-ga-loo, come on …
The Black Swan Down at the Black Swan We'll go sing our love song We'll…
The Cactus When I and my new love, my true love, got…
The Castleford Ladies Magic Circle The Castleford Ladies′ Magical Circle meets tonight, In an u…
The Girl In The Window Danny Kirwan Ram Jam City Best Girl In The World Isn't it …
The Hair Of The Widow Of Bridlington She was a widow in Bridlington, she was, was the…
The Kirkstall Road Girl Now that she's the queen, the Aphrodite of the socialite…
The Last Will And Testament Of Jake Thackray I, the under-mentioned, by this document Do declare my true…
The Lodger My landlady had three lovely daughters. They used to come an…
The Statues Closing time on Saturday it was dark. Me and Uncle Samuel…
Ulysses When Ulysses comes home He always greets me with an open…

Worried Brown Eyes She always signs her letters "Worried Brown Eyes" The queen …

The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos

TRACKS

No Related Genres

More Genres

No Artists Found

More Artists Load All

No Albums Found

No Tracks Found

04The Girl With the Fragile Eyes2:55

05Go Little Swale2:39

06Jolly Captain3:29

07Isabel Makes Love Upon National Monuments3:34

08Brother Gorilla (Le Gorille)2:54

09The Girl in the Window2:52

10It Was Only A Gypsy2:28

11Old Molly Metcalfe3:39

PT3M39S

Jake Thackray

12Sister Joesphine

13Lullaby1:11

Genre not found

Artist not found

Album not found

Search results not found

Song not found

Comments from YouTube:

@andyphilpotts4636

1y↑25

I listened to this song over and over on vinyl when I was quite young, and it changed me, it changed the way I felt for those less fortunate, simply by chance of birth. This is an important song

@peterrenn6341

1y↑20

Jake Thackeray, Ivor Cutler, Viv Stanshall and Neil Innes. Purveyors of poetic surreal beauty to the nation. Thank you, gentlemen.

@jacktar9567

2y↑29

Bless his beautiful soul, a unique talent, his wit, musicianship, use of language & his quirky observations on life...... sadly missed..... I once got tickets to see him play live but he didn't show up, it was not long before he passed away......it seems he was a troubled man despite his genius & his fans that loved him so much
.... RIP Jake ❤

@stevenfitzsimmons3840

43w↑12

Thackeray one of our Crown Jewels. Wordy and musical. I heard his name mentioned within a songwriting circle recently. I hope a bell rings wherever he is to let him know he ain’t been forgotten. ❤

@StonyRC

2y↑6

A remarkable Man of The North, tortured by his own inner-demons, but a great English poet and writer of some of the finest folk-songs in our history. RIP Mr Thackery.

@nch1646

5y↑22

One of the best songs I’ve heard. Such feeling, tragic yet restrained and dignified. Wonderful voice, too!

@TheGoodwoodone

10y↑44

No pretentious warbling or fancy trilling just emotional words delivered from the heart. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.

@clivemilson2372

24w↑1

Jake was very underrated. Great Yorkshire man His lyrics were superb. He had a great understanding of life.

@floydygirl

9y↑30

beautiful song and perfect timing sung with feeling so rare , RIP Jake

@stewartwebb5699

2y↑3

This just so from the heart. Love this man!

@JohnSmith-ud3wy

2y↑7

A true legend god bless him God rest him, 🙏

@andrewjohnstone963

2y↑5

A true one off everything is in there all of life! A giant of a man missed and always loved 😍

@gerrardwalmisley9466

8y↑33

This was one of Jake's greatest and most poignant songs. What a loss he is.

@martinkendall565

19w↑1

It's quite heart rending.xx

@Aubury.Spartacus-Jones

14y↑9

This chap was so talented - very clever with words. He put an awful lot of heart into this performance.

@peterinfrankfurt

15y↑6

I can't believe there are no comments on this video. I still remember this on UK TV in the 70's or maybe earlier. I watched this with my parents and brother. I searched for this song remembering nothing but "Yan Tan Tether Mether Pip". Then I was distraught to read in Wikipedia about his financial troubles in 2000 and his death in2002. He will live on in my memory.

@maychild1961

8y↑13

Such a beautiful and sad song....

@Geoffthebull

12y↑32

True "folk songs" in the oral tradition. Coupled with his own inimitable writing (in comic satire style) that tears the veil of social stigma away.... brilliant.

@Wotsitorlabart

32w

Not in the oral tradition at all.
He's shown singing the song on TV watched by potentially millions of people and it was also released on record.

@hatsandthat

14y↑3

utterly astounding in every single way possible

@pachma405

7y↑34

I've watched this video 'pip' times now

@djskidot

3y↑1

🤣❤

@jondy2

13y↑9

An extraordinary talent - utterly unique, and quite without peer.

@conrad152

10y↑3

Such a beautiful sad song.

@TEDtheKEY

13y↑2

Never the like seen again. Been a fan of Jake for many years. Thee should be a statude to him in the middle of York!

@66gadus

14y↑3

RIP Jake - great songs - my folks loved all his music & i was fortunate to hear it from a young age - good memories.......

@grayman10001

10y↑11

JT is one of my all time 'Poetic Heroes' a great musician///I remember watching him on the Esther Rantzen political show 'That's Life'... what a great man...sorely missed, he did die too young..(RIP)...what great songs he left behind him.. Graham Robinson Author/Poet 'Observations On Life' - . Regards to all - Graham

@malthuswasright

12y↑16

The sheep counting system he didn't make up. There is an ancient system for counting sheep in the uplands of the UK. Yan Tan Tethera is an opera based upon the conflict between 2 sheep farmers who count sheep differently.

@labyonnette

14y↑7

I too remember Jake being on every evening on a news programme. If I remember correctly it was always a topical song that put things into perspective

@bethbs1

11y↑11

He went so quietly I didn't even hear about it. Didn't he know how great he was? There should be a monument to Jake

@JF-kv1gm

2y↑2

Just read an article (in the Guardian) about a JT biography coming out. Heavens above, I remember seeing him on the telly when I was a kid. My Gran had an LP of his. What a beautiful voice and delivery, and physically beautiful too.

@MusicMan8257

10y↑6

This always makes me cry.......

@droogiewoogie9115

11y↑4

They really don't make them like Jake Thackray anymore. A unique genius. Thanks for sharing

@geoffstephens2088

5y↑1

Oh yes they do! ... lookup John Watterson and attend one of his Jake tributes. Magical!

@ironmaidyn

14y↑5

I remember my mum playing his records when i was a kid, so sad to learn that he has gone. Beautiful song, thankyou for sharing. :D

@1954barker

2y↑2

What a lovely character

@grayman10001

11y↑3

Jake Thackray is a God...A Doyen...A Master of Musical Poetry...I watched him on 'That's Life' for years and I have one CD of this very 'nervous' performer which I guard with my 'Poetic Life' for waht that's worth!...Thank You to you and him...Graham (Poet/Writer)

@SeadogErk

14y↑4

Classic Jake. RIP.

@wha7atsmygugsname

8y↑8

Beautiful

@neilxt

13y↑9

I read, probably courtesy of Terry Pratchett, that "Yan, tan, tethra, methra, pip" was actually 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 in an old Celtic language of which only that counting survives. See Wiki Yan tan tethera

@LeeMitchellAcoustic

9y↑6

So sadly beautiful...

@jonnyy4088

7y↑2

Yes always enjoyed his songs

@malthuswasright

12y↑33

That's right - he was asked if she really had been related to him (in the spiel before the song Jake always claimed that Molly Metcalfe was a distrant relative), and he did say that it was made up. But the sheep counting system he describes is real, and he describes it (again in the spiel before the song) totally accurately. Yan, tan, tether, mether, pip, azar, sezar, akker, conter, dick, yannadick, tannadick, tetheradick, metheradick, bumfit, yanabum, tanabum, tetherabum, metherabum, jigget.

@Illjustwait

2y↑3

Why do they count sheep like that?

@steviedream

2y↑10

@@Illjustwait it's derived from a Celtic counting system, predating the modern English language. It survived in sheep-counting long after it had died out almost everywhere else.

@Beatmyguest001

2y↑6

@@Illjustwait it is one of the last fragments of the Cumbric language, a sister language to Welsh, Cornish and Breton which are all from the Celtic language branch Brittonic. Whereas Irish, Gaelic & Manx are all from the Celtic language branch Goidelic.

@Wotsitorlabart

36w↑1

@@Beatmyguest001
The counting system has been recorded in Yorkshire, Lancashire, Northumberland and Lincolnshire.
However, it's interesting that the Oxford Dictionary of English Folklore notes that the earliest mention of this counting system in Britain is only from 1745 (with a 1717 American reference).
And, although the system is supposedly used for counting sheep, an article in Folk Life from 1969 could find no informants who actually used it for that purpose. Some used it in knitting, some as a counting-out rhyme and others as a nursery rhyme.

@Wotsitorlabart

36w

@@Illjustwait
Perhaps they never did.

@normalil

14y↑2

I never heard this one before. It's spine chilling, thankyou for posting.

@LeeMitchellAcoustic

11y↑3

Heart breaking song...

@fridgeman2008

10y↑3

'Great Lives' on radio 4 brought me here :)

@LeeMitchellAcoustic

14y↑1

Beautiful Jake! R.I.P Lee Mitchell xxx

@DoggyJesusBongo

4y↑3

Goddamn mutherfuckjn’ genius

@myfanwy7

11y↑6

Genius is an overused word in our culture, but absolutely appropriate for this unique performer. RIP Jake

@Antoinehenryb

4y↑2

Agreed on both points.

@baileysisters

15y↑3

Stunning song, and one the Bailey Sisters want to add to their repertoire!

@Shelog2

9y↑9

The song to "Shepherds Crown"

@1melianthus

15y↑1

Thank you for posting this. It is exquisite. If you have more please post.

@mehcol

6y↑2

crying my eyes out.

@Pbxxncx7

13y↑1

I just heard the man on radio 6 music and the memories came flooding back, so here I am looking him up on youtube. I feel a resurgence coming on, the guy was a one off talent

@gutplucker

13y↑1

That's bloody wonderful!

@Digdigs2

14y↑1

I have always liked his songs - this is new to me and perhaps the most powerful... and that's saying alot.

@dromgarvan

Thank you very much for sharing this wonderful song.

@cjgreen3836

6y↑1

Wow, so surreal, but also passionate. RIP Jake

@jonnyy40

11y↑1

I was looking for the opera 'yan tan tethera' and had completely forgotten about this fellow.A dim memory from my childhood but an obvious talent.

@AlanJewell

14y↑1

Fantastic!

@tonybiscuits

12y↑3

he was on That's Life a lot. A forgotten genius.

@garryfowler

5y↑2

Very moving....

@debs4mysweetbaby

12y↑2

such a voice :)

@davidburke6858

4y↑3

I remember watching this ten years ago when I lived in Germany and was missed my home city of Leeds and county and Yorkshire. I now live back in Yorkshire and I only yearn to go back to Germany where my heart is.

@stephenholmes1036

1y↑2

Im a shepherd he tells it how it is

@Jangalene1

12y↑9

He actually made all this up'..But he was very convincing'...There was a documentary about his life a few of years ago....I remember him on Bradens Week in the late 60's..A Legend...Brilliant

@GT380man

2y↑1

Maybe he made up Molly, but not the method of counting sheep.
That’s OLD, really old. Possibly pre-Celtic. No one knows.
https://youtu.be/0njzBEOnRww

@fradaja

10y↑3

isy suty brought me here, very glad she did

@MenelionFR

14w

Believe it or not, I came here from… Wikipedia. As a language nerd, I'm amazed by everything related to linguistics. And, shame on me (although English is not my mother tongue, so probably it's kind of an excuse), I was today years old when I learned about "Yan tan tethera", or, as Jake Thackray puts it, "Yan tan tether mether pip". If you are not a linguist, it's hardly imaginable for you how amazed and flabbergasted I was learning that somewhere in rural England some shepherds preserved tiny little remnants of a language extinct one and a half millennia ago! It was like… oh, I lack for words. It's like, I don't know, you discover that some Italian farmers keep counting their sheep in classical Latin, not knowing any single word of it from school or whatsoever, just because their grandfathers, great-grandfathers and so on did so! Amazing, just amazing! And yes, I like his voice and manner of telling stories, also.

@Jangalene1

12y↑5

...Yeah' that must have been it then'...It always seemed that I was the Town-Freak' when it seemed that I was the only one who loved his songs'..He was such a brilliant story teller/poet'..he never got the recognition he really deserved'..I miss his poe-faced humour'..He was a one-off'..there'll never be another Jake Thackray'..God Bless him..!!

@mripman.6021

8y↑5

Genius.

@edwardbaker1628

FLAT MAN

@adamcharney

10y↑13

I'm a yank and this is all news to me. I love this counting system. I should learn it and teach it to my students.

@adamcharney

No worries about the 'rant', ***** . You've just presented some additionally good ideas. ;-)

@andrewforesham4140

***** Gooood god, do shut up with your misery! "Working class struggle" what rubbish. All classes have their own struggles.

@andrewforesham4140

Nobody more worthless than the working class, Dennis.

@patsiefear1312

8y↑5

+Andrew Foresham My goodness you seem to be under the illusion that the Tory party is currently running (from Victorian principles) that the working class are worthless. As a member of the working class (now retired) and being raised by a man who survived the First World War (which he entered at 14 rather than go down pit) and the Great Depression I can only tell you that we are of more worth than you will ever be.

@philipbrennan4214

6y↑1

That counting system is similar to one used in Gaelic speaking areas of Ireland. If you ask a 65-year-old his age he would say Cúig 'is trí fhichead (5 and 3 twenties). Interesting.

1 More Replies...

@fat88andy

14y↑3

I remember this being shown on T.V. originally chiefly cos my dad was a shepherd and taught me to count in the way Jake did. It was not until rediscovering it on here I became aware of the emotion and sentiment contained in the song, as ever, amazing.R.I.P. Jake.

@greensmv

3y↑1

Having listened to some of his comic tributes, I could not tell if this was a solemn remembrance or a tongue-in-cheek presentation. Perhaps a bit of both. I was struck by his resemblance to Abraham Lincoln, in any case.

@zaperfan

10y↑3

Emotional

@bethbs1

14y↑3

He may not have had a Great Aunt Molly but he is clearly moved. This isn't cynicism.

@peterah7957

10w

Wish i could of met him

@undergodot

12y↑1

absolutely brilliant! can anyone tell me if he actually wrote this song and, if so, does the melody derive from some earlier folk melody? Thank you.

@DavidKnibb

12y↑5

Purely written by Jake himself (including the intro...as Jake once said, "No, it's all bollocks - I made it up!")

@danielcrocker3902

The counting is bollocks though!

@mbt66

3y↑4

@@danielcrocker3902 its not is an actually way of counting

@GT380man

https://youtu.be/0njzBEOnRww

@larkivisto

@@mbt66 The story was made up but the counting system is real. It's an old celtic counting system that was replaced with the introduction of english but continued to be used by sheep herders. If you'd like to know more there is a video by the YouTuber "numberphile" called "15 bumfit".

@gregmathews1687

11y↑2

Who will replace Jake in our times now? It looks to me that all of this is going into the past now

@kingmid9849

9y↑2

My English teacher taught us this song

@quasarsphere

13y↑3

@TallPiler I discovered him by accident a year or two ago when I found some episodes of The Innes Book Of Records online.

@GT380man

Neil / Neal Innes is so talented. Love his quirky work.
Also Vivian Stanshall.
Peerless oddities.

@CinnAlla

14y↑1

Jake at (perhaps) his most cynical - he never had an aunt Molly Metcalfe. But a great song and a matchless songwriter, the like of whom we will never see again.

@Hereford1642

2y↑1

No. Thackray was not of noble birth and somewhere in his heritage there would be a Molly Metcalfe though the name be not exact. That is poetic license being used correctly.

@davewatson309

3y↑2

This is in my family too, we thought it was viking until my grandad tried to have a deal with Danish fishermen herring for sheep. They didn't understand a word of it. Then I worked in Wales. It is celtic I assure you. There is an archaic way of counting in Welsh called "sheep counting" it is based on 5.it is so similar.

@GT380man

It may but it’s definitely used in Nidderdale in the Yorkshire Dales, part of North Yorkshire / Harrogate.
https://youtu.be/0njzBEOnRww

I’m from the other side of the Pennines. So I’m not claiming it.

@TroutMaskReplicaa

14y↑1

He should have been a main character in a clockwork orange. twud be a perfect fit.

@beargrizzly7551

Has anyone else noticed the structural similarity between this downbeat song about a lonely shepherdess and Rogers & Hammerstein's upbeat song about a lonely goatherd in The Sound of Music? Here, the yan, tan tethera counting replaces the (annoying) yodelling in the R&H song. Give me this any day, but I wonder if JT was consciously or maybe subconsciously riffing on the template of the saccharine earlier song ...

@xoBella101xo

12y↑2

hes intellengence and facial expressions reminf me of sheldon from The Big Bang Theory

@rainblaze.

46w

I think his voice held him back.
If it had had a harder edge to it and a less genial and fay way about him, imho he could have, and should have been, huge

@johnbowkett80

1y↑1

He was a teacher at one point in his life .... The sort of teacher sadly not around nowadays in 2023 . 👍🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

@mikeswoosh2564

9y↑1

Trippy

@annuvynarawn392

8y↑1

+Ncltaxidriver indeed, takes us back like a flashback

@MakinMovies7

4y↑1

Yes, you'd cry too.

@JCMcGee

Damn.

@nudesoftheworld

Genie Arse

@RussellBarford

13y↑1

What was the show he used to be on every week.? I reckon sister josephine is his funniest number.

@GT380man

“That’s Life”, header by Esther Rantzen. Lovely Jewish lady with buck teeth.
I was then living with a Jewish family myself as a lost waif & stray kid. They were kind to me. That’s Life was filled with quirky kind hearted people from all over Britain. A great leveler.

@robertmcdonnell6039

5y↑3

"Purple shirted"

@GT380man

and Hush Puppies (a kind of shoe that his antecedents wouldn’t have worn).

@momeara7482

14w

And Aqua Velva. Another blast from the past.@@GT380man

@jamescohen

15w

Did they count sheep that way because when they tried it normally they kept falling asleep?

@tomhiscox3977

20w

DJ Nate. maybe some day. No fucking way. Iykyk

@yoramstein

nice

@richH1625

this didn't come up in a search
so here is a link to Maz O'Connor singing it
https://youtu.be/9J3BXqQadA8

@Jangalene1

12y↑2

I think it must have been the Story he made up then maybe?

@bluebird7962

9y↑4

The counting dates from Anglo Saxon times. Similar language.

@joegill3612

8y↑3

+Dave “Doglatin” Desmond It's Welsh actually.

@Bashyboyash

8y↑13

Its actually far older, although you're closer with Welsh; it's a variant of Brythonic dialects (hence why it differs depending on the area) ; Brythonic itself has since died off considering very little of it was ever written down, and Old English gradually overtook the Celtic languages; but it retained in some parts and in its most purest though a system of counting sheep.

@yves2281

6y↑2

As a Breton speaker I can recognize most of those numbers.

@r8118830

@@yves2281 Un dau tri pedwar pump one to five in Welsh.
Pip sounds very like "pimp" as its sounded.

@yves2281

5y↑1

@@r8118830 Un, daou, tri, pewar, pemp in my Breton language. C'hwec'h, seizh, eizh naw dek : 6, 7, 8 ,9 ,10. I distinctly recognized "10" in this sheperd language.

3 More Replies...

@kidwoofwoof

13y

Doomed. Wonderful and doomed.

@briankane6547

7y↑2

Counting Sheep in Cumbrian?
Yan tyan tethera methera PIMP (NOT pip)
Sethera Lethera Hovvera dovvera DIK
Yan a dik, tyan a dik tethera dik lethera dik BUMFIT
Yana buimfit, tyana bumfit, tethera bumfit methera bumfit GIGGOT.

Git it reet old mara.