h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

What's a Didecoi? It's in the lyrics of "It was only a gypsy" and I've done a search for the word in some on-line dictinaries with no success. Is it a slang term? Can anyone tell me......

It's simply a Gypsy. If anything, perhaps a derogatory term. Now, I don't know if I've spelt that word correctly, and perhaps it's 'didicai'. Well, speling was nefer my strong poynt!
But what a wordsmith in this song. 'The Blacksmith and the Toffee Maker', and 'The Widow of Brid' are on a par. What does everyone else think?
Phil

My dictionary lists several spellings: didicoi, didicoy,diddicoy, etc. The definition is: a travelling tinker, scrap-metal dealer, etc., who lives like, but is not truly, a gipsy.

As for Jake's lyrics, they're the most important thing for me - so sharp, so tight, so wryly funny - just so right. The man's a true poet and, as we all know, vastly underrated.

I'd happily shell out for a book of his lyrics, and publishing is so simple these days that he could easily self-publish any unpublished songs he may have lying around, even if there were copyright issues with his published work. Just a thought.

Sarah

Thanks for those prompt replies.
I haven't heard it before so thought it might
have been regional slang but wasn't sure what for.
Indeed, Jake is a superb wordsmith and I am, as yet,
unfamiliar with the other two songs you mention, Phil.
But I'm sure I'll pick them up in due course.
It's not even just his usage of language but the simple
one-liners that say so much like the last line of
It was Only a Gypsy : "the house is full of clothes-pegs"

I do so agree, his use of words is so clever, but he himself always rated the music and spoke as if you have to have both. I've got a copy of the lyric book - I don't remember when or where I bought it but I'm so glad to have it now - and the word is spelt "didecai" in there. Presumably that would be Jake's preferred spelling, since he wrote the song and therefore the book! It doesn't seem his sort of thing to write a book "off his own bat" but there isn't a co-author mentioned, just an introduction by Esther Rantzen and illustrations by Bill Tidy. Incidentally, many of the lyrics appear on "The Unofficial Jake Thackray webpage".

Sarah,
Have you tried finding 'Jake's Progress'- ('Rollicking, Frolliking, Uproarious Verse')?
Introduction by Esther Rantzen, Illustrations by Bill Tidy.
It's mentioned on Edmunds' site.
Wyndham, ISBN 0 352 39739 X
A Star book published by the Paperback Division of WH ALLEN & Co. Ltd.
Luckily, a friend who was looking out for me found it in a second-hand bookshop and sent it on. Not sure it is obtainable as new now!
Usual well known stuff, plus one or three I couldn't place - 'Mrs Murphy', 'One-eyed Isaac', 'Thomas Haverley'. Any ideas, anyone?