Lee Perry versus Jake Thackray
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
I woke up this morning. Well, that's a good start to any day, I suppose. Anyway, I looked for some music to play in the car on the way into work and found two CDs which I hadn't heard in donkey's years. One was an album of Lee "Scratch" Perry songs, the other a Jake Thackray compilation.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Messrs. Perry and Thackray,Lee Perry is a splendidly eccentric reggae producer with a penchant for exotic cigarettes and who famously burnt down his recording studio, The Black Ark. Jake Thackray is a laconic Yorkshire troubadour who used to be a policeman, and whose chosen mode of expression was to stand with a leg on a stool, playing a Spanish guitar and sporting an expression like an undertaker practising his look of condolence.
Now, my dear friends, you might think that these two artists have little in common and you wouldn't be a million miles out. First I put Lee "Scratch" (AKA The Upsetter and a dozen other nommes de dub) into the slot. There was something very liberating in driving along the A55 with the heavy bass and drums of Perry's productions (which included Bob Marley on several occasions). I'm more of a pipe and slippers man myself, but if the chance had arisen, I dare say I might have been tempted to take a toke on a jazz Woodbine had one been proffered. Again, it's probably for the best, as I felt quite queasy last time I tried one, back in Glastonbury in '92. Or was it the Llangollen Eisteddfod?
Even with the absence of herbal, chemical or alcoholic stimulants at 8.30 in the morning on the North Wales Expressway, the effects of the music became rather hypnotic, which is not really what one wants at 80 miles an hour. With a deft jab of my rhythm finger, I changed the CD for Jake Thackray.
When I die, I intend that the mourners, sitting in church lamenting my untimely death, will fall into silence as Jake Thackray's "On Again On Again" is played over the loudspeakers. A gentle series of triplets is played on the guitar, and is repeated. A pause...a breath...and then... "I love a good bum on a woman, it makes my day", sung in a baritone that sounds like a Northern Noel Coward. This decision about my elegy came to me this morning, and I shall stick by it.
If you haven't heard Thackray (and sadly few people I meet have),go out tomorrow and find one of his records if you can. "On Again, On Again" is worth the price of a CD alone, with Jake complaining about his whittering wife, of whom he makes the claim, "The hind legs of a donkey are nothing to her, she could bore the balls off a buffalo". Even in their intimate delights, she does not desist, and he says "As far as I can see, I might as well be posting a letter or stirring up the tea". Coarse and tender in equal doses, melancholy and cheerful, Thackray's songs are a treat for all occasions, weddings and funerals included.
Lee Perry and Jake Thackray couldn't be further apart, geographically, culturally and musically. But what a treat it was to be able to abandon all categorisations, and to enjoy them both on a forty-five minute trip on a wet Wednesday morning. Perhaps I can arrange for them to get together, now that would be a clash of the Titans.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Messrs. Perry and Thackray,Lee Perry is a splendidly eccentric reggae producer with a penchant for exotic cigarettes and who famously burnt down his recording studio, The Black Ark. Jake Thackray is a laconic Yorkshire troubadour who used to be a policeman, and whose chosen mode of expression was to stand with a leg on a stool, playing a Spanish guitar and sporting an expression like an undertaker practising his look of condolence.
Now, my dear friends, you might think that these two artists have little in common and you wouldn't be a million miles out. First I put Lee "Scratch" (AKA The Upsetter and a dozen other nommes de dub) into the slot. There was something very liberating in driving along the A55 with the heavy bass and drums of Perry's productions (which included Bob Marley on several occasions). I'm more of a pipe and slippers man myself, but if the chance had arisen, I dare say I might have been tempted to take a toke on a jazz Woodbine had one been proffered. Again, it's probably for the best, as I felt quite queasy last time I tried one, back in Glastonbury in '92. Or was it the Llangollen Eisteddfod?
Even with the absence of herbal, chemical or alcoholic stimulants at 8.30 in the morning on the North Wales Expressway, the effects of the music became rather hypnotic, which is not really what one wants at 80 miles an hour. With a deft jab of my rhythm finger, I changed the CD for Jake Thackray.
When I die, I intend that the mourners, sitting in church lamenting my untimely death, will fall into silence as Jake Thackray's "On Again On Again" is played over the loudspeakers. A gentle series of triplets is played on the guitar, and is repeated. A pause...a breath...and then... "I love a good bum on a woman, it makes my day", sung in a baritone that sounds like a Northern Noel Coward. This decision about my elegy came to me this morning, and I shall stick by it.
If you haven't heard Thackray (and sadly few people I meet have),go out tomorrow and find one of his records if you can. "On Again, On Again" is worth the price of a CD alone, with Jake complaining about his whittering wife, of whom he makes the claim, "The hind legs of a donkey are nothing to her, she could bore the balls off a buffalo". Even in their intimate delights, she does not desist, and he says "As far as I can see, I might as well be posting a letter or stirring up the tea". Coarse and tender in equal doses, melancholy and cheerful, Thackray's songs are a treat for all occasions, weddings and funerals included.
Lee Perry and Jake Thackray couldn't be further apart, geographically, culturally and musically. But what a treat it was to be able to abandon all categorisations, and to enjoy them both on a forty-five minute trip on a wet Wednesday morning. Perhaps I can arrange for them to get together, now that would be a clash of the Titans.
