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
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. ❤
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 ❤
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.
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.
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 I think that's sort of how oral histories are shared. I mean, a person sings to an audience, the audience remembers it and they sing it and teach it to others. The format may have changed, but the tradition remains the same.
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.
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.
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 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.
@@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.
@@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.
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
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.
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
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)
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
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
Maybe he made up Molly, but not the method of counting sheep. That’s OLD, really old. Possibly pre-Celtic. No one knows. czcams.com/video/0njzBEOnRww/video.html
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.
...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..!!
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.
+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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
@@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 CZcamsr "numberphile" called "15 bumfit".
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.
It may but it’s definitely used in Nidderdale in the Yorkshire Dales, part of North Yorkshire / Harrogate. czcams.com/video/0njzBEOnRww/video.html I’m from the other side of the Pennines. So I’m not claiming it.
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 ...
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
“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.
Jake Thackeray, Ivor Cutler, Viv Stanshall and Neil Innes. Purveyors of poetic surreal beauty to the nation. Thank you, gentlemen.
Im a shepherd he tells it how it is
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
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. ❤
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 ❤
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.
Jake was very underrated. Great Yorkshire man His lyrics were superb. He had a great understanding of life.
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.
This was one of Jake's greatest and most poignant songs. What a loss he is.
No pretentious warbling or fancy trilling just emotional words delivered from the heart. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.
Thanks for sharing this; he lives on...I'm blessed to have seen him 3 times
This chap was so talented - very clever with words. He put an awful lot of heart into this performance.
I've watched this video 'pip' times now
🤣❤
True genius, unsurpassed.
I loved him, have every recording he made and can't help but smile every time I listen to any of his recording
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.
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.
@Wotsitorlabart I think that's sort of how oral histories are shared. I mean, a person sings to an audience, the audience remembers it and they sing it and teach it to others. The format may have changed, but the tradition remains the same.
A true legend god bless him God rest him, 🙏
This just so from the heart. Love this man!
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.
It's quite heart rending.xx
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
beautiful song and perfect timing sung with feeling so rare , RIP Jake
Such a beautiful and sad song....
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.
A true one off everything is in there all of life! A giant of a man missed and always loved 😍
One of the best songs I’ve heard. Such feeling, tragic yet restrained and dignified. Wonderful voice, too!
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.
Why do they count sheep like that?
@@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.
@@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.
@@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.
@@Illjustwait
Perhaps they never did.
An extraordinary talent - utterly unique, and quite without peer.
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
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
RIP Jake - great songs - my folks loved all his music & i was fortunate to hear it from a young age - good memories.......
utterly astounding in every single way possible
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.
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
Classic Jake. RIP.
Such a beautiful sad song.
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
They really don't make them like Jake Thackray anymore. A unique genius. Thanks for sharing
Oh yes they do! ... lookup John Watterson and attend one of his Jake tributes. Magical!
'Great Lives' on radio 4 brought me here :)
I never heard this one before. It's spine chilling, thankyou for posting.
This always makes me cry.......
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!
Thank you very much for sharing this wonderful song.
Stunning song, and one the Bailey Sisters want to add to their repertoire!
Thank you for posting this. It is exquisite. If you have more please post.
What a lovely character
Beautiful
Genius is an overused word in our culture, but absolutely appropriate for this unique performer. RIP Jake
Agreed on both points.
crying my eyes out.
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)
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
Beautiful Jake! R.I.P Lee Mitchell xxx
Wish i could of met him
Yes always enjoyed his songs
So sadly beautiful...
I have always liked his songs - this is new to me and perhaps the most powerful... and that's saying alot.
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
Maybe he made up Molly, but not the method of counting sheep.
That’s OLD, really old. Possibly pre-Celtic. No one knows.
czcams.com/video/0njzBEOnRww/video.html
That's bloody wonderful!
The song to "Shepherds Crown"
Mesmerising
Goddamn mutherfuckjn’ genius
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.
Wow, so surreal, but also passionate. RIP Jake
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.
...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..!!
Heart breaking song...
isy suty brought me here, very glad she did
Fantastic!
Very moving....
he was on That's Life a lot. A forgotten genius.
such a voice :)
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.
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.
No worries about the 'rant', ***** . You've just presented some additionally good ideas. ;-)
***** Gooood god, do shut up with your misery! "Working class struggle" what rubbish. All classes have their own struggles.
Nobody more worthless than the working class, Dennis.
+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.
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.
He may not have had a Great Aunt Molly but he is clearly moved. This isn't cynicism.
Emotional
Genius.
For those wanting more, search for 'Jake Thackray - Topic' here on youtube
A sad loss, Jake dying so young.
Who will replace Jake in our times now? It looks to me that all of this is going into the past now
He was a teacher at one point in his life .... The sort of teacher sadly not around nowadays in 2023 . 👍🏴
He should have been a main character in a clockwork orange.
twud be a perfect fit.
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.
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.
hes intellengence and facial expressions reminf me of sheldon from The Big Bang Theory
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.
Genie Arse
Trippy
+Ncltaxidriver indeed, takes us back like a flashback
Damn.
Yes, you'd cry too.
My English teacher taught us this song
nice
Purely written by Jake himself (including the intro...as Jake once said, "No, it's all bollocks - I made it up!")
The counting is bollocks though!
@@danielcrocker3902 its not is an actually way of counting
czcams.com/video/0njzBEOnRww/video.html
@@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 CZcamsr "numberphile" called "15 bumfit".
@TallPiler
I discovered him by accident a year or two ago when I found some episodes of The Innes Book Of Records online.
Neil / Neal Innes is so talented. Love his quirky work.
Also Vivian Stanshall.
Peerless oddities.
"Purple shirted"
and Hush Puppies (a kind of shoe that his antecedents wouldn’t have worn).
And Aqua Velva. Another blast from the past.@@GT380man
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.
Reject this 'life'
Enjoy.
DJ Nate. maybe some day. No fucking way. Iykyk
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.
It may but it’s definitely used in Nidderdale in the Yorkshire Dales, part of North Yorkshire / Harrogate.
czcams.com/video/0njzBEOnRww/video.html
I’m from the other side of the Pennines. So I’m not claiming it.
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 ...
I wonder if farmers still count this way
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
What was the show he used to be on every week.?
I reckon sister josephine is his funniest number.
“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.
Did they count sheep that way because when they tried it normally they kept falling asleep?