Jake Thackray - Country Bus

Here we have singer-guitarist-poet - the great Jake Thackray.

Anyone who lived in Britain between the 1920s to the early 1970s completely knows what this delightful song is all about. Lost now, but it still resonates in one's mind.

I hope you enjoy it.

Composer and Performer

John Philip "Jake" Thackray (1938 – 2002) was an English singer-songwriter, poet and journalist. Best known in the late 1960s and early 1970s for his topical comedy songs performed on British television, his work ranged from satirical to bawdy to sentimental to pastoral, with a strong emphasis on storytelling, making him difficult to categorise.

Thackray sang in a lugubrious baritone voice, accompanying himself on a nylon-strung guitar in a style that was part classical, part jazz. His witty lyrics and clipped delivery, combined with his strong Yorkshire accent and the northern setting of many of his songs, led to him being described as the "North Country Noël Coward", a comparison Thackray resisted, although he acknowledged his lyrics were in the English tradition of Coward and Flanders and Swann, "who are wordy, funny writers". However, his tunes derived from the French chansonnier tradition: he claimed Georges Brassens as his greatest inspiration, and he was also influenced by Jacques Brel and Charles Trenet.

Lyrics

Country bus, north country bus,
Clumsy and cumbersome, rumbustious,
Country bus, North Country bus,
Though you're a slow coach you're OK for us.
Though your cargo is confusion -
Sheepmen and cowgirls and chickens galore up the back -
No need to hurry:
We couldn't care less what the time may be.
And there's no call to worry -
If you smell a bit, so do we.
Villainous, malodorous

Country bus, north country bus,
Rollicking, frolicking, uproarious,
Country bus, North Country bus,
You're rusty and you're dusty but you're OK for us.
Though your seats are rather Spartan
We've got the springs in our backsides to ride out your bounce.
Though you may stumble
After the dance on a Sat'day night,
Backseat lovers don't grumble;
They seem to manage alright.
Amorous, scandalous.

Country bus, north country bus,
Lusty and rustic and impetuous,
Country bus, North Country bus,
Bog-trotting bumpkin, you're OK for us.
Though your progress is uncertain -
'Specially at night when the public house closes its doors -
You tend to dodder,
Staggering home from The Bull Hotel.
We, we never bother,
'Cause we've got the staggers as well.
Glorious, notorious.

Country bus, north country bus
Grunting and chuntering, cantankerous,
Country bus, North Country bus,
But no other bus would be good enough for us.
Through the wild, the cruel winter
You get the coal in your eyes and the snow up your nose.
But sooner or later
You will turn up in the village square
With daffodils in your gaiters
And pussy-willow in your hair.
Wait for us,
Wait for us,
Country bus.

Recording

From the Album "Lah-de-Dah"
(P) Parlophone Records