I shall be purchasing this, Annie. How wonderful that you're involved with it. I was too young for Jake first time around and really don't remember him growing up but I remember vividly the first time I heard him. It was about 10 years ago, driving home from a caravan holiday (I was in the passenger seat), a Radio 2 folk show played "Leopold Alcocks" and I thought it was the funniest thing I'd ever heard. I bought the big "Jake in a Box" set and became a massive fan.
Yes, some of it is "of its time" but I'd echo what you said about Molly Metcalf and the Widow of Bridlington. He can make me laugh and cry. I also think he wrote female characters with as much red-blooded agency as his male characters. I think of the wife in "It was only a Gypsy", or the hilarious, literally diabolical "Castlefield Ladies Magic Circle". And, I'm sorry, but "On Again" is still hilarious. It's the "choirboys passed through puberty" line that always gets me, David. That and "I may just as well have been posting a letter or stirring up the tea". And how many songs start with a Latin pun about the existence of God that's also a joke about bottoms?
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