Undoubtedly The Most Beautifully Crafted Love Song Ever Written By Holly Searle

How wonderfully refreshing it is the be overwhelmingly delighted by three minutes and nineteen seconds of pure joy.

It's a rare gift, and one I have to thank a dear friend of mine for sharing with me recently whilst I was busy helping her sort out some filing.

Do you like Jake Thackray? She asked as I sorted through a pile of paperwork.

It was a fine and clear day. Spring had finally arrived. All was good in the world, but it was about to get better as a familiar vocal and tune began to waft its way from the room in which my friend had posed the initial question.

I know this I thought. It sounds familiar?

Who did you say this was? I asked my friend.

Jake Thackray she said.

I know this I thought.

And so I sat, and I soaked him in. I absorbed his wondrous dulcet tones and filed him under further investigation required at a later date.

And then I completely forgot his name.

A few days pass and even though I cannot recall his name, the melody of that song is still playing in my head like a mental juke box with a play list featuring only him.

And then it starts to drive me crazy as I want to actually hear him/it again, but I can't Google him as I do not know his name.

I reach out to my friend for the key to the lock that will finally release me from my increasing mental anguish.

I ask her what's the name of that man who we were listening to the other day who was singing that song with the line I love you very much?

Jake Thackray she tells me. And the song is called Lah-Di-Dah.

I am finally released armed with this knowledge. And I download his album featuring this song straight away.

The relief, I can tell you is exceedingly sweetened by being able to hear it again.

And so it begins.

Now we're agreed that we're in love
We'll have to face the lah-di-dah

But wait, as I listen, something truly magical transpires. Not only is the melody oh so captivating, but his voice caresses my hearing like vocal velvet. And his enunciation, and choice of words is pure genius as it accentuates the intimacy of the love he feels towards his intended despite all of those she is related to.

I'll try love, I'll bill and coo
With your gruesome Auntie Susan
I'll stay calm, I'll play it cool;
I'll let your tetchy uncles
Get me back up, cross my heart.
And I shan't get shirty when they say I look peculiar.

The more I hear, the more I fall deeply in love with this song.

It is pure unadulterated joy underscoring the discourse that is undertaken when we become interlocked with not just the object of our affection, but all of those that reside in the queue behind them that also become part of the equation.

It is beyond exceptional and incredibly astute to be able to capture so much within three minutes and nineteen seconds.

And more than anything else, it is truly a bewitching three minutes and nineteen seconds I would encourage everyone to listen too.

But there is more to Jake Thackray than this song. His song book is an master class of songsmithing, that features tiny portals of life with a myriad of characters and situations that will entrance you and make you smile.

And the more you listen, the more you realise that Jake Thackray created a platform for the likes of Neil Hannon's Divine Comedy to exist upon.

But their cheeky and sometimes darkly dystopian wood shed curtain twitching tales are nothing in comparison to Jake Thackray's gentle beguiling honestly observed sweetness.

And Lah-Di-Dah, well it's just the most beautifully crafted love song ever written.

Now go and treat your ears and listen to it.

(I love you very much.)