The Hair of the Widow of Bridlington

Jake Thackray

Bm
She was a widow in Bridlington,
Em
A7
D
she was, was the widow of Brid

G7
F#7
Bm
small and bonny at forty-two,
Em
A7
D
with eyes of very unsettling blue,
G7
F#7
Bm
and what she thought she ought to do,
Em
A7
D
she did, she did, she did G7
F#7
Bm
whatever she thought she ought to do
Bb7
A7 2
D 2
she did, did the widow of Brid.
D
Dmaj7
Bm7
F#m7
Em
A7
D
"My only darling's dead, he is, and all my children grown :
G
F#m7
Em
A7
D
the house has emptied, all the love-birds flown.
G7
F#7
Bm
Em
A7
D
In place of widow's weeds, I'll let my coal-black hair grow longG7
F#7 Bm
Em(add9)
A7
D
F#7
as glossy as a blackbird's wing,
as cocky as his song..."
Em
F#7
Bm
"Forget the spit and the window pane :
G7
F#7
Bm
bugger Brid ! I'm still the same !
G7
F#7
Bm
My hair will always grow again !"
Em
A7
D
It did, it did, it did :
G7
F#7
Bm
"My hair will always grow again !"
Bb7
A7 2
Db6
It did, did, did, did, did on the widow of Brid !

D6

D 2

chords
D

transcribed by Malcolm Jeffrey

Em

Bm

A7

G7

F#7

Bb7

A7 2

D 2

Dmaj7

F#m7

Em(add9)

Db6

D6

notes
D
When playing the end-of-each-verse D 2 chord over the word Brid, Jake plucks the top D on the top E string
several times, slowing down with each pluck. This is called Rallentando, folks ! (ahhhhnnn !) Dont forget to do it as
its part of the charm of the song.
In the descending chord sequence in the slower sections (My only darlings dead, he is etc) (D Dmaj7 Bm7
F#m7), you can employ a top bass run trick. Here comes a

big useful tip

which will not only help you in this song but throughout your career ! Are you ready ?
Instead of playing your D with the normal three-finger triangular formation, play it with the top 3 strings barred with
your index finger and your ring finger fretting the D on the B string, as in D 3 below. You get the identical effect to a
normal D but you have two fingers spare and they are able to be positioned more flexibly because you havent got
three fingers crammed into the area of a 2p piece. Now, apart from only having to lift your ring finger off and instantly
getting a Dmaj7 (which does occasionally come in useful), you can do bass runs in D ! So the descending D Dmaj7
Bm7 F#m7 sequence can now be achieved by this -

D 3

instead of a D

instead of Dmaj7
with baby finger
playing bass note

instead of Bm7
with middle finger
playing bass note

If you can do it, curl your thumb over the edge of the neck (you should be using it to stop the bottom E string moving
!) and fret the F# on the bottom E string with it. A bit cramped but you play the F# of the bass run too without having
to change chords to F#m7.
This kind of thing is very commonly found in Jakes playing and its not hard to do, and it sounds great. Use it ! Enjoy
!
At the end of the slow sections, after blackbirds wing and similar, remember to strum the Em(add9) chord
slowly upwards in a Spanish fashion and pause for audience effect

These tabs and notes are by-ear transcriptions from Jake Thackray recordings and are not intended to be accurate
or official tabs for the artist. These tabs and notes are intended to be used for Study, Skill Development, and
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