So in celebration of his birthday, we've delved into Clarkes archives and handpicked his top pieces of poetry. Clarke lost much of the 1980s to a heroin addiction, when he lived in a flat in Brixton with Nico, the late singer and muse of the Velvet Underground; he dislikes any attempt to glamorise that. Here are the biggest talking points. And today he turns 70. The gutturally nasal Northern machine gun verse of John Cooper Clarke, as full of vitriol as it is humour and irony, is as inimitably his own as the black hairspray explosion and 28 inch waist black drainpipes still omnipresent in his 70s (70s!). About John Cooper Clarke. He completely dismantles it sometimes and puts it back together. When will Manchester City achieve European Champions League glory? [] challenging as the juggling fiends of fate have seen several must sees on at the same time; i.e. When I saw this show listed in the Fringe guide I initially thought "that's funny this guy has the same name as that crazy UK singer. John Cooper Clarke (born 25 January 1949) is an English performance poet who first became famous during the punk rock era of the late 1970s when he became known as a 'punk poet'. What is John Cooper Clarke most famous poem? Putting a punk spin on simple matters has given the northern man a master status: purveyor of subcultural shock. There was little of the 'poet in the making' insight. I was tempted to count all the words in Pest and see what percentage of them actually began with P, but realised in the nick of time what kind of a nerd that would make me. It is far from gratuitous, take the swearing out and the poem would cease to function as such. That point is quite obvious name-dropping a politician in a dark line that was actually censored by the BBC upon play in 1980. It is an immensely engaging memoir that fizzes with wit, and it is simultaneously a chronicle of a lifetimes worth of extraordinary culture. Around this time, he performed on stage with several punk and post-punk bands and continues to perform regularly. I didn't get any encouragement. The 2023 GQ Food & Drink Awards shortlist. This brings us to our shared love of specialised languages like Yiddish, which Inotice John lends from a lot, and Polari. Most of his poems are set to music and feel very contemporary. John Cooper Clarke (born January 25, 1949) is famous for being poet. John Cooper Clarke (born 25 January 1949) is an English performance poet who first became famous during the punk rock era of the late 1970s when he became known as a "punk poet".He released several albums in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and continues to perform regularly. He shot to cultural prominence in the Seventies,. John Cooper Clarke (Creator) - TV Tropes The second, post-Pistols half of I Wanna Be Yours sees Clarke encountering just about all of the great, good and downright grim of 70s and 80s music Elvis Costello, Gil Scott-Heron, Nico, Mark E. Smith, Richard Hell, Linder Sterling and legendary NME scribe Nick Kent to name a few but its the obscure local characters, the figures skulking around the peripheries, that are the most entertaining. I didn't want to work for a living when I was a teenager. Baudelaire used to write about the modern world as it was in the 1860s in Paris. Anybody with a pen and a piece of paper can do it. John Cooper Clarke (born 25 January 1949) is an English performance poet who first became famous during the punk rock era of the late 1970s when he became known as a "punk poet". Clarke is also very keen on lists: there are a lot of them. The brilliant and irrepressible Dr. John Cooper Clarke.For those who don't know, John Cooper Clarke is an English performance poet, who first became famous d. He also starred in another 1982 film titled John Cooper Clarke Ten Years in an Open Necked Shirt produced for the Arts Council of Great Britain and Channel 4. Near the end hes given up drugs, married and has a grown up daughter. He never relies on style. But I don't want to overanalyse what I do. It's 'mom' upside down. Alternative Wedding Readings - I Wanna Be Yours by John Cooper Clarke About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features NFL Sunday Ticket Press Copyright . John Cooper Clarke: If I might start this off, I'm a late convert to your work, Grian! Discombobulated youths, confined spaces Clarke gets it all spot on. It is essentially just one joke stretched across a poem, but it showcases Clarkes sense of humour perfectly. [citation needed]. English punk poet John Cooper-Clarke first began performing his verse backed by a local folk group called the Ferrets, but with his rapid-fire verbal delivery and stinging social commentary, he quickly emerged as the poet laureate of the punk movement. John then interviewed Kevin Eldon a week . I also recommend his love show! "What a great name! In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he released several albums. It is not Clarke that embraced punk, however, but the other way around. His musical albums include Snap, Crackle & Bop; Zip Style Method; Disguise in Love; and Walking Back to Happiness. They were speaking my language. The rest is history. I grew up with much the same memories: UCP cafes, meat and potato pies, running home on a Friday night to watch Ready Steady Go, and the Twisted Wheel and Jigsaw clubs in Manchester. He might consider himself relegated to the realm of the old fashioned but at 73, John Cooper Clarke is as relevant and influential as ever. John Cooper Clarke - Alchetron, The Free Social Encyclopedia John Cooper Clarke - Beasley Street (Old Grey Whistle Test 1980) Each performance seemed unique., Clarke got to know Arctic Monkeys in their early days at the Boardwalk in Sheffield. It come across as a noir origin story, people with outrageous characters and ending with Clarke himself emerging from the story as a poet ready to take on the world. There is the local thug Lemonhead, an embittered nutter who spends his time camped out on waste ground taking potshots at passers by with a sniper rifle. Famous fans include Ben Drew, aka the aforementioned Plan B as well as Alex Turner and his Arctic Monkeys. One of his more playful numbers, this tale of take away violence at the hands of an embryonic Bruce Lee was released as a b-side to single Post War Glamour Girls in 1978, and its light hearted nature echoes the nightclub circuit in which Clarke cut his teeth before the punk era. Subscribe to Louder Than War and help keep the flame of independent music burning. I always loved I married a monster from out of space big bug eyes and a death ray glare, feet like water wings purple hair. I know he likes his food, saying in a recent Guardian interview that the only foods he wont eat are flapjacks, falafel and tripe. He laughs as he remembers The Vault, a room many pubs had with a dartboard, no carpet and no women - a room where swearing was allowed. QUOTES BY JOHN COOPER CLARKE | A-Z Quotes For many, Arctic Monkeys cover of Clarkes 1982 poem I Wanna Be Yours, the closing track on AM, was the gateway into the bard of Salfords work. I was eagerly anticipating this and got it within a few hours of release; went for the audiobook version because JCC has one of the most characterful and listenable voices in showbusiness. A master wordsmith, his love of language and humour leaps from every page. I can see the worth of a Martin's meat and potato pie. Well, I'm a fan so I found this autobiography super charming. 9.50 GBP. Often referred to as "the bard of Salford",[9] he usually refers to himself on stage as "Johnny Clarke, the name behind the hairstyle". Looks like Clarkes not the only one feeling entrapped this is a classic piece of poetry. Johns thrilled that people too young to remember punk rock may have discovered him on a compulsory basis when his poems were added to the GCSE syllabus in the 90s. Of all the artists who appear in the book, The Fall, Clarke says, were the best of the best. Instead we get perhaps John Cooper Clarkes hardest hitting poems. Take a tip from John Cooper Clarke is a barrage of questions from the subtle to the absurd, each one laugh inducing and perfectly crafted. The state of urban living has long been a strong concern for Clarke, and in Beasley Street he relays that with power. Running parallel with Clarkes rise to fame is a descent into serious drug addiction. Felt wrong listening to it at my usual 1.5 speed so I set it at normal pace and 15 hours in John's company later I'm going to start again at the beginning. In 1988, he made an appearance in two UK adverts for Sugar Puffs, taking second billing to the Honey Monster. Sometimes a band hit . Again we are presented with a nightmarish vision of the future that may sound unnecessarily alarmist these days, but as Tom Robinson once pointed out, just because it didnt go the way of military repression or fascists taking over the Conservative party, that doesnt mean to say it couldnt have done. The 70s were scary times and Clarke mirrored these concerns. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he released several albums. Famous fans include Ben Drew, aka the aforementioned Plan B as well as Alex Turner and his Arctic Monkeys. Australian Premiere/UK] THE POPEYE, FEB 27, 2023. Contents 1 Quotes 1.1 BBC Four - Evidently.John Cooper Clarke (30 May 2012) 1.2 BBC Radio 4 - Dr John Cooper Clarke at the BBC (Nov 2016) In Johns fantastic memoir,I Wanna Be Yours, he talks a lot about his friend, the lateMark E Smith. It was hand to mouth. Evidently Chickentown wouldnt have achieved its master status had it not been for Clarkes repetitive fucking (words only, dont worry). [15] That same year, Clarke featured in rapper Plan B's feature film Ill Manors and subsequently the Ill Manors album. John Cooper Clarke - John Cooper Clarke Poems | Best Poems He currently resides in England, United Kingdom. John Cooper Clarke shot to prominence in the 1970s as the original 'people's poet'. I Wrote the Songs Maggie's Grand Costume Ball, March 2023 - What inspired the city's biggest Fancy Dress Ball? If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. To me, it depends on the artist. Discover the National Trust | National Trust . In addition, he published two poetry collections, Ten Years in an Open Necked Shirt and The Luckiest Guy Alive. John Cooper Clarke (1983). I thought maybe I could get a job in advertising. The debate on bringing back the death penalty was rumbling on when Clarke wrote down his observations on what the result of this might be. I Wanna Be Yours by John Cooper Clarke With a song, you can hold notes on. British punk poet who set lyrics of rebellion to the music of lesser-known bands. [21] In October 2020 Clarke published an autobiography which took its title from his poem I Wanna Be Yours. Children. At 5 feet 11 inches (32in chest, 27in waist), in trademark dark suit, dark glasses, with dark messed-up hair and a mouth full of gold teeth, he is instantly recognizable. Berry showed him how to write songs. 100 Paintings from the Collections of the National Trust showcases works by some of the most renowned European artists of all time, cared for by the Trust and housed in its properties. He is a wonderful writer and storyteller but I would have swapped the first 100 pages about his childhood for a longer reflection on his most recent years. Somewhere between a narrative film, a series of music videos and a documentary, the film features interviews and performances by Clarke and Linton Kwesi Johnson among others. I just wanted to take the line of least resistance. Dr John Cooper Clarke - I Wanna Be Yours - The Alban Arena Few and far between, we say. I wanted to like this book, I'm a fan of John Cooper Clarke's work and have seen him on stage a couple times and loved his shows. Best line: The pandemonium prompted the police, who patrolled the precinct in panda cars, to pull up and peruse the problem, while pickpockets picked pockets in pairs.. By 1978, he was opening for the Sex Pistols and the Buzzcocks, and . After a 40 odd year career, its perhaps surprising that John Cooper Clarke has only actually released two books of poetry. Bit of a bizarre analogy, certainly, but totally exposed and kind of tragic. The lists of people he knows and has worked with is impressive, from Bernard Manning to Gil Scot-Heron, from The Clash to Nico, from Plan B to Chuck Berry to list a very few. He has such a striking and inimitable presence, it's like seeing a Tim Burton character come to life. He has a great deal of respect for the tabloid hack who puts themselves in danger for a good story. John Cooper Clarke Discusses Struggles of Heroin Use and Quitting Hes done a great deal and drops a lot of names. Hes even on the GCSE curriculum these days! If youre an Arctic Monkeys fan, youll probably recognise this one, as Alex Turner used its lyrics for a leading number on the bands 2013 album, AM. Feargal Kinney gave us his top 10 John Cooper Clarke poems. I loved what they did with [my poem] I Wanna Be Yours. They're already selling a range of poisons. The name of a group is important and that one is unforgettable. JCC goes into . "My paternal grandfather had been a regular soldier in India until 1948, and bore an uncanny resemblance to Mahatma Ghandi (who apparently suffered from corns and bad breath, in other words a supercallousedfragilemysticplaguedwithhalitosis, as Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke almost sang).". Im holding you to that, John. Even one hes never read. It was heavily weighted toward the early years and away from his poetry. "Id been halfway out the door when the proprietor told me that some young men in a band wanted a word because theyd done my poetry at school. He also cites poets like Charles Baudelaire, Arthur Rimbaud and Edgar Allan Poe among his chief inspirations, but even more influential in his early days were figures such as Muhammad Ali, with his swaggering rhyming trash talk, and Edwardian music hall star Billy Merson. I'm not usually one for autobiographies and thinking about it now, I think maybe the only proper autobiographical writing I've read is Simone de Beauvoir's Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter. In a way it kind of cramps my style.. The Luckiest Guy Alive by John Cooper Clarke | Goodreads An exercise in acute alliteration that saw such excessive use of a plosive P that Clarke advised the first 16 rows of his audience to watch out. 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(or at least the only one not lying about his age), he always loathed the hippies.