Poem Solutions Limited International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct,London, EC1A 2BN, United Kingdom, Discover and learn about the greatest poetry ever straight to your inbox, Discover and learn about the greatest poetry, straight to your inbox. I didnt want the 15+ hours of this to end, and had I the time, Id listen to it again right away. Yes, he's a bit superficial with all his accent on style and clothes, and, sure, rhyming poetry is old hat in a way, and he uses the same meter in most all of his poems, and he's so much better without musical backing (despite the talents of Martin Hannett and Vini Reilly, two musicians I otherwise revere unreservedly), but, damn! Apart From the Revolution [15] That same year, Clarke featured in rapper Plan B's feature film Ill Manors and subsequently the Ill Manors album. I don't think that songs are poetry but I think that a good song has something poetic about it. And when you happen to see him, in these very ordinary settings, it's a bit like magic. I used to think trees were dirty, because when I was a kid in Salford you'd climb them and come off filthy, it was like you'd been up a chimney and even if you got a stretch of park you just had to scrape the grass and there were, like, cinders underneath it was horrible[5], His first job was a laboratory technician at Salford Tech. Perhaps an indication of what would have happened if John Cooper Clarke shunned poetry to sing in a band, the artful defiance and proud cynicism of a friend in need is a friend in debt creates one of Clarkes most compelling creations. Are we still asking if you can wear black with blue? One of the greatest and coolest things I've always been able to tell people is that, not only do I live in the town where Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Humpty Dumpty were written, but that the captivating individual that is John Cooper Clarke lives here. I Wanna Be Yours by John Cooper Clarke is many things. 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. Bob Mortimer has taken on the role of John Cooper Clarke. JCC goes into . I chose the audiobook version, and who wouldnt given his unique style. It could have been bearable if he wrote decent prose, and used it to create more than a dull account of things. 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!). Pest is ostensibly about someone urinating in public but really is Clarke delighting in his mastery of the English language. Benjamin Zephaniah Writer. Lets just say its a lot. So why pick on cigs? They have one daughter, Stella.[15][29]. But really it is another example of Clarke having fun with the written word. On a 1980s Australian tour, meanwhile, his encore consisted of cover of Lady Godivas Operation with none other than New Order as his backing band. To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. I've got MediaCity to thank for introducing me to the genius that was Sean Locke. A book that I did not want to end, so I tried to eke it out rather than devour it. 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. If you get one of them early in the day from a branch of Martin's straight out of the oven. When gangsters were no longer cool thanks to early 1960s TV series The Untouchables, they changed their name to The Vendettas, then again to The Chaperones after a line-up change, and then again to The Lovely Flowers in a doomed attempt to cash in on the whole horticultural vibe of the late 60s, and for which he assumed the stage name Brett Vandergelt Junior. on 14 August 2015[24] and again on 7 January 2022.[25]. 9.50 GBP. He shot to cultural prominence in the Seventies, producing and performing poetry that tackled real-life matters with zero fear and total vibrance. It is an immensely engaging memoir that fizzes with wit, and it is simultaneously a chronicle of a lifetimes worth of extraordinary culture. As he reveals in his book of the same name, we have the compilers of the 1990s GCSE English syllabus, who included three of Clarkes poems, to thank for it. Leading line: Far from perfect strangers; Id like to keep it that way. In his younger days, Clarke spent 36 hours in prison for supposed car theft, despite there being no concrete evidence against him. A fat book by a thin man that I felt didn't get to the heart of the matter, and I was left not knowing if I like him, knowing he wouldn't give a fuck about what I think. A relatively simple yet typically colourful condemnation of an unnamed individual; all the best components of Clarkes work are found here. Its onomatopoeic innit? After a show at The Boardwalk in Sheffield, Clarke was approached by a young musician called Alex Turner who had studied him at school, and whose band were about to become megastars. I got hold of your stuff last night and I like your style, the overcoat, the look, the voice, these are all the ingredients to make great records. Follow us on Vero for exclusive music content and commentary, all the latest music lifestyle news and insider access into the GQ world, from behind-the-scenes insight to recommendations from our Editors and high-profile talent. (I Married A) Monster From Outer Space(I've Got A Brand New) Track Suit23rd36 hoursA Distant RelationAction ManApart From The RevolutionAre You The BusinessArts N' CraftsBeasley StreetBelladonnaBronze AdonisBunch Of TwigsBurnleyConcussionConditional DischargeCycle AccidentDay My Pad Went MadDay the World Stood StillDrive She SaidDumb Row Revolutions are often bloody affairs and, in this instance, there were executions, somebody had to pay but the result of this is a land where peasants eat cake and children have healthy teeth and gums. But truth be told, you cant escape the rough turbulence of its profanity and that fact does well to showcase the frustration of living in a satellite-style town. I was always more of a Baudelaire than a Wordsworth. Finally, we get back onto the subject of Radio Four and another shared love:Im Sorry, I Havent a Cluewhich has survived many personnel changes from the deaths of Willie Rushton and Barry Cryer as well as long time presenter, Humphrey Lyttelton making way for Jack Dee. I was born one year after JCC and about three miles from where he was born, so it was pretty obvious this was going to resonate with me. You can't see the joints. Among the revelations of I Wanna Be Yours, however, is the fact that the two distinctly voiced flatmates came extremely close to recording an album of duets under the name Nico And Johnnie. The veteran poet befriended Arctic Monkeys in their early days and knocked about with some fascinating non-famous characters. anarchic punk poetry John Cooper Clarke is . Article What is Baroque? I listen to it on a Friday to see if I'm on it.. Australian Premiere/UK] THE POPEYE, FEB 27, 2023. These days, hes a showbiz guy who often brings his Mancunian wit to daytime TV shows like Eight Out Of Ten Cats Does Countdown, filmed at MediaCity - where he bemoans the irony that you cant buy a newspaper. The soundtrack of your life often reflects the time when you were a teenager, when everything sears into the memory, embeds itself deep in the psyche and remains with you. Around this time, he performed on stage with several punk and post-punk bands and continues to perform regularly. If youre wondering how to deal with someone elses problems, the solution is right in this piece of poetry. . Maggie's Grand Costume Ball, March 2023 - What inspired the city's biggest Fancy Dress Ball? His poetry concerned itself less with daffodils and summer days and more with the squalor and ridiculousness of the world around him. In the 1800s, poetry was perhaps akin to rock n roll, with its proponents being declared mad, bad and dangerous to know. I don't know why more people don't do it. The memoir all obsessives of the self-professed Bargain Basement Baudilaire have been waiting for. John reckons literacy has always been important in Manchester, the birthplace of The Manchester Guardian. John Cooper Clarke's age is 73. 2023 Often referred to as "the bard of Salford",[9] he usually refers to himself on stage as "Johnny Clarke, the name behind the hairstyle". All mixed up with drug taking anecdotes. Nothing ages you more than trying to look like you're 'down with all that'. I think she's great. You call the shots, I wanna be yours. Upon receipt, Clarke commented: "Now I'm a doctor, finally my dream of opening a cosmetic surgery business can become a reality. Fact: I Wanna Be Yours is a metaphorical masterpiece. John Cooper Clarke rose to fame as a 'people's poet' in the 1970s, and is one of Britains best known spoken word artists (Photo: Paul Wolfgang Webster) By Louise Rhind-Tutt October 13, 2017. Last time he came to Manchester he enjoyed a bit of zhuzhed up marrowbone at The Bull & Bear but dont worry, hes still a man of the people, I'm a fussy eater but I'm not snobbish about it. Theres a reason why John Cooper Clarke was dubbed the first punk poet: his words have long delivered an honest exposure of urban Britain. He layers them over melodies, relaying a sort of spoken song that makes his compositions an outpour of awareness rather than just forms of entertainment. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. JCC will be joining Squeeze on their UK tour - tickets available from Gigs and Tours. John Cooper Clarke punk poet, bard of Salford has had a chequered life, from growing up in post-war austerity Britain, through hardcore drug abuse, to being a kind of national treasure. He shot to cultural prominence in the Seventies,. Im relieved. I Married a Monster from Outer Space is a top ten MUST. [2] His first releases were on Tosh Ryan and Martin Hannett's independent label Rabid,[7] starting with the EP Innocents in October 1977. Near the end hes given up drugs, married and has a grown up daughter. 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 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. I didn't want to work for a living when I was a teenager. The photographs of David Bailey, are quite rightly seen as a poetic take on the 60s.