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I Wanna Be Yours: John Cooper Clarke

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Clarke's poem "Out of Control Fairground" was printed inside the Arctic Monkeys' 2007 single " Fluorescent Adolescent" CD. The poem is also the inspiration behind the single's video, in which clowns brawl. The band's Alex Turner has said he is very fond of Clarke's work and takes inspiration for lyrics from his poems. [16] [17] A joy to listen to, punctured with his trademark caustic wit and wisdom, Clarke the People's Poet is capable of a florid turn of phrase, but keeps the lyrical flourishes infrequent enough to be impactful. Clarke the Cabaret Comic can't resist the occasional corny feedline punchline but there are more proper laughs in here than the majority of memoirs by better-known comedians, and the humour, which runs the gamut from playground to gallows, never distracts from what is a remarkably controlled narrative of an out-of-control period in the life of one of Manchester and Britain's finest. I went for the audiobook version and it's sublime. I could listen to John Cooper Clarke read the telephone directory. To hear the great man read his hugely entertaining autobiography is a rare treat. saw Clarke present a documentary on Thomas De Quincey's Confessions of an English Opium-Eater in the BBC's second series of The Secret Life of Books. [25] He has appeared as a guest on the comedy panel show Would I Lie To You? on 14 August 2015 [26] and again on 7 January 2022. [27] 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. And when you happen to see him, in these very ordinary settings, it's a bit like magic. He has such a striking and inimitable presence, it's like seeing a Tim Burton character come to life. He's like Edward Scissorhand's older and more sensitive brother.

When I quit I felt really badly done to,” he said. “I didn’t want to quit. I don’t think anybody does. You feel you’re doing it for society. I thought I was doing everybody a favour. Everybody was worried about me; what can I say? No one wants to be a source of anxiety to everybody they know. You’re just trouble.” When the teenage John Cooper Clarke announced he wanted to be a poet, his alarmed parents asked for examples of people who had made a living from it. “I discovered that most modern poets had to work as teachers, bank clerks, insurance salesmen, doctors, diplomats, railroad workers, tax collectors, publishers or postal clerks,” he recalls in his memoir. Even Philip Larkin “turned out to be a librarian by day”. His father’s feelings about these literary aspirations were summed up in three words: “Get a job.” So he did.a b c Hattenstone, Simon (29 May 2012). "John Cooper Clarke: 'It's diabolical how poor I am' ". The Guardian . Retrieved 9 October 2015. Clarke, John Cooper (2020). I wanna be yours. London. ISBN 978-1-5098-9610-3. OCLC 1148197088. {{ cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher ( link)

BBC Two – Celebrity Antiques Road Trip, Series 9, Episode 7". BBC. 19 November 2019 . Retrieved 22 June 2021. Not all the poems are as good as this, of course. There are one or two that read as mildly homophobic or transphobic (nothing outright, really, but I noticed regardless) and some that I maybe don't get because they're more specific to Britain. However, for the most part, I enjoyed this little book quite a lot. His sense of humor is biting and slightly dark, which suits me right down to the ground, and his way of playing with language is just...fun. a b Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrateded.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p.74. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.

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Some of the stories John Cooper Clarke tells are enough to make any punk fan toe-curlingly envious. I know I was as I read it. I wanted to have the experiences that he had. I wanted to be living that roguish lifestyle and see the things that he had seen, the performers that he got to see. I didn’t live through that time period but I did get to experience it somewhat vicariously through I Wanna Be Yours. This is definitely a book that needs a reread.

By early 1980s, he was also in the grip of a heroin addiction which would see him write very little for over a decade. He cleaned up in the early 90s after marrying his second wife, Evie, and having a daughter, Stella. His star began to rise again in 2007 when one of his poems was used in an episode of The Sopranos and others were included on the GCSE syllabus, which led to collaborations with artists like Plan B and Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys. Last year Clarke responded to an Observer reader who asked him whether he had believed he could ever stop using the drug. The 'Bard of Salford' is set to be given the city's greatest honour". Manchester Evening News. 17 July 2023 . Retrieved 19 July 2023. John Cooper Clarke honoured by University of Salford". BBC News. 19 July 2013 . Retrieved 9 October 2015.I Wanna Be Yours is written in the clear, down-to-earth, witty, gritty style that make his poems sing - those familiar with his delivery, from furious pace to long-drawn out Mancunian vowels and devilish wordplay, will read with his distinctive voice in their head (I look forward to returning and listening to the audiobook read by Dr Clarke). Agenda of Council on Wednesday 19 July 2023 at 2.00 pm". Salford City Council. 12 July 2023 . Retrieved 19 July 2023.

The final quarter is rather like a ship sailing from tumultuous waters into a welcoming harbour, as JCC talks about meeting his French wife Evie and his life of domesticity in Colchester with her and their daughter Stella. He's clearly proud as punch that his work is now on the GCSE English syllabus and has influenced the likes of Ben Drew and The Arctic Monkeys, bringing his work to a new audience.

Crossing The Floor, another particular favourite, is more contentious; it caused one Goodreads reviewer to become so enraged that he decided he'd put the book in the bin, rather than donate it to a charity shop where it would at least have done some good. The reviewer condemns the poem as offensively transphobic, but imo he completely misses the point. In his typically mordant style, JCC tells the story of a man who's just fed up with being a man and doing 'man' things, and wants to dress as a woman instead - but he doesn't sound 100% committed, and he's very realistic: Clarke is no saint and he has his flaws, but he recounts a life well lived. This is a tale well told with lots of self-deprecating one liners, but Clarke’s voice is remarkable and he has to be heard. Some of his early stuff is raw and angry, like Beasley Street: In the middle of all that music there is, and has always been, the sound of John Cooper Clarke, whose rapid fire delivery of pointed, observational lines of simple gloriousness instilled in me a love of edgy performance poets. I do, however, credit 8 Out of Ten Cats Does Countdown with a renewed interest in Clarke's work, his performances on my favourite gameshow an instant audio reminder of the times of my youth. (Health Fanatic - look it up, the final stanza has always been in my head ...). John was a heroin addict for a few decades, so the second half of the book contains a lot of detail about scoring drugs, many with celebrity addict pals and some are truly hair raising tales. Miraculously he survived despite nearly dying on three occasions. One time, whilst with Nico in Amsterdam, he scores off an old, skinny guy with grey greasy hair and no front teeth. It's only years later he realises, whilst watching the film Let’s Get Lost, that it was Chet Baker. I was really excited when I found out that he was going to be releasing an autobiography. His crazy and random tales from his crazy and random life. I couldn’t wait. I listened to I Wanna Be Yours on Audiobook. I wanted to hear how John Cooper Clarke told his stories. Would they be like his poems? Would I be totally mesmerised and engaged. The answer to both of those questions is yes. His lyric style does not end at his poetic outputs. I genuinely feel that his lyricism and enunciation would be like having an every day conversation with John Cooper Clarke.

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