I Wanna Be Yours: John Cooper Clarke

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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. The poetry of JCC is brilliant and is rightly lauded as such (see his brilliant collection: ‘Ten Years in an Open Necked Shirt’) I’ve been privileged to have seen him perform twice - but this book, entertaining as it is (and it does feel like the voice of JCC speaking to us from the pages) could have been so much better, given the right direction and at least a modicum of editing. The first, detailing his childhood and early life in a mainly Jewish area (he acted as a "shabas goy" for his orthodox neighbours) of Salford in Manchester is fascinating: as a piece of writing on the social history of this part of Lancashire in the early 50s it is glorious, vivid and full of detail. His first releases were on Tosh Ryan and Martin Hannett's independent label Rabid, [7] starting with the EP Innocents in October 1977. 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.

This means that if you come to his published poems (as I have) with a previous audience with him you can hear his words leap of the page.

I think this is because he details a lot of social history, particularly in Manchester in the 60s and the lists of significant people who some of us will never have heard of get tedious. Probably the least interesting section in many ways is, inevitably, the one dealing with JCC's years of drug addiction. 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. But then, in the late 80s, he dropped out of sight, undone by a heroin addiction that he had been trying to hide for more than 15 years.

The unique people met from the worlds of music, poetry and drugs are pursued by high and dry anecdotes (in both senses), that never feel like names dropped onto the page to impress. This is the Lancashire lad as mohair-suited Proust, weak of lung but iron of will, plotting his course from antic po ète maudit to punk laureate with all points in between. It’s an unimpeachable talent who can honestly describe his narcotics habit, come out of it alive and triumphant, whilst finding humour in its squalid pathos.Familiar rings,/ I have to get away,/ Its breaking my heartstrings,/ We have a drink,/ On special occasions,/ It makes me think,/ About distant relations. He has produced verses that speak in an argot that enhances their effect, not modifying nor limiting their value. My favourite poems include Attack of the 50ft Woman, 21 Gun Salute Suit, Bongo's Trousers (a true tale about Bono), I've Fallen In Love With My Wife, Psychedelicate, and The Hanging Gardens of Basildon.