"On one tour," Costello told me, "John went on between Richard Hell and The Voidoids and ourselves. I never put a geographical stamp on it. [10], Clarke appeared in a 1982 music documentary compilation Urgh! ", I've kept a copy of this piece, which he gave me in the late Eighties; a poem he knocked out in 20 minutes for a commission. The Flaming Lips gummy skull with marijuana flavo Joy Division - Live at Bowdon Vale Youth Club, Alt Megaupload Trial May Never Happen, Judge Says It's a level of popularity that is unprecedented in the history of performance poetry. It was National Poetry Day. Der Geschmack von Rost und Knochen (Orginal Motion Rust og bein (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack). "Please," he asked the audience at Shepherds Bush, "if you ever see me in a vegetative state - drooling and incontinent, having to be reminded of my own name - just leave me in peace. How do you feel about Brexit not the crap leading up to it, but the actual exit?I dont even want to talk about it, to be honest. It is fair to say we were not on expansive speaking terms. This video is unavailable. If its true, as I claim in the title poem of my book, that I am the Luckiest Guy Alive, its for two reasons. "In the French, it's imbcile.". "That," I suggest, "can't have been easy". Worst act? He really does look more and more like Max Wall as he gets older. I dont have a problem with the leisure bit though. We had to learn The Lady of Shalott, by the late, great Alfred, Lord Tennyson, which was 12 pages long, and I have to say I am all the better for it. The big production number at the end concludes, you recall, Naughty, bawdy, gaudy, sporty, Forty-second Street. Here [at the Contains Strong Language spoken word festival in 2017] Ive also got a bolo tie, which chimes in with the snakeskin boots by Jeffery West. Dr Clarke, as he styles himself, wearing his honorary doctorate from Salford University with pride, has always had that effect; to the many devotees of his live performances over five decades, he is both much imitated and inimitable. It is the work of my long-term manager, Phil Jones. He was previously married to ?. She does the business. He connects with a young audience precisely because he has never attempted to deny his years. Ganges Ex-Israeli spy boss attacks Netanyahu and Barak La Trobe 'torture' study anguish 'Mere verse' as some might call it, is the kind of thing that everybody thinks they can do - and they're quite right, they can. I'm in a good place now.". But lets rack our brains. "It's hard to convey the aggression of those audiences." John Cooper Clarke (born January 25, 1949) is a performance poet from Salford, Lancashire, England, affectionately known as the Bard of Salford. At one point in London he addressed the problem of "The social menace of STIs - sexually transmitted infections, by which Britain leads the world by a sizzling 64%. Get it wrong by even half a syllable, and you are condemned to an eternity of spitting on your ancestors, after committing ritual suicide in a public place. Mr_Jones Any poet will tell you this. They may appreciate 'a voice' when it comes from 'the underclass', and they can indecently patronise it; but do they ever recognise 'a delivery', as in performance? And he said, 'Because it does not bark, and it knows the secrets of the deep. Cale, who was 'in his vodka period' was, the poet recalls, 'a lovely guy, but a bit of a handful. Four of Clarke's five lots made a loss, giving a total loss of 233.54. Popular John Cooper Clarke albums This Time It's Personal. ", Nico and Clarke were never lovers, Alan Wise told me, over tea in his local caf in Manchester. Launcelot CliveHR It goes without saying. To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories, John Cooper Clarke, who has suffered and survived the troubles that traditionally distract a poet - tuberculosis, poverty, and opiate addiction - stands on a corner in central London pondering a new and unexpected challenge: adulation. Phone orders min p&p of 1.99. I figure any town in the whole world has an equivalent of the fictional neighbourhood I describe. I think," Costello continues, "this might be why he is not greatly regarded by literary snobs. I've got VD.' Otherwise they would have been opening for me. One of the frustrating things for admirers of Cooper Clarke is the limited amount of work he has published and recorded. Will he only be happy when he has lost all of his fingers? His will was proved on 25 Feb 1683/84. Phil Spector is obviously out of circulation right now, but I am keeping the faith alive. I figured I had to sign somebody." He was previously married to ?. Its Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood, rocknroll. Why not Skype if you are that keen to connect at speed? I began with a question from one of the many performers who, no doubt, owe just a little bit of their style and delivery to watching Clarke with an audience, seeing how it might be done. They died out. Ross' film has been one of a number of factors in the poet's belated but rapid ascent from cult artist to international icon. and Football Focus. At bloody fun and bloody games . Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. snap, crackle & bop cd. Who were the lyricists who inspired you to write the way you do? One of Clarke's newer poems has the title 'Bed Blocker Blues'. The bloody chief's a bloody swine. It will be John Cooper Clarke. Cooper Clarke's Salford vowel sounds remain untarnished by two decades in the South East. But if you ask me, I do think the free movement of working people has impacted badly on the poorest members of our society, which is bad for both the immigrant workers and bad for our workers, because it has driven down wages and conditions. That judgmental 'V', hanging over romantic proceedings like the Damoclean sword of justice, rendering enjoyable sex utterly impossible. It is things that he might eat if he ever did turn up to my show: which is to say various heavily flavoured, deep-fried, lavishly salted snack treats. And I am very lucky to be here really. JOHN COPPER CLARKE I FALLING IN LOVE WITH MY WIFE live in DUBLIN 2010_mpeg2video.mpg. ", As a teenager at secondary modern school, he was a mod. That's half an hour of my life you've saved me, having to explain it to you. But then things started to buck up. And it's not that bad.". He would have been very surprised if he had found out that people would sit in a room poring over his words in a textbook.". "When we walked out, tentacle in hand / You could sense that the earthlings would not understand / They'd go nudge-nudge when we got on the bus / They'd say, 'It's extra-terrestrial, not like us / And it's bad enough with another race / But fuck me. He and Garry are usually to be found supporting the older star. First it's great, then it isn't; then it's hell." And at 66, the original punk poet is not about to stop any time soon, Netflixs endless cancellations signal the end of the prestige streaming TV era, Jeff Beck had a phenomenal car collection, How to wear men's jewellery beyond that one single chain, Ten coolest things to do in London this week, Joe Locke and Kit Connor cant believe any of this is real, The best classic hairstyles for men that just won't quit, All the must-read books to look forward to in 2023, A quick call about tracksuits and Kendrick with Kano, No More Red, Arsenal's campaign for a safer London, wants you to join the team, Print copies & Digital access for only 1. Cooper Clarke had not been deemed worthy to participate in that event. Actually if it sounds like anybody, it's Rimbaud. You see, I've been there before. Gazing at those windswept hills and imagining the unspeakable horror of actually being out there. You couldnt have that in stereo. If you haven't previously encountered his work, you might start with 'I Married A Monster From Outer Space', a poem inspired by the 1958 film of that name. Astra-nomical His vocals from both of his Suns of Arqa tracks have been used on numerous remixes by the band ever since. [1] In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he released several albums. coastangel Arctic Monkeys How much has privatisation bettered or worsened things? Who on earth needs to get to Manchester 15 minutes quicker? Baudelaire was my hero. What is the worst act you opened for, and why? Like his concert last October at the larger Royal Festival Hall, the event sold out many weeks ago. John Cooper Clarke at the Contains Strong Language spoken word festival at the University of Hull in 2017. his is my default look. It is a kind of a dream town, as Im sure Wilko knows, coming as he does from nearby Canvey Island. Around this time, he performed on stage with several punk and post-punk bands and continues to perform regularly. deadgraham, John Cooper Clarke at Cliffs Pavilion, Southend-on-Sea, England, John Cooper Clarke at Pavilion Theatre, Bournemouth, England, John Cooper Clarke at Brighton Centre, Brighton, England, John Cooper Clarke at The Forum, Bath, England, John Cooper Clarke at Eventim Apollo, London, England, John Cooper Clarke at St David's Hall, Cardiff, Wales, John Cooper Clarke at Symphony Hall, Birmingham, England, John Cooper Clarke at Usher Hall, Edinburgh, Scotland, John Cooper Clarke at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool, England, John Cooper Clarke at O2 Apollo Manchester, Manchester, England. At the same time," he adds, "they were a picnic compared to the working men's clubs. That glorious bank of french horns bleeding into a mess of cellos and strings. "I judge by appearances," he tells audiences. You're late home.' LancsMark The Kray family had a bolthole there. But the ritual suicide; that's not really my cup of tea. "That was great for a while," he tells me, "Until Ron was in the news for having that fight with his wife. evidently john cooper clarke - dvd. ', 'Anything wrong?' When two dozen paramedics have to put on high-vis tabards and possibly die in trying to rescue him? newmanshh Whereas I, in that situation, tend to err on the side of caution. "I always assumed she must have had it first, being older. The 2,000-seat venue, which has hosted entertainers including Bob Dylan and David Bowie, has proved to be a little small for Cooper Clarke. Beasley Street E John Cooper Clarke 7. But you have to keep your request down to three words. AMRN You deserve not the reward of freedom from your slavery. Christopher gets back on smack and he's sat in that same position, in the market, just nodding out. Ever! He leaves, tired but happy. "I don't want that again. He'll intersperse such knockabout material with classic writing like 'Beasley Street', a stunning evocation of the trials of the underclass, which sounds like Engels' prose accounts of the Mancunian slums crossed with Bob Dylan's 'Desolation Row'. Each of these things," he went on, "makes it far from absurd to compare him to Baudelaire, or Verlaine, or Rimbaud.". on 14 August 2015[24] and again on 7 January 2022.[25]. Brooshski Thats an intelligent question too, from Ben, because lyricists have probably influenced me more than any other poets. I won't be the one whose life is turned into legend. Not with the laudanum, but The Lake District. "His saving grace," Costello added, "was that he was really fucking funny.". But that is really the way I do it, keeping that dream alive. Anybody who calls themselves Genesis is well overdue a good hiding, you know what I mean? There are good reasons, he argues, for judging by appearances. For a period of months, Cooper Clarke was also host to John Cale, meaning that, "I'm no name-dropper, but for a while I had two-fifths of the Velvet Underground living at my place." poetry quote black t-shirt. [15] That same year, Clarke featured in rapper Plan B's feature film Ill Manors and subsequently the Ill Manors album. You are not going to understand The Lady of Shalott you are a 10-year-old boy in Salford and it was written by a 33-year-old bloke 150 years ago. I discovered your music and spoken word when I was a teenager, and it was very inspirational to me. "The rainbow I imagine is oil in a puddle" "Right." I was unemployed at the time. But not me. He will turn 70 next year. I dont like low-rise, hipster trousers on men. ", That last word, Costello says, "was rendered hilarious by his voice in a way which is just impossible to replicate in print. Arriving late, he is unsure as to whether he has found the right venue. If you read the lyrics to Its Magic, that very sexy Doris Day song, for example, you are already singing the song they leave you no other way to go. You couldnt have asked me at a better juncture. People used to go on about how soulless life in those new towns was, but that was not my experience of Stevenage. Thats the gold standard, not just for me, but worldwide. ("Things are gonna get worse, nurse / I'm not optimistic / I've got a mouth shaped like a purse, nurse / And a bungalow smelling of piss and biscuit. Poetry, especially, is meant to be heard. "Because of his accent and his appearance, and because he never went to college," he says, "a certain kind of people make assumptions. 2, The Trip: Curated by Jarvis Cocker & Steve Mackey, Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978-1984, Short Circuit: Live at the Electric Circus, Streets: Select Highlights From Independent British Labels. Im obsessed with clothes and I find it very easy to write about them. I had the last line. In 1988, he made an appearance in two UK adverts for Sugar Puffs, taking second billing to the Honey Monster. "Trafford Park looked like the gates of hell. "Genesis. At that time, as he puts it, Andy Warhol's former muse, who appears in Fellini's La Dolce Vita, "had her own gaff in Sedgley Park [North Manchester]." Check out our john cooper clarke selection for the very best in unique or custom, handmade pieces from our gicle shops. Even though he's lived in the South for 25 years, one thought recurs, as I travel to meet him in his adopted home town: What can they make of him in Colchester? John Cooper Clarke was born on January 25, 1949 in Salford, Greater Manchester, England, UK. Those English periods were a happy time. Im not a handsome man and its damage limitation. My answer back then would be, as they say, to be hopped up on goof balls. One of the more fortunate breaks in his poetic career, he suggests, was that he looked like a punk before punk rock arrived. John died 25 Feb 1684 in Barnstable. A long renaissance in the years since has resulted in perhaps greater popularity now than ever. He rang me one evening, a couple of years ago, and read me the first draft of what evolved into a piece called 'It's Rotten Here in Jail'. The Gary Lucas & Gods and Monsters - Jedwabne, Can - Deadly Doris (from The Lost Tapes), Rupert Murdoch admits NoW phone-hacking cover-up. "You and John Lennon. Clarke's poem "Out of Control Fairground" was printed inside the Arctic Monkeys' 2007 single "Fluorescent Adolescent" CD. John has a brilliant and retentive mind and an exhaustive knowledge of all kinds of culture. The way poetry works is this: you learn the sound of the words first. 1982 Snap, Crackle & Bop. The one message I would like to send out is that this is not something you can pick up and leave alone just like that, you know. "I believe I was thinking you know that bit in On the Waterfront where they throw the informer off the roof, and the line is: "He could sing, but he couldn't fly". I operate on a capsule wardrobe because I spend a lot of time on the road, so I aint got the whole rainbow spectrum of colours in my luggage. You wrote [in the refrain in Chickentown] the fucking train is fucking late, you fucking wait, you fucking wait back in the late 1970s. I hate that idea: eating on the go. djkeos "How," I ask the poet, "did you hear that she'd died?" Give me what youve got.. [2] He returned to live performance in the 1990s, appearing again with Suns of Arqa in 1992 at The Witchwood in Ashton-under-Lyne. But mostly it is down to his brilliant rambling dramatic monologue of a stage show, which has become less staccato over the years. "Yes?" A few lines later it was like I was king of the fucking nick. 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. The truth is Im not just a practitioner of poetry when I am on stage I am like the police: never off-duty. -In Conversation withTim Wellsabout his Ranting Project- I did a separate couple of interviews last year for creative writing students, -Reviewed by Dana Bubulj Published by Stewed Rhubarb Press, Treasure in the History of Things by Katherine McMahon (of, reviewed by Charlotte Henson Towards the end of last year Apples and Snakes put on a number of, They dragged him from the podium the mic fell slack and squealed and back inside his hotel room his tortured, -Reviewed by Claire Trvien Now in its third year, Stoke Newingtons Literary Festival already has the reputation of an established. 'Danger'? After 20 years of performing the same material, Clarke re-established contact with guitarist Rick Goldstraw, who had founded Blue Orchids and played with The Fall and Nico. Chris Harford Hilda, his mother, worked as a cleaner. And I thought: Wow, imagine being young and living in a mod town like Stevenage! And then I did for a couple of years. "And I've never heard their albums. The poem is also the inspiration behind the single's video, in which clowns brawl. "It wasn't. I dont graze. The parents of Lydia, John & Ann Cooper are not known. He has embraced old age as an opportunity to indulge the kind of recklessness traditionally associated with youth. Official Sites. Thats another thing I have always avoided: peg tops. ", His celebrated haiku has developed into a routine that can last 20 minutes. Explorers," he adds, "actively annoy me. "Over two decades on," he says, "some kinds of reputation never leave you. 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. What is on your rider [dressing room request list] these days? [citation needed]. We had a brilliant English teacher called John Malone, who somehow conveyed his love of 19th-century poetry to an entire class of rough kids at Higher Broughton secondary modern school. And cheese and chutney sandwiches. Mention that the Bard of Salford was to visit the Observer office for this interview last week immediately prompted snatches of extemporised quotation from some of Clarkes more famous lyrics I Wanna Be Yours, Evidently Chickentown, I Married a Monster from Outer Space from those colleagues who had some grounding in his snarly Mancunian vowels and those who were not afraid of pretending. [22], 2015 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. My answer is this, though: they all have their uses; its invariably a matter of context. DJ JetSet - Fifty minutes of Marko Frstenberg (th How Psychedelic Drugs Can Help Patients Face Death. Ninkasi Be kind to people. "My doctor told me. 2 (liane Reyes). What are your feelings about Jaywick?Dont get me started on Jaywick. He was previously married to ?. He set a very high bar. I can't remember what happens next" and his list of "songs I wrote where I made one mistake in the title, that later became big hits for other artists." I think he moved to the States for a while, but Im not sure the act travelled with him. You might look up a piece by our former Poet Laureate, Andrew Motion, written to commemorate Prince William's 21st birthday. "Evidently Chickentown" (recited by Christopher Eccleston) is featured in the made-for-television film Strumpet. Imagine trying to read in the interval for" It is quite hard to convey the venom with which he delivers the next three syllables. "They all had this desire to exclude the world." I may be prejudiced. A fan of the show for 60 years, he described it as having "all the finality of a suicide note, without the actual obligation of topping yourself". "John?" Movement: BBC Radio 1 Peel Sessions 19771979, Greatest Ever: Punk & New Wave: The Definitive Collection, De rouille et d'os (Bande originale du film), Rust and Bone (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack). bands to watch for '92 (Melody Maker, January 4 1992), Ted Lasso Season 3 to Premiere Spring 2023, Motionographer | Motion graphics, design, animation, filmmaking and visual effects, Gugun Power Trio - Far East Blues Experience/Solid Ground/Soul Shaker, Art BOOOOOOOM! Shock-haired and irreverent, he's been shaking up the literary establishment with his wry wit and clever couplets for decades. Is the father of a daughter, named Stella. this time it's personal cd. Why is the drug addict spat upon, and the climber of Everest revered? Sexy Little Swine Was there ever any talk of you joining the Fall?Are you kidding? '", If you've seen him regularly over the years, you might be surprised by the material he's dispensed with, or revives just occasionally. He is an actor and writer, known for Control (2007), Rust and Bone (2012) and The Souvenir (2019). He had it all. "Well," Cooper Clarke says, "he was a rent man, wasn't he?". I may be simple minded. With horrible results.". [4] He also duetted with Reverend Jon McClure at a Reverend and the Makers concert at London's Spread Eagle, performing the poem "Last Resort", which would later be released as the B-side for the band's single "Heavyweight Champion of the World". "I fell into it," he says. You get out of bed late in the day and nobody calls you a lazy bastard. No. His occasional Sunday afternoon shows for BBC 6Music have been a joy to compare with Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour. Cooper Clarke has lived here for the best part of 25 years with Evie, his Picardy-born wife; the couple have a grown-up daughter, Stella. the very best of john cooper clarke - cd. He is married to Evie. In 1979, he had his only UK top 40 hit with "Gimmix! But there is one attribute, very commonly found in lesser talents, that, you sense, John Cooper Clarke is never going to develop: an unshakeable belief in his own greatness. [21] In October 2020 Clarke published an autobiography which took its title from his poem I Wanna Be Yours. "I did," is all he will say, "all of those things that you have to do. He has his set pieces, such as 'Home Honey, I'm High.' It can be done, clearly, but it aint easy. Gradually, and very quietly, John Cooper Clarke has become one of the finest stand-up acts in the history of the art. "I do it myself," he says. "Remember that poem you wrote about Lowry?" My influences are people like Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis that kind of American, smart, preppy look. After that, old ladies started to hit me in the street with their umbrellas.". However, I am interested in what you get out of it. Looking at one, I remember the poet once telling me that he had "never seen a work of art that would not be improved by the addition of tropical fish". People don't expect to sit down and read him.". ", His fragile frame is the result not, as some assume, of his years as a heroin addict, which are long behind him, but a legacy of the TB he suffered as a child. Didn't his dick almost drop off once? ", One verse of 'Evidently Chickentown,' in its bowdlerised, recorded form, goes: "The bloody pubs are bloody dull / The bloody clubs are bloody full / Of bloody girls and bloody guys / With bloody murder in their eyes / A bloody bloke is bloody stabbed / Waiting for a bloody cab / You bloody stay at bloody home / The bloody neighbours bloody moan / Keep the bloody racket down / This is bloody chicken town.".