I keep it simple: a dark suit with a pale shirt. unknownuser 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. John Cooper Clarke at Latitude 2010. At the same time," he adds, "they were a picnic compared to the working men's clubs. Beasley Street (Live) E John Cooper Clarke 6. "Now that I come to think of it," he adds, "Spitting on my ancestors is what I do best. "[15] In 1987, he performed live (on crutches owing to a broken ankle) at the Albany Empire in London with Suns of Arqa, recorded two tracks ("Libera Me" and "The Truth Lies Therein") for their album Seven, and featured in the music video for the latter. I discovered your music and spoken word when I was a teenager, and it was very inspirational to me. ("This paper's boring, mindless and mean / Full of pornography, the kind that's clean / Where William Hickey meets Michael Caine / Again and again and again and again / You see all kinds of ugliness and hideous excess / But you never see a nipple in The Daily Express."). He'd just finished a show in a small theatre and we were looking for somewhere to eat. He connects with a young audience precisely because he has never attempted to deny his years. I'd have been killed not by hostility but indifference. There they are, bulldozing these beautiful villages so someone can get to Manchester quarter of an hour earlier. No. Whereas I, in that situation, tend to err on the side of caution. The latter band's former tour manager, the writer and cycling journalist Johnny Green, now looks after Clarke on the road. It is also more true to life. Will he only be happy when he has lost all of his fingers? "They married you off in the music press, didn't they?" "It's hard to convey the aggression of those audiences." What do you want to listen to the bass player over your left shoulder for? Introductory offer: she'll do anything you want for a fiver. "I've lost that. Der Geschmack von Rost und Knochen (Orginal Motion Rust og bein (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack). Christopher gets back on smack and he's sat in that same position, in the market, just nodding out. He is married to Evie. The performer, who is still occasionally stopped in the street and asked how much he charges to haunt a house ("That," he replies, "would depend how many rooms you have") is the sort of figure that cab drivers don't stop for. I found your poem Kung Fu International on one of my dads punk CDs when I was eight (Im 33 now), and I remember listening to it over and over, and pausing so I could write each word down and learn to recite it. He was born in Salford, on the north side of Manchester on 25 January, 1949 and has one brother, Paul, 12 years his junior. So I had lines like: 'The choice Iranian on my foil / It runs like virgin olive oil / I'm living the life of a decadent royal / It could spoil, it could spoil, it could spoil you / Rotten here in jail. Sievey said. Mr_Jones I think it is dangerous to think it is anything to do with having an addictive personality or any of that bollocks. When it first started to appear on the front of the paper the Guardian was the worst offender by the time I found out what it meant I was too annoyed to want to think about it. This is "an advert," as he explains, "that I wrote for the Martini people, on the understanding that I would receive a year's supply, or a lifetime's supply, whichever was the greater, of their enervating beverage." Whats your favourite gig venue, and why?It has to be the London Palladium, at which I have the honour of appearing again next month. [4] During an April 2018 episode of Steve Jones' radio show Jonesy's Jukebox, Clarke revealed one of his early inspirations to be the poet Sir Henry Newbolt, reciting from memory a portion of Newbolt's poem "Vita Lampada". Pink first, then yellow. The Gary Lucas & Gods and Monsters - Jedwabne, Can - Deadly Doris (from The Lost Tapes), Rupert Murdoch admits NoW phone-hacking cover-up. That's half an hour of my life you've saved me, having to explain it to you. tundramamine The poet has something of a gift for talking his own work down. 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." bluemax Poetry, especially, is meant to be heard. There were events hosted by beat poets at the Royal Albert Hall in the Sixties, but they were ensemble shows and they didn't always sell out. Be kind to people. "Better stand back / Here's an age attack / But the second in line / Is dealing with it fine / It's a day to celebrate / A destiny, a fate / It's a taking to the wing / A future thing. I should say that all my characters are an amalgam or something, Craig, but Vince was the bloke in the downstairs apartment when I lived in Plymouth for a while, real name Frank. Four years ago, I remind the poet, we were shivering in driving rain on the seafront in Brighton, just after midnight. 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. He pays the money and limps home after receiving a severe pasting. It is fair to say we were not on expansive speaking terms. HelenK [1] In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he released several albums. Cale, who was 'in his vodka period' was, the poet recalls, 'a lovely guy, but a bit of a handful. ", He seemed to have arrived fully formed, performing brilliantly incisive poems such as 'You Never See a Nipple In The Daily Express'. Im fashionable once every 15 years, for about three months. My trouser needs are simple: a narrow leg in a dark colour, with jean detailing. But then things started to buck up. Did you ever think you could stop using smack [heroin]? "You," he quoted from memory, sitting in the half light, "who like a dagger thrust, entered my complaining soul; sweet and potent as a host of demons, came wild, beautiful wretch infamous to whom I'm bound, like the convict to the chain, a stubborn gambler to his dice, the drunkard to his revelry. She does the business. And they have followed me all my days, because as you get older you keep finding some new dimension even in the simplest love song. '", If you've seen him regularly over the years, you might be surprised by the material he's dispensed with, or revives just occasionally. She was well, and recovering, and looking forward to Spain. ", The reason John Cooper Clarke has been so patronised, Liverpool poet Adrian Henri once argued, "has to do with his association with music. on sale a riot of our own by johnny green & garry barker. djkeos ", 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. It's a place with heavy oak doors, tasteful decor and a few unobtrusive pictures. "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". ", The definitive poem about drug addiction, Cooper Clarke told me back then, '"is 'The Vampire' by Charles Baudelaire. [16][17], Clarke was the subject of a BBC Four documentary, Evidently John Cooper Clarke, in May 2012, screened as part of the BBC's Punk Britannia season. That judgmental 'V', hanging over romantic proceedings like the Damoclean sword of justice, rendering enjoyable sex utterly impossible. [21] In October 2020 Clarke published an autobiography which took its title from his poem I Wanna Be Yours. Why? Poet; Movie star; Rock star; TV & radio presenter; Comedian; Social & cultural commentator. It is a romantic picture, that idea of Cole Porter always writing lyrics on the back of cigarette packs and menus. It's obvious that a few hours have gone by, and he hasn't moved. Lowry." I dont have a problem with the leisure bit though. To take one of my more popular poems, Beasley Street: I worked my way back on that one. "Solid gold geezer that / From the solitaire pin through the mink cravat to the snake-eye studs on his kid suede spats / Solid gold geezer that / Lives in a solid gold flat / With a girl worth a million / Plus VAT / And a caviar-guzzling cat. ", I spent three months, off and on, on the road with Cooper Clarke for this article, and this monologue has found its way into his act. The band's Alex Turner has said he is very fond of Clarke's work and takes inspiration for lyrics from his poems. His predecessor as the people's Poet Laureate, John Betjeman, never performed to this size of crowd. Didn't his dick almost drop off once? Well, that's a harsh judgement in my book. reviewed by James Webster What it is? [2] His first releases were on Tosh Ryan and Martin Hannett's independent label Rabid,[7] starting with the EP Innocents in October 1977. Anybody who calls themselves Genesis is well overdue a good hiding, you know what I mean? And the private sector has upped the standards of concourse retail in general, which used to consist of a couple of broken cig machines. Baudelaire was my hero. When we eventually arrived at the one diner that was still open, the owner, not being a man of letters, was initially reluctant to let him in. [Mimics doorbell] 'Oh, hello Audrey. ", That last word, Costello says, "was rendered hilarious by his voice in a way which is just impossible to replicate in print. It's a peculiar sort of fame, driven by social media, word of mouth, and thriving in defiance of almost total indifference from the English literary establishment. In the past, I have worn a more adventurous colour palette but Im red/green colour blind so its an area of anxiety for me. Him and Grard de Nerval: the guy that wore the powder blue cape and walked a lobster on a leash. I spent quite a while thinking of the right adjectives: greasy, cheesy and so on, and then looked for a street name that toned in, but was credible. 1978 Disguise in Love. I don't need to inquire whether the poet is wondering if this is how he himself might have wound up. The cover features a Peter Blake painting of his stick man profile, and embossed graphics in Scrabble tiles. JOHN COPPER CLARKE I FALLING IN LOVE WITH MY WIFE live in DUBLIN 2010_mpeg2video.mpg. He has embraced old age as an opportunity to indulge the kind of recklessness traditionally associated with youth. And then when you arrive at the so-called Northern Powerhouse, you will find you cant get a train to Blackpool or Burnley for about two years. "Those gigs could be tricky," Cooper Clarke says, referring to the punk era, "but at least broken glass and saliva are an acknowledgment that you are actually in the room. I remember sitting backstage one night with Cooper Clarke and the late Chris Sievey, alias Frank Sidebottom, another former cult hero who has been propelled to mass fame, in his case posthumously, through Lenny Abrahamson's film, Frank, released earlier this year. She was exemplary. Many people have told me that they do use the writing of poetry to concentrate their mind on some pressing metaphysical problem. Budd Schulberg, Clarke adds, "what a writer. He doesn't care for the musical arrangements, by yet another 'late' associate Martin Hannett, acclaimed producer of, among others, Joy Division. There is no doubt that you can get a better cup of coffee since privatisation; youd have waited a long time for an espresso in 1975. 1), The Best Punk Album in the World Ever! If memory serves, you are marginally safer in the Three Jays. They'd all have been sat in the bar, meditating on their flares." CREATE * INSPIRE * COMMUNITY * ART * DESIGN * MUSIC * FILM * PHOTO * PROJECTS, Perfect Pitch - Tim Bouverie # 11 Johann Sebastian Bach - Mass in B Minor, ROOTS REGGAE MAIOR ACERVO DE REGGAE DA INTERNET, FilterWhere Do We Go From Here + Link (2 X US Promo 12), X-Press 2 Essential Mix 1994-04-16 [repost classic essential mix], Skullflower "Exquisite Fucking Boredom" (tUMULt TM212) 2003, Sting - Before the Police - Various Songs (1975-1977), Benjamin Godard - Piano Works, Vol. rycu raysgigs Plus its very asexual you should like that at the Guardian looks just as right on Joan Jett as it does on Keith Richards. 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]." I had that AIDS once," he adds, as an afterthought. 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. (De rouille et d'os) [Original De xido y Hueso (Orginal Motion Picture Soundtrack). A live performance of the same poem appears in the film Control, with Clarke portraying himself in a re-creation of a 1977 concert in which he supported Joy Division, despite being 30 years older than the events depicted in the film. But if I were ever to be asked for my rider requirements they might well involve a box of Mr Kiplings French Fancies, which I would stash for a 3am snack. There have been some landmark events to prompt this: Arctic Monkeys dreamy 2013 cover of I Wanna Be Yours; the use of Evidently Chickentown as the backing in one of the most memorable sequences in box-set TV, at the end of an episode of the final season of The Sopranos; the fact that his poems have made it on to the GCSE syllabus. I Wanna Be Yours John Cooper Clarke 4. I believe he remained unaware of my poetic tribute. He got married at 21, to Christine, four years his junior, then became an apprentice type compositor, based in Dorset. Nobody likes their own hair but Im glad Ive got hair to hate. Fire away at me at random, Tim, he said. Clarke was born in Salford, Lancashire, in 1949. ericte It was hand to mouth. What he did was extremely brave, especially for a self-confessed coward." Everest. Much more than in the beginning. He was previously married to ?. "Fancy Tony saying that." What wisdom would you impart to young girls who look up to you in 2018?Young girls who look up to me? I never went for the athleisure thing Im not very ath! His last original solo album was released 32 years ago, which is all the more irritating because the four collections he did record for CBS, especially Snap Crackle & Bop (1980) and Zip Style Method (1982) remain remarkable testaments to his gifts as a writer. Jon the Postman would climb up on stage at any gig he attended and do an impromptu a cappella version of Louie Louie by the Kingsmen. I am sure some of my classmates felt their time could have been more profitably spent. Popular John Cooper Clarke albums This Time It's Personal. An edited version of Wilson's observation, reproduced as graffiti on the wall of an underpass, served as the opening scene for Evidently John Cooper Clarke, director John Ross' remarkable 2012 documentary for BBC4. 'Haiku #1' I call it: 'To convey one's mood / In seventeen syllables / Is very diffic.'". "In the French, it's imbcile.". Evidently Chickentown E John Cooper Clarke 2. "Genesis. "How," I ask the poet, "did you hear that she'd died?" The poem is also the inspiration behind the single's video, in which clowns brawl. Clarke's recording of "Evidently Chickentown" from his album Snap, Crackle & Bop was also featured prominently in the closing scene of The Sopranos episode Stage 5. He used to have to fight his audiences to be heard; now they hang on his every inflection. I cant take the credit for anyone emulating my style everybody copies somebody. His book choice was Against Nature by Joris-Karl Huysmans, his luxury item was a boulder of opium twice the size of his head and his favourite track was "How Great Thou Art" by Elvis Presley. He had Nat King Cole, Sarah Vaughan, Sinatra obviously the great American songbook. On stage, Cooper Clarke delivers a mixture of stand up and poetry that is unlike any other act before or since, and in that sense, to use another word that would make him cringe, he has invented a genre. 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. "I just never dreamed," he tells me, "that things could ever get this good.". His will was proved on 25 Feb 1683/84. Worst act? Where I grew up, the one unmistakable sign of homosexuality was to betray some interest in your appearance.". 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. As the great Bill Withers once said, the writing of songs involves a kind of magic I dont mess with. In October of 1981 Clarke appeared in episode 2 of series 3 of The Innes Book of Records (TV series), reciting "Evidently Chickentown". His response has become something of a mantra. It was the beginning of the end." newmanshh "I have two heroes in my life," he says. I think of it more like Tin Pan Alley work. This video is unavailable. He's developed a routine in which he describes being invited to perform at the Bulimic Society's New Year's Eve Party, in Kensington. Occasionally it would appear out of the mist, just for a day, like some demonic equivalent of Brigadoon." But once I'd had the disease, it left me prone to every kind of pulmonary disorder. coastangel -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. This is a poem of rigidly defined structure: five syllables, seven syllables, five syllables. 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. Im thinking of withholding my tax until they call a halt to HS2. 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