There also can be a performance at music festivals across the country that include Coachella, Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo Music Festival. John Cooper Clarke - Home. The third punter - Jewish guy - hands over his fiver and says, 'paint my house. What is the worst act you opened for, and why? Thats an intelligent question too, from Ben, because lyricists have probably influenced me more than any other poets. His occasional Sunday afternoon shows for BBC 6Music have been a joy to compare with Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour. To make the hips the focal point of a pair of trousers is, to me, a fashion mistake. They were never out of the dry cleaners Id only wear them to weddings, funerals and gigs, and Ive still got them now. 20.00 gbp. (De rouille et d'os) [Original De xido y Hueso (Orginal Motion Picture Soundtrack). Those English periods were a happy time. 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. They have one daughter, Stella. Have you ever been offered an honour by the Queen, Sir John? I occasionally ask him about it: In all my years on the road, Phil, have you ever seen me eat a cheese and chutney sandwich, or a single Dorito? Im no snacker. He doesn't care for the musical arrangements, by yet another 'late' associate Martin Hannett, acclaimed producer of, among others, Joy Division. ", STIs, he continues, "are what STDs used to be called and before that - give it a name - VD. My answer is this, though: they all have their uses; its invariably a matter of context. poetry quote black t-shirt. And it's not that bad.". Launcelot 'Yes mother, I had to go to the doctor. That movie, Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush, starring Barry Evans, for which Traffic did the theme, was set there. New Avalanches Mixtape? About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features Press Copyright Contact us Creators . TA: You were more Sinatra than Elvis back then?No. He was closer to my age than my parents. I begged the poison I abhorred. What wisdom would you impart to young girls who look up to you in 2018?Young girls who look up to me? We meet in the Kings Arms, a genteel coaching inn in the main street. But thats the secret: the sound of the language, those sonorous words. Jaywick is next to Clacton on the Essex coast. Because John has extraordinary talent and he has lived a life of frightening extremes. "On one tour," Costello told me, "John went on between Richard Hell and The Voidoids and ourselves. While there's nothing affected about his accent, the poet luxuriates in its extremes much in the way that fellow poet Linton Kwesi Johnson savours the cadences of Jamaican patois, or George Sanders revelled in the languid elegance of old-school English. 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. Whereas I, in that situation, tend to err on the side of caution. You might look up a piece by our former Poet Laureate, Andrew Motion, written to commemorate Prince William's 21st birthday. Elvis and Frank, though, was the first glimpse of an eternal conflict I could never resolve. tundramamine A Music War, in which he performed his poem "Health Fanatic". John Cooper Clarke has, arguably, not only the most recognisable silhouette in show business, but also the most infectious of poetic voices. "[19] His poem "I Wanna Be Yours" was adapted by Arctic Monkeys and frontman Alex Turner for the band's fifth album, AM, released on 9 September 2013. He stayed with me occasionally in London in those years and he was not an ideal guest: getting up around 4pm, then sitting up past dawn, working through my library of low-budget horror films. 1978 Disguise in Love. If memory serves, you are marginally safer in the Three Jays. ", 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. Whats your favourite word? You helped the Fall in the early days, letting them rehearse in your house, and you were a lifelong friend of the other Bard of Salford, Mark E Smith. "I just never dreamed," he tells me, "that things could ever get this good.". Much more than in the beginning. John Cooper Clarke", "BBC One Would I Lie to You?, Series 9, Episode 3", "Would I Lie to You? The truth is, Caligula, if I was opening for them, they were better than I was. I will never resolve. Wrong on both counts, Jim tee many Martoonies. Gradually, and very quietly, John Cooper Clarke has become one of the finest stand-up acts in the history of the art. on 14 August 2015[24] and again on 7 January 2022.[25]. "I always assumed she must have had it first, being older. "Evidently Chickentown" (recited by Christopher Eccleston) is featured in the made-for-television film Strumpet. This video is unavailable. A screen projector showing him in close up would have helped a lot-for those of us in the gallery he was a bit of a speck in the distance. [18], In July 2013, Clarke was awarded an honorary doctorate of arts by the University of Salford in "acknowledgement of a career which has spanned five decades, bringing poetry to non-traditional audiences and influencing musicians and comedians." I know for many people our departure from the EU is the worst thing thats ever happened. [6] He began his performance career in Manchester folk clubs, where he began working with Rick Goldstraw and his band the Ferrets. Much the same is true of Clarke, from the other side of the Pennines. He is an actor and writer, known for Control (2007), Rust and Bone (2012) and The Souvenir (2019). I wasnt thinking of Stevenage, though I did live there for a couple of years. [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". 'Oh, you poor thing, I'll put your electric blanket on. That glorious bank of french horns bleeding into a mess of cellos and strings. That judgmental 'V', hanging over romantic proceedings like the Damoclean sword of justice, rendering enjoyable sex utterly impossible. It is also more true to life. Back then there was only me and him doing poetry on stage, so we cranked it up a gear, not least because our audiences often had no prior interest in poetry. "You could argue that prejudice and the ability to generalise is what separates us from the lower mammals. ", That last word, Costello says, "was rendered hilarious by his voice in a way which is just impossible to replicate in print. His physique has become an integral part of act. I've got an STI.' Do you get some element of therapy from writing and performing your poetry? "I've never really known," he says. Popular John Cooper Clarke albums This Time It's Personal. I learned a long time ago that if you wear trousers where you can put something in the pockets, you will put stuff in those pockets and before you know it you are clad in jodhpurs. "People tell me I shouldn't. Because it is fabulous the first time. He'd just finished a show in a small theatre and we were looking for somewhere to eat. No way do I ever approach my work as a way of working out my own problems. Clarke also recorded a song with the band entitled "Dead Man's Shoes". In a back alley. Its like men wearing short trousers. I pray that you are successful. Of all the inventive choices of music in that series, it was the least predictable and, many consider, the most brilliantly inspired. Relax, Its Just a Run-of-the-Mill Nuke Spill. Radiohead 'Lotus Flower' (Austin City Limits - be Megaupload: Data access talks to begin on 26 April. ", As a teenager at secondary modern school, he was a mod. I believe he remained unaware of my poetic tribute. afrobeat, afrofunk, afrojazz, afrorock, african boogie, african hiphop RE-UPLOAD: The Sisters Of Mercy - No Time To Cry - German TV - 1985 (Proshot DVD), [request] Private Tapes Vol.1 : Tsunematsu Masatoshi (1981), William Eaton - Music by William Eaton (1978), The Trauma of Beautiful Things Audio Recording, Update: Signed copies of the Barney Bubbles book available. 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." He moved back to Manchester, focussed on his art and was eventually spotted by the head of CBS, the late Maurice Oberstein. The Bard of Salford John Cooper Clarke became a doctor today after receiving an honorary degree in his home city. Erstwhile louts trying to out-verbal each other, in a flamboyant, slightly foppish way. Introductory offer: she'll do anything you want for a fiver. They have one child. (Play Loud)". 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. Read John Cooper Clarke's poem for Topman's show at London Collections Men. But in Colchester, we've talked for more than six hours in a single session and the most life-threatening substance he has ingested has been a Glenmorangie. And the private sector has upped the standards of concourse retail in general, which used to consist of a couple of broken cig machines. Any poet will tell you this. Stereo, my ass. 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. Cooper Clarke doesn't bear a grudge. Otherwise, I ask for the apparatus for a gin and tonic. They have one child. In his case there were more than 15 years of struggling, moribund times where he was writing little and barely going out. The one thing you could guarantee was that they didn't share an overpowering enthusiasm for poetry. His recorded output has mainly relied on musical backing from the Invisible Girls, which featured Martin Hannett, Steve Hopkins, Pete Shelley, Bill Nelson, and Paul Burgess. Nobody saw this coming. "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. Of course you still occasionally have that voice in your head that says: 'You are going to get rumbled; what you're doing is just a piece of piss. He set a very high bar. Grayclaret With the passage of time, I suggest, such periods of lassitude in poets, or even stand ups like Lenny Bruce, become not just pardoned but somehow regarded as magnificent. But once I'd had the disease, it left me prone to every kind of pulmonary disorder. Hilda, his mother, worked as a cleaner. ", 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. [13][14] He described this period of his life: "It was a feral existence. Really, really badly. on sale a riot of our own by johnny green & garry barker. Click here for tour details, John Cooper Clarke will be launching The Luckiest Guy Alive at an exclusive reading with Q&A session at Hoxton Hall, London N1, on 1 November. 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 was too late. When this piece was used in The Sopranos, there was a communal surge of pride among Cooper Clarke's longstanding admirers, at the knowledge that this work by the poet could resonate as powerfully with New Jersey as it does with Moss Side. l33wilko Him and Grard de Nerval: the guy that wore the powder blue cape and walked a lobster on a leash. If anything, I go for a high-waisted trouser the Simon Cowell except I wouldnt attribute it to him, Id attribute it to flamenco dancers and matadors. Who bloody draws a bloody line. ukje11ybean I explained to him the format of this interview. I never went for the athleisure thing Im not very ath! zaynan They died out. ", The definitive poem about drug addiction, Cooper Clarke told me back then, '"is 'The Vampire' by Charles Baudelaire. As it happened, the record company boss conceded, he stumbled upon the more enduring talent. VD, with its hard, accusatory consonants. The poet-performer talks to Tim Adams about his new book and tour and, further down, answers questions from readers and famous fans. The poet, Elvis Costello recalls, taking up the story, eventually appeared and announced that he'd left a sign reading: "Beware. nicklawrance View agent, publicist, legal and company contact details on IMDbPro, Evie Her run of success on the British TV show Opportunity Knocks led both Clarke and his mother to believe that he could make a living at poetry.[8]. CalendarMan "Great that, innit, that 'Fool'?" Mike Leigh interviewed by our readers and famous fans, Arundhati Roy: The point of the writer is to be unpopular, Lily Allen: We need to fight back against these forces, David Shrigley: Self-delusion is quite important if you want to be an artist, Zadie Smith: I have a very messy and chaotic mind, Liam Gallagher: Rocknroll saved my life, Yuval Noah Harari: Homo sapiens as we know them will disappear in a century or so, Stewart Lee: I dont know where the ideas come from and its terrifying. "I prefer to do this one from a stage," he told the audience, "because BBC bleep operators have sued for repetitive strain injury and my swear box doubles as a high yield pension fund. Your germs are splattered about. "Even then, I remember wondering how on earth you'd come to be there." Apart from the one collection [Ten Years in An Open-Necked Shirt, which originally appeared in 1981, superbly illustrated by Steve Maguire] he has never been published. And you know what I say? It is a kind of a dream town, as Im sure Wilko knows, coming as he does from nearby Canvey Island. As an audience member I know what I get from watching you perform. 9.50 gbp. 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. My trouser needs are simple: a narrow leg in a dark colour, with jean detailing. My influences are people like Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis that kind of American, smart, preppy look. Put the Pain in Spain. In October of 1981 Clarke appeared in episode 2 of series 3 of The Innes Book of Records (TV series), reciting "Evidently Chickentown". 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. Like Ranulph Fiennes. Because he was confident that in whatever borscht-belt dive he found himself theyd immediately get the reference: Hey, thats the place the Queen of England goes. What a thrill walking out there. [23] He has appeared as a guest on the comedy panel show Would I Lie To You? "It wasn't. I think that made me cultivate an inner life. The first lyrics I became aware of would have been in the pre-rocknroll 1950s, when my Uncle Dennis was demobbed from the RAF and he lived at our house for a bit. Copyright 2017 sabotagereviews.com. He worked in the fairground cafe in Rhyl, "and then in the laboratory stores at Salford Tech". 1) That performance undoubtedly made him a popular figure in the Manchester pub scene of the mid-1970s. I mean that crowd wanted crooners, strippers; they might fleetingly tolerate a magician. Like a Night Club in the morning, youre the bitter endLike a recently disinfected shit-house, youre clean round the bendYou give me the horrorsToo bad to be trueAll of my tomorrowsAre lousy coz of youYou put the Shat in ShatterPut the Pain in SpainYour germs are splattered aboutYour face is just a stain, Youre certainly no raver, commonly known as a dragDo us all a favour, here wear this polythene bag. Like a recently disinfected shit-house, you're clean round the bend. Where I grew up, the one unmistakable sign of homosexuality was to betray some interest in your appearance.". This was at Bernard Mannings Embassy Club in Manchester. She loved John Betjeman, and she introduced me to his writing. Very good-John Cooper Clarke was on form and did some of his new poems as well as some old favourites. I am sure some of my classmates felt their time could have been more profitably spent. Imtheaudioslave I didnt meet her then, but she was in the audience. "From way back. One of his more recent poems takes its title from an ironic heckle he received in Manchester, "where drug-taking is of course compulsory." "Which is odd," I suggest, "because, just to take one couplet from 'Beasley Street' [from Snap, Crackle And Bop]: 'There's a dead canary on a swivel seat / There's a rainbow in the road'; these are lines that any poet from TS Eliot to Betjeman would have been very proud to have written. "Well, I'm with Coleridge there. British Rail, like any monopoly, had undoubtedly got complacent. John Cooper Clarke, TV Smith, Joe Cairo, Ann Ziety 26 March 1993 at Covent Garden Community Centre (182) Immortalised on the earliest video recording of an A&S show at Covent Garden Community Centre - which reveals that the 'special guests' promised on the flyer are, in fact, Joe Cairo. 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. Their only shared interest, he insists, was hiding heroin from each other. 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. 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." The truth is Im not just a practitioner of poetry when I am on stage I am like the police: never off-duty. The wording is discussed. Mr_Jones Cooper Clarke met the Cologne-born icon in Manchester in about 1980. Nick Cohen, our columnist, broke off from columnising to recite extended passages of Clarkes verse first committed to memory when the poet was sharing spittle-flecked stages with Buzzcocks and the Sex Pistols back in the day. Because I'm prejudiced. I keep it simple: a dark suit with a pale shirt. (? Why? rycu "I told him the answer is that I read my stuff out loud and I get paid for it.