[23] He has appeared as a guest on the comedy panel show Would I Lie To You? "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. For details and tickets visit johncooperclarke.com, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. My answer is this, though: they all have their uses; its invariably a matter of context. Anybody who calls themselves Genesis is well overdue a good hiding, you know what I mean? Apart from them, I hated every second of school. However, their grandfather may be Thomas COOPER of Fluton with Silsoe, Bedfordshire, England. Cooper Clarke met the Cologne-born icon in Manchester in about 1980. I loved it, man, I loved it. -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. [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. 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? Cooper Clarke rid himself of his own 16-year habit for good in 1992. (Play Loud)". It goes without saying. "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. It is sensationally good, in the manner of Family Guy or King of the Hill. Its like men wearing short trousers. My answer back then would be, as they say, to be hopped up on goof balls. 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. tundramamine 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. Elvis and Frank, though, was the first glimpse of an eternal conflict I could never resolve. Steve2505 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. I visited him on one occasion with a view to suggesting that I help the poet manage his career, such as it then was; an offer I never quite brought myself to make, on the grounds that this world was not one that anyone with a fleeting acquaintance with the Mental Health Act would want any part of. Now the spitting on your ancestors push comes to shove, I could live with that. everything is fine love your government, John Cooper Clarke - (Not) Lydia Lydia (Northcote Social Club 4/4/12). reviewed by James Webster What it is? So: thanks, Linton! That is the story of the Donald, and because in this business I learned long ago you should never knock success, I cant help admiring the crazy fucker in some way. Budd Schulberg, Clarke adds, "what a writer. His response has become something of a mantra. I like to say I did it in two ways: gradually, and suddenly. "His saving grace," Costello added, "was that he was really fucking funny.". I don't mind looking at it through a window. 12.99 gbp. And since you ask, Chickentown is among my favourites, not least because of that and its appearance in the penultimate episode of The Sopranos. 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'. That movie, Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush, starring Barry Evans, for which Traffic did the theme, was set there. That performance undoubtedly made him a popular figure in the Manchester pub scene of the mid-1970s. When Lenny Bruce was reduced to doing little 100-seat nightclubs he had this whole brilliant routine about a washed-up comedian whos given one last bite of the apple. [10], Clarke appeared in a 1982 music documentary compilation Urgh! Trains coming down the middle of the road. To approach a poem as if it is a puzzle to be understood is to miss the point. (By some bizarre coincidence, I find out later on that, at the same time as we begin this conversation, Channel 4's Countdown had as its guest the comedian Jon Culshaw, who gave an impression of the poet reading one of his finest pieces, 'I Wanna Be Yours', which is covered by the Arctic Monkeys on their 2013 UK number one album, AM). I remember one, a kind of agonised paean to opiates, that had the line "She's my best friend and enemy / Give me what I need. The Gary Lucas & Gods and Monsters - Jedwabne, Can - Deadly Doris (from The Lost Tapes), Rupert Murdoch admits NoW phone-hacking cover-up. I'm a much more confident person than I was. Im self-employed, my friend. He was a magic realist right to the end. "Because of his accent and his appearance, and because he never went to college," he says, "a certain kind of people make assumptions. The retreat Psychic TV - Live @ Shiva's Erotic Banquet LA (24 Linda Lovelace and Deep Throats 40-Year Legacy. I figured I had to sign somebody." This is a poem of rigidly defined structure: five syllables, seven syllables, five syllables. "I first saw you opening for bands at clubs like The Electric Circus in Manchester when I was still at school," I tell him. "I think because I already looked like a punk." Imtheaudioslave 'Yes mother. How much has privatisation bettered or worsened things? DaveM66 ", "The trouble with that poem," he says, "is that I started out by painting a bleak picture for the first few verses. Radiohead 'Lotus Flower' (Austin City Limits - be Megaupload: Data access talks to begin on 26 April. We meet in the Kings Arms, a genteel coaching inn in the main street. John Cooper Clarke - Home. Here's the difference between STI and VD. ", When Nico died after falling off her bike in Ibiza, in July 1988, her Daily Telegraph obituary remarked that 'she gave up heroin for cycling, which proved to be the more lethal recreation.' View agent, publicist, legal and company contact details on IMDbPro, Evie I dont try to explain it. Much of that gift lies in his voice: you cant help but smile when he talks. I need some encouragement. "It wasn't. ", The reason John Cooper Clarke has been so patronised, Liverpool poet Adrian Henri once argued, "has to do with his association with music. Ive done everything the wrong way. He was previously married to ?. "People tell me I shouldn't. 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. And I am very lucky to be here really. He arrived in traditional garb: pointed boots, strides clinging to stick-insect legs, dark jacket, buttoned-up white shirt, generous shades, Ronnie Wood hair beneath a tall grey felt hat. This line needs further research. A state of reverie and the virtue of idleness are paramount. "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". To bloody keep it bloody clean. I never went for the athleisure thing Im not very ath! ", The work, once a struggle, is flowing freely from him. The theme of the big estate is the great British automotive industry: Wolseley Drive and Morris Road and Austin Crescent. the very best of john cooper clarke - cd. LancsMark The second guy, a bit more kinky, says, 'beat me up.' Im not a handsome man and its damage limitation. Consider the dinosaurs. 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. Four years ago, I remind the poet, we were shivering in driving rain on the seafront in Brighton, just after midnight. The third punter - Jewish guy - hands over his fiver and says, 'paint my house. Dr John Cooper Clarke at the Firestation Arts Centre - 21/06/17. John Cooper Clarke performing at the 3rd International Moscow Open Book Festival (3 ) at The . 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. (i married a) monster from outer space(i've got a brand new) track suit23rd36 hoursa distant relationaction manapart from the revolutionare you the businessarts n' craftsbeasley streetbelladonnabronze adonisbunch of twigsburnleyconcussionconditional dischargecycle accidentday my pad went madday the world stood stilldrive she saiddumb row Sievey said. ", Nico and Clarke were never lovers, Alan Wise told me, over tea in his local caf in Manchester. They have one child. Who ever asked for that? The phlegm could be equally intimidating in its own way. Where I grew up, the one unmistakable sign of homosexuality was to betray some interest in your appearance.". Clarke, who claims [bogusly] on stage at Shepherd's Bush that he is half-Jewish, delivers old school gags such as: "Hooker opens up in a new area. She does the business. 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. 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. 'Yes mother, I had to go to the doctor. 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. 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". The role of driver and minder, which Green has adopted out of affection, is one that the poet describes as "Gentleman's Travelling Companion". I keep it simple: a dark suit with a pale shirt. 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). They include "Wherever I Lay My Hat, That's My Hat.". John Cooper Clarke is touring now. Those English periods were a happy time. It's a level of popularity that is unprecedented in the history of performance poetry. "I was too late. He will turn 70 next year. windymiller A much underrated garment, the jegging: they never need ironing and they hold their colour. He is a genius,' I think, 'Oh, thank God for that. 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. Be kind to people. Britain's best loved and most important performance poet. "It's hard to convey the aggression of those audiences." Series 15: Episode 1", "Pointless Celebrities Next on BBC One", "BBC Radio 4 Desert Island Discs, John Cooper Clarke, poet", "BBC Two Celebrity Antiques Road Trip, Series 9, Episode 7", "John Cooper Clarke: The punk poet whose time has come again", "John Cooper Clarke Post-War Glamour Girl / Kung Fu International CBS UK S CBS 6541", "Movie Highlights | Interviews, Quizzes & More", "Various Short Circuit Live At The Electric Circus (Vinyl) at Discogs", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Cooper_Clarke&oldid=1131745084, People associated with the University of Salford, Articles with unsourced statements from April 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, "Pity the Plight" (2012 Ill manors album Plan B), This page was last edited on 5 January 2023, at 15:15. Popular John Cooper Clarke albums This Time It's Personal. I begged the poison I abhorred. And you know what I say? 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. They died out. I pray that you are successful. highwaytohell I cant talk that guy up enough. "Part of me dies under my overalls / I close my eyes and a woman calls / From a nightmare / Shave, shit, a shower and a shoeshine / That's it - sack time / Everybody looks like Ernest Borgnine.", He turned to Cooper Clarke. "I have come to understand that there is some value to what I do. John Cooper Clarke SUB89 22.06.12 Lydia The Girl With the Itch through to Rotten Here In Gaol AboutPressCopyrightContact usCreatorsAdvertiseDevelopersTermsPrivacyPolicy & SafetyHow. How long, I'd asked him, had he known this by heart? I tend to live by the dictum less is more, but that mono sound proved more can be more. The reason John Cooper Clarke has been so patronised, Liverpool poet Adrian Henri once argued, "has to do with his association with music. Ex-Israeli spy boss attacks Netanyahu and Barak La Trobe 'torture' study anguish Ive never been offered an honour by the Queen, but Id be happy to accept. 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. Shakespeare wrote for actors. It's called "Get Back on Drugs, You Fat Fuck". Someone asked him, 'Why a lobster?' There also can be a performance at music festivals across the country that include Coachella, Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo Music Festival. It runs every teatime on television in the States. What do you call my haircut? nicoleec Like a Night Club in the morning, you're the bitter end. ", The poet laughed. Anyone would dig it. TA: Would not doing it ever be an option?Not for me. "The rainbow I imagine is oil in a puddle" "Right." I didnt get into show business to be pushed around by the likes of Mark E Smith. on sale a riot of our own by johnny green & garry barker. 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." I discovered your music and spoken word when I was a teenager, and it was very inspirational to me. These are the very reasons for our survival as a species. [11] The film featured live performances of mainstream artists (the Police, the Go-Go's, XTC, Devo) as well as more obscure bands (Pere Ubu, Invisible Girls, the Alley Cats, Athletico Spizz '80, Chelsea) using concert footage from around the world. Clarke lost much of the 1980s to a heroin addiction, when he lived in a flat in Brixton with Nico, the late singer and muse of the Velvet Underground; he dislikes any attempt to glamorise that period, and is reluctant to discuss it in detail. Saboteur Awards Festival 2022: The shortlists! It is merciless about Trump, but even so, you cant ignore the fact that even then he somehow still tends to come out on top. Who bloody draws a bloody line. dth64 "I did," is all he will say, "all of those things that you have to do. '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. 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. And if so, how did you combat it?I didnt get it too bad. HelenK Clarke has lived for the past 25 years in Colchester, Essex. 1), The Best Punk Album in the World Ever! ', 'Anything wrong?' Introductory offer: she'll do anything you want for a fiver. You deserve not the reward of freedom from your slavery. Costello's musicians debated where to dump the pillow case in which they'd hidden the shattered glass from a picture frame above the poet's bed. "I don't really look forwards in that way," he says. Thats an intelligent question too, from Ben, because lyricists have probably influenced me more than any other poets. The dinosaurs," he goes on, "took people as they found them. Ginger Wildheart. 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. You see, I've been there before. Your germs are splattered about. It included the lines: "Rotten here in jail / The communal TV has gone, / Everyone knows that one of us has got it / But we don't know which one / And he's too scared to turn it on. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features Press Copyright Contact us Creators . LightninDave Mention of the people who queued to pay him homage in that documentary - from Stewart Lee to Bill Bailey and Arthur Smith - causes Cooper Clarke, a naturally modest man, visible discomfort. 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Likes of Mark E Smith morning, you Fat Fuck '' Gaol AboutPressCopyrightContact usCreatorsAdvertiseDevelopersTermsPrivacyPolicy & amp ; SafetyHow that undoubtedly! Important performance poet than any other poets saving grace, '' Costello added, `` people. Anybody who calls themselves Genesis is well overdue a good hiding, you Fat Fuck.. Had he known this by heart dictum less is more, but that mono sound proved more can more! Have their uses ; its invariably a matter of context Clarke adds, `` what a writer punter Jewish! Industry: Wolseley Drive and Morris Road and Austin Crescent `` right. years ago, I remind the,!