Ian Youngs
Tradition reporter
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John Cooper Clarke is nicknamed the punk poet and the bard of Salford
John Cooper Clarke is set to grow to be the primary poet to headline a UK area, and is liable for the lyrics to probably the most international’s maximum streamed songs of new years. However he has misplaced not one of the sharp-tongued vitriol of his punk origins.
To a sizeable portion of the country, Clarke’s 50-year circulation of biting beat poetry and kitchen sink stand-up comedy must qualify him for nationwide treasure standing.
He is horrified on the advice.
“I hate that,” he shoots again. “I feel it seems like you are knocking on heaven’s door.
“Nationwide treasure? Shnational shmeasure. Nah, I hate that. Nationwide treasure? Now not whilst I am alive. Now not until it comes with a beneficiant stipend. Then I will consider it.”
This invective is delivered with a sneer, a wink, and in the end a cackle of laughter.
The one stipend in his line of labor is the antiquated allowance that is given to the poet laureate.
“What do you get for that, poet laureate? £70 a yr and a barrel of sherry? Now not .” He cackles loudly once more.
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Clarke as soon as stated William Shakespeare and Charles Baudelaire are “the one other folks I feel are higher than me”
Clarke has been too rebellious a determine to be thought to be for poet laureate and its sherry-based wage, and on the age of 76 he argues he nonetheless has time to disqualify himself from being a completely paid-up nationwide treasure.
“I may but blot my replica e book. I am that foul-mouthed [person] that you have come to dredge up some grudging affection for, however I would possibly but do the unsuitable factor.”
For any individual who has all the time long past in opposition to the grain, and once in a while off the rails, it’s arduous to consider what he may do now to decrease his standing, then again.
One honour the Salford-born wordsmith has agreed to just accept is the 2025 Northern Track Award, which he’ll obtain at a rite in Liverpool on Thursday.
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Clarke used to be sponsored through a band on document, however no longer on level
Even if no longer strictly a musician, Clarke is intently related to the tune scene – from punk to the Arctic Monkeys, who became his 1982 poem I Wanna Be Yours right into a music that used to be the remaining observe on their 2013 album AM.
It used to be by no means formally launched as a unmarried however has since long past directly to be streamed just about 3 billion instances through tune lovers and ranks amongst Spotify’s all-time Most sensible 40.
Lots of Clarke’s poems had been initially launched with musical backings masterminded through manufacturer Martin Hannett, who used to be recognized for his paintings with Pleasure Department.
Clarke has combined emotions concerning the effects.
“It used to be by no means my thought to position my poetry to tune however I could not call to mind an issue in opposition to it,” he says.
“So it used to be a brand new journey for me, however I feel the effects had been patchy. When it used to be excellent, it used to be nice. However I am hyper-critical of my very own stuff.
“It wasn’t my thought, that is all I am pronouncing, however I am satisfied I did it now. It is put me in line for this award, for a get started.”
Opposed punk gigs
Two days after that rite, Clarke will succeed in any other landmark second when he headlines Manchester’s Co-op Are living area, albeit with a scaled-back set-up when compared with its complete 23,500 capability.
Has he ever carried out in an area? “I have completed outside displays that I assume qualify as an area,” he says. “However I have by no means completed an area with a lid on it like this one sooner than.”
It is going to be a a ways cry from the cabaret golf equipment the place he began out within the town within the 60s, and the punk nights the place he made his identify within the 70s, after profitable over opposed lovers who to start with aimed spit and bottles in his path.
So what is extra intimidating – taking part in to a small room of punks, or an area with 1000’s of other folks?
“The extra the merrier,” he replies. “If you are promoting tickets for a residing, the extra the merrier.”
‘Any individual up there likes me’
He carried out reside with Pleasure Department, the Intercourse Pistols, Buzzcocks, The Fall and Elvis Costello, reaching cult standing with social-realist poems like Beasley Boulevard and It appears that evidently Chickentown, the delinquent I Do not Wanna Be Great, and the extra surrealist (I Married A) Monster From Outer House and Valley of the Misplaced Girls.
Alternatively, Clarke’s circulation of awareness dried up as he fell into heroin dependancy within the 80s. He says he virtually died consequently, and used to be lucky to make it thru the ones years.
“Neatly, I died 4 instances. I got here again however scientific motion used to be referred to as for. I am the luckiest man alive. Any individual up there likes me.”
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The Artcic Monkeys have taken John Cooper Clarke’s phrases to a brand new technology
Clarke ultimately were given blank after assembly his spouse Evie, and his skilled revival in point of fact started when It appears that evidently Chickentown used to be used over the tip credit of an episode within the ultimate season of The Sopranos in 2007.
Fellow poets, comedians and musicians coated as much as hail his affect in a 2012 BBC documentary, with Steve Coogan talking about his “spirit of dissent”, and Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner, calling him “my hero”.
Turner became him into Britain’s maximum listened-to poet through the use of his phrases within the Arctic Monkeys’ 2013 music I Wanna Be Yours.
The unique I Wanna Be Yours is an extraordinary instance in Clarke’s catalogue of an unabashed love poem, albeit an unconventional one. “I wanna be your vacuum cleaner, respiring on your mud / I wanna be your Ford Cortina, I can by no means rust,” it starts.
Marriage ceremony favorite
Clarke initially launched the poem on document with a kitsch musical backing in 1982.
“It must were completed like Alex does it from the beginning,” he says. “I imply, that’s the definitive model. I adore it.”
The Arctics’ model continues to ring a bell with a brand new technology and ultimate yr it had extra streams all over the world than some other observe over a decade outdated.
In the meantime, the poem has additionally grow to be a well-liked selection as a marriage studying.
“I might be a billionaire if I had a quid for each and every individual that recited that poem at their wedding ceremony,” Clarke remarks.
He would possibly not have that source of revenue circulation, however he’ll have were given a fragment of a penny for every of the music’s 3 billion streams.
“It provides up, after which there is the PRS [royalties],” he says.
“So I am not complaining. For a transformation.” He we could out any other loud cackle.
John Cooper Clarke performs Manchester’s Co-op Are living area on Saturday, 29 March.
