Titus writes:
Since I penned my Ivor Cutler article, I’ve been thinking closely about the occupational labels sometimes bestowed upon people, particularly in the music industry. For example, the great Bob Dylan is often referred to as a “singer / songwriter”, yet many would argue that he is primarily a poet, who probably would have written this kind of stuff anyhow, rather than have had to accompany it with music. In the case of Ivor, he was once described as a “humourist, poet, songwriter and musician” – so all talents covered!
There are and have been some, like the late Keith Reid of Procol Harum, who have written fine poetic lyrics, yet never performed with the band or played a musical instrument. There are some, I’m sure, who have lyricized great songs, sometimes questioning “now what rhymes with xxxx, so’s I can finish the verse off?”
We are blessed to have, and to have had such great talent amongst us, particularly in the case of alternative music. Joni Mitchell, Adrian Henri, Grace Slick, Sandy Denny, John Lennon, Coldplay, Raymond Douglas Davies, Jagger & Richards, Michael Stipe, Christine McVie are just a few names that come to mind –there must be hundreds more.
Yet it is in the modern era that we’ve witnessed one very unique and hugely talented, witty guy, called Doctor John Cooper-Clarke, a.k.a.The Punk Poet. Unlike some of the people already referred to as “singer/songwriters”, John has always been ‘just’ a poet.... a bit like Pam Ayres who he always admired. Admittedly some of his work has had musical backing tracks by e.g. The Invisible Girls, & Pete Shelley, but John’s poems always do what they say on the tin, e.g. when The Sun & The Daily Star started producing daily female nudity pics in their newspapers, John came up with the excellent “You’ll never find a nipple in the Daily Express”.
John was born in 1949, in Salford, Lancashire. At school, he had an English teacher, Mr Malone who inspired his early interest in poetry, and he also admired the poet Sir Henry Newbolt. Cooper-Clarke recalled that in his childhood, trees were always dirty “because when I was a kid in Salford, you’d climb them and come off filthy. It was like as if you’d been up a chimney”. Ironically his first work as an entertainer was in music, appearing at various Manchester Folk Clubs in the 70’s, but having witnessed Pam Ayres’ success, John & his mother were convinced that he should pursue poetry. Called ‘The Punk Poet’ because he has appeared on the same bill as the Sex Pistols, The Fall, Joy Division, The Buzzcocks, Elvis Costello, Siouxsie & The Banshees and New Order, he has also been referred to as ‘The Bard of Salford’.
He appeared in a 1982 film for The Arts Council of Great Britain & Channel 4 called “Ten years in an open neck shirt”, but the eighties decade was a bad time for him – he spiralled into heroin addiction, and lived “a feral existence” with fellow addict Nico, who I mentioned at length in my blog on The Velvet Underground a few weeks back. Fortunately the 1990’s saw him turn his back on narcotics, and he went back to performing, achieving great success, which culminated in his award in 2013, of an honorary doctorate of arts by the University of Salford. In 2020 Clarke produced his autobiography which took its title from his poem ‘I wanna be yours’. In 2023, Salford City Council awarded John their highest honour, when he was made an Honorary Freeman of the City.
John has made several TV appearances such as on ‘Pointless Celebrities‘, ‘Would I lie to you’ and ‘8 out of 10 Cats does Countdown’ (many of these hilarious episodes are on You Tube). He also appeared on one of his favourite shows ‘Desert Island Discs’ describing it as “All the finality of a suicide note without the obligation of topping yourself”.
An exceedingly funny, intelligent man and above all, a poet second to none IMO.
I have asked lex to play a couple of tracks ’Beasley Street’ and ‘Get back on drugs you fat ****’.
