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I Wanna Be Yours
Poet Laureate of Punk, fashion icon, TV and radio presenter, social and cultural commentator.
At 5' 11' (8 stone, 32 inch chest, 27 inch waist), in trademark suit jacket, skin-tight drainpipes and dark glasses, with jet-black back-combed hair and mouth full of gold teeth, John Cooper Clarke is instantly recognisable. As a writer his voice is equally unmistakable.
This memoir covers an extraordinary life, filled with remarkable personalities: from Nico to Chuck Berry, from all the great punks to Bernard Manning, and on to more recent fans and collaborators Alex Turner and Plan B. John also reveals his boggling encyclopaedic knowledge of 20th-century popular culture, from Baudelaire to Coronation Street. Inimitable and iconic, his book will be a joy for lifelong fans and for a whole new generation.
At 5' 11' (8 stone, 32 inch chest, 27 inch waist), in trademark suit jacket, skin-tight drainpipes and dark glasses, with jet-black back-combed hair and mouth full of gold teeth, John Cooper Clarke is instantly recognisable. As a writer his voice is equally unmistakable.
This memoir covers an extraordinary life, filled with remarkable personalities: from Nico to Chuck Berry, from all the great punks to Bernard Manning, and on to more recent fans and collaborators Alex Turner and Plan B. John also reveals his boggling encyclopaedic knowledge of 20th-century popular culture, from Baudelaire to Coronation Street. Inimitable and iconic, his book will be a joy for lifelong fans and for a whole new generation.
470 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 2021
306 people are currently reading
2062 people want to read
About the author
John Cooper Clarke
16 books221 followersJohn Cooper Clarke (born 25 January 1949) is an English performance poet who first became famous during the punk rock era of the late 1970s when he became known as a "punk poet". He released several albums in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and continues to perform regularly.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 278 reviews
December 20, 2022
John Cooper Clarke, punk poet and the Bard of Salford is in danger of becoming a national treasure. I remember him from the 70s and from assorted TV appearances. He’s even on the GCSE curriculum these days! In this autobiography he is engaging and pretty honest (irritating as well). He’s done a great deal and drops a lot of names. Clarke is also very keen on lists: there are a lot of them. Another speciality is clothing and fashion, something he takes very seriously. He also charts his struggles with heroin addiction in the 1980s. The lists of people he knows and has worked with is impressive, from Bernard Manning to Gil Scot-Heron, from The Clash to Nico, from Plan B to Chuck Berry to list a very few. His working class roots are clear and make a fascinating tale.
Clarke, as you would expect is a wordsmith and this is easy to read. He appears quite self-deprecating and seems to appeal to all ages. He recounts the time he met the Arctic Monkeys, who told him they had studied his poems at school: he is over 70 now. He seems to have been one of the few to have had a good relationship with Mark E Smith of The Fall, possibly because he knew him when Smith was at school and he rates them as well:
“I’ve worked with the best of them, but The Fall I would watch night in, night out. Each performance seemed unique.”
Clarke is no saint and he has his flaws, but he recounts a life well lived. This is a tale well told with lots of self-deprecating one liners, but Clarke’s voice is remarkable and he has to be heard. Some of his early stuff is raw and angry, like Beasley Street:
Far from crazy pavements –
The taste of silver spoons
A clinical arrangement
On a dirty afternoon
Where the fecal germs of Mr Freud
Are rendered obsolete
The legal term is null and void
In the case of Beasley Street
In the cheap seats where murder breeds
Somebody is out of breath
Sleep is a luxury they don’t need
– a sneak preview of death
Belladonna is your flower
Manslaughter your meat
Spend a year in a couple of hours
On the edge of Beasley Street
Where the action isn’t
That’s where it is
State your position
Vacancies exist
In an X-certificate exercise
Ex-servicemen excrete
Keith Joseph smiles and a baby dies
In a box on Beasley Street
From the boarding houses and the bedsits
Full of accidents and fleas
Somebody gets it
Where the missing persons freeze
Wearing dead men’s overcoats
You can’t see their feet
A riff joint shuts – opens up
Right down on Beasley Street
Cars collide, colours clash
Disaster movie stuff
For a man with a Fu Manchu moustache
Revenge is not enough
There’s a dead canary on a swivel seat
There’s a rainbow in the road
Meanwhile on Beasley Street
Silence is the code
Hot beneath the collar
An inspector calls
Where the perishing stink of squalor
Impregnates the walls
The rats have all got rickets
They spit through broken teeth
The name of the game is not cricket
Caught out on Beasley Street
The hipster and his hired hat
Drive a borrowed car
Yellow socks and a pink cravat
Nothing La-di-dah
OAP, mother to be
Watch the three-piece suite
When shit-stoppered drains
And crocodile skis
Are seen on Beasley Street
The kingdom of the blind
A one-eyed man is king
Beauty problems are redefined
The doorbells do not ring
A lightbulb bursts like a blister
The only form of heat
Here a fellow sells his sister
Down the river on Beasley Street
The boys are on the wagon
The girls are on the shelf
Their common problem is
That they’re not someone else
The dirt blows out
The dust blows in
You can’t keep it neat
It’s a fully furnished dustbin,
Sixteen Beasley Street
Vince the ageing savage
Betrays no kind of life
But the smell of yesterday’s cabbage
And the ghost of last year’s wife
Through a constant haze
Of deodorant sprays
He says retreat
Alsations dog the dirty days
Down the middle of Beasley Street
People turn to poison
Quick as lager turns to piss
Sweethearts are physically sick
Every time they kiss.
It’s a sociologist’s paradise
Each day repeats
On easy, cheesy, greasy, queasy
Beastly Beasley Street
Eyes dead as vicious fish
Look around for laughs
If I could have just one wish
I would be a photograph
On a permanent Monday morning
Get lost or fall asleep
When the yellow cats are yawning
Around the back of Beasley Street
Clarke, as you would expect is a wordsmith and this is easy to read. He appears quite self-deprecating and seems to appeal to all ages. He recounts the time he met the Arctic Monkeys, who told him they had studied his poems at school: he is over 70 now. He seems to have been one of the few to have had a good relationship with Mark E Smith of The Fall, possibly because he knew him when Smith was at school and he rates them as well:
“I’ve worked with the best of them, but The Fall I would watch night in, night out. Each performance seemed unique.”
Clarke is no saint and he has his flaws, but he recounts a life well lived. This is a tale well told with lots of self-deprecating one liners, but Clarke’s voice is remarkable and he has to be heard. Some of his early stuff is raw and angry, like Beasley Street:
Far from crazy pavements –
The taste of silver spoons
A clinical arrangement
On a dirty afternoon
Where the fecal germs of Mr Freud
Are rendered obsolete
The legal term is null and void
In the case of Beasley Street
In the cheap seats where murder breeds
Somebody is out of breath
Sleep is a luxury they don’t need
– a sneak preview of death
Belladonna is your flower
Manslaughter your meat
Spend a year in a couple of hours
On the edge of Beasley Street
Where the action isn’t
That’s where it is
State your position
Vacancies exist
In an X-certificate exercise
Ex-servicemen excrete
Keith Joseph smiles and a baby dies
In a box on Beasley Street
From the boarding houses and the bedsits
Full of accidents and fleas
Somebody gets it
Where the missing persons freeze
Wearing dead men’s overcoats
You can’t see their feet
A riff joint shuts – opens up
Right down on Beasley Street
Cars collide, colours clash
Disaster movie stuff
For a man with a Fu Manchu moustache
Revenge is not enough
There’s a dead canary on a swivel seat
There’s a rainbow in the road
Meanwhile on Beasley Street
Silence is the code
Hot beneath the collar
An inspector calls
Where the perishing stink of squalor
Impregnates the walls
The rats have all got rickets
They spit through broken teeth
The name of the game is not cricket
Caught out on Beasley Street
The hipster and his hired hat
Drive a borrowed car
Yellow socks and a pink cravat
Nothing La-di-dah
OAP, mother to be
Watch the three-piece suite
When shit-stoppered drains
And crocodile skis
Are seen on Beasley Street
The kingdom of the blind
A one-eyed man is king
Beauty problems are redefined
The doorbells do not ring
A lightbulb bursts like a blister
The only form of heat
Here a fellow sells his sister
Down the river on Beasley Street
The boys are on the wagon
The girls are on the shelf
Their common problem is
That they’re not someone else
The dirt blows out
The dust blows in
You can’t keep it neat
It’s a fully furnished dustbin,
Sixteen Beasley Street
Vince the ageing savage
Betrays no kind of life
But the smell of yesterday’s cabbage
And the ghost of last year’s wife
Through a constant haze
Of deodorant sprays
He says retreat
Alsations dog the dirty days
Down the middle of Beasley Street
People turn to poison
Quick as lager turns to piss
Sweethearts are physically sick
Every time they kiss.
It’s a sociologist’s paradise
Each day repeats
On easy, cheesy, greasy, queasy
Beastly Beasley Street
Eyes dead as vicious fish
Look around for laughs
If I could have just one wish
I would be a photograph
On a permanent Monday morning
Get lost or fall asleep
When the yellow cats are yawning
Around the back of Beasley Street
May 5, 2021
"I’d been halfway out the door when the proprietor told me that some young men in a band wanted a word because they’d done my poetry at school. I asked him what they were called, and he said The Arctic Monkeys. The name of a group is important and that one is unforgettable. They were speaking my language. There’s a whole wide world in those two words; it calls up an emotional response. Think about it; the North Pole is no place for the higher primates. That’s terrible. I mean, crikey! Get that monkey out of there!"
October 30, 2020
I was riveted by I Wanna Be Yours from start to finish. John Cooper Clarke is social historian, social commentator, poet, ranconteur, joker. Every page is a delight.
I went for the audiobook version and it's sublime. I could listen to John Cooper Clarke read the telephone directory. To hear the great man read his hugely entertaining autobiography is a rare treat.
I Wanna Be Yours takes the reader from John's birth in 1949 through to the present day, and what a wild and wonderful life it has been. His impeccable taste and poet's sensibility was evident from a very young age.
Prior to making his name as a poet during the punk era, John worked variously as a bookie’s runner, an apprentice car mechanic, a cutter in the clothes trade, a trainee printer, a lab technician, and a firewatcher in Plymouth's naval dockyard. Throughout this period he retained his ambition to be a poet. Once he realised that he could perform poems as live entertainment he started to work in local comedy clubs including Bernard Manning's Embassy Club. Bernard Manning became an unlikely champion of the young JCC.
John was a heroin addict for a few decades, so the second half of the book contains a lot of detail about scoring drugs, many with celebrity addict pals and some are truly hair raising tales. Miraculously he survived despite nearly dying on three occasions. One time, whilst with Nico in Amsterdam, he scores off an old, skinny guy with grey greasy hair and no front teeth. It's only years later he realises, whilst watching the film Let’s Get Lost, that it was Chet Baker.
Improbably by the end of this memoir John is clean, has found domestic contentment with his soulmate wife with whom he has a daughter, and his professional stock has never been higher. He's nothing short of a national treasure.
A remarkable, unmissable book.
5/5
The blurb...
Poet Laureate of Punk, fashion icon, TV and radio presenter, social and cultural commentator.
At 5' 11' (8 stone, 32 inch chest, 27 inch waist), in trademark suit jacket, skin-tight drainpipes and dark glasses, with jet-black back-combed hair and mouth full of gold teeth, John Cooper Clarke is instantly recognisable. As a writer his voice is equally unmistakable.
This memoir covers an extraordinary life, filled with remarkable personalities: from Nico to Chuck Berry, from all the great punks to Bernard Manning, and on to more recent fans and collaborators Alex Turner and Plan B. John also reveals his boggling encyclopaedic knowledge of 20th-century popular culture, from Baudelaire to Coronation Street. Inimitable and iconic, his book will be a joy for lifelong fans and for a whole new generation.
I went for the audiobook version and it's sublime. I could listen to John Cooper Clarke read the telephone directory. To hear the great man read his hugely entertaining autobiography is a rare treat.
I Wanna Be Yours takes the reader from John's birth in 1949 through to the present day, and what a wild and wonderful life it has been. His impeccable taste and poet's sensibility was evident from a very young age.
Prior to making his name as a poet during the punk era, John worked variously as a bookie’s runner, an apprentice car mechanic, a cutter in the clothes trade, a trainee printer, a lab technician, and a firewatcher in Plymouth's naval dockyard. Throughout this period he retained his ambition to be a poet. Once he realised that he could perform poems as live entertainment he started to work in local comedy clubs including Bernard Manning's Embassy Club. Bernard Manning became an unlikely champion of the young JCC.
John was a heroin addict for a few decades, so the second half of the book contains a lot of detail about scoring drugs, many with celebrity addict pals and some are truly hair raising tales. Miraculously he survived despite nearly dying on three occasions. One time, whilst with Nico in Amsterdam, he scores off an old, skinny guy with grey greasy hair and no front teeth. It's only years later he realises, whilst watching the film Let’s Get Lost, that it was Chet Baker.
Improbably by the end of this memoir John is clean, has found domestic contentment with his soulmate wife with whom he has a daughter, and his professional stock has never been higher. He's nothing short of a national treasure.
A remarkable, unmissable book.
5/5
The blurb...
Poet Laureate of Punk, fashion icon, TV and radio presenter, social and cultural commentator.
At 5' 11' (8 stone, 32 inch chest, 27 inch waist), in trademark suit jacket, skin-tight drainpipes and dark glasses, with jet-black back-combed hair and mouth full of gold teeth, John Cooper Clarke is instantly recognisable. As a writer his voice is equally unmistakable.
This memoir covers an extraordinary life, filled with remarkable personalities: from Nico to Chuck Berry, from all the great punks to Bernard Manning, and on to more recent fans and collaborators Alex Turner and Plan B. John also reveals his boggling encyclopaedic knowledge of 20th-century popular culture, from Baudelaire to Coronation Street. Inimitable and iconic, his book will be a joy for lifelong fans and for a whole new generation.
January 19, 2021
Where was the editor? I think Mr Clarke was given too much freedom with this meandering diary with a tendency to show off. I was surprised that the reviews and descriptions made no mention of Clarke's addictions. They drive the book, his difficult life and the mean spirit which is probably not his true self. It's a great achievement for a poet to get on the National Curriculum and as Clarke shows it gave him another generation of fans like Arctic Monkeys, and a bit of regular money. His life and career spans a big timescale, and with his constant demons this is no mean feat. It might have been useful to have more of his poems in the book. A fat book by a thin man that I felt didn't get to the heart of the matter, and I was left not knowing if I like him, knowing he wouldn't give a fuck about what I think.
October 16, 2020
I was eagerly anticipating this and got it within a few hours of release; went for the audiobook version because JCC has one of the most characterful and listenable voices in showbusiness. Felt wrong listening to it at my usual 1.5 speed so I set it at normal pace and 15 hours in John's company later I'm going to start again at the beginning.
A joy to listen to, punctured with his trademark caustic wit and wisdom, Clarke the People's Poet is capable of a florid turn of phrase, but keeps the lyrical flourishes infrequent enough to be impactful. Clarke the Cabaret Comic can't resist the occasional corny feedline punchline but there are more proper laughs in here than the majority of memoirs by better-known comedians, and the humour, which runs the gamut from playground to gallows, never distracts from what is a remarkably controlled narrative of an out-of-control period in the life of one of Manchester and Britain's finest.
Give it a name: chronicles of chaos from a true punk pioneer. Pure, unashamed luxury.
A joy to listen to, punctured with his trademark caustic wit and wisdom, Clarke the People's Poet is capable of a florid turn of phrase, but keeps the lyrical flourishes infrequent enough to be impactful. Clarke the Cabaret Comic can't resist the occasional corny feedline punchline but there are more proper laughs in here than the majority of memoirs by better-known comedians, and the humour, which runs the gamut from playground to gallows, never distracts from what is a remarkably controlled narrative of an out-of-control period in the life of one of Manchester and Britain's finest.
Give it a name: chronicles of chaos from a true punk pioneer. Pure, unashamed luxury.
November 21, 2020
I was born one year after JCC and about three miles from where he was born, so it was pretty obvious this was going to resonate with me. I grew up with much the same memories: UCP cafes, meat and potato pies, running home on a Friday night to watch ‘Ready Steady Go’, and the Twisted Wheel and Jigsaw clubs in Manchester. Even his musical tastes were mine in those early days; Dylan and Captain Beefheart. I chose the audiobook version, and who wouldn’t given his unique style. A five star no-brainer for me, but I really wonder how others not having a similar background might feel about it. It was heavily weighted toward the early years and away from his poetry. But little do I care. I'm smiling.
August 1, 2025
Pure, unashamed, luxury. 😎
This was one of those books that I wanted to go on and on forever - and never, ever end. Considering I've never found any poetry that truly resonated with me - and the fact that I could only really remember who John Cooper Clarke was from some random TV appearances about 25 years ago - that I would actually sit and read his autobiography seems more than a little weird. Like...why? And I'll be honest with you, had it not been for the title of this bio, I probably would never have come across it in the first place. I was actually looking to see if there were any bio's of the Arctic Monkeys and "I Wanna Be Yours" came up in the Google results.
Even so, I'm not entirely sure what therefore made me choose to read this book...but I guess the gods of great reading decided to smile on me that day, because I procured a copy and started to get stuck into it immediately. And right from the get-go, this wily, witty, wild and wonderful man had me under his spell. I know he's a poet, but boy is he a great storyteller. I feel like I've been treated to a potted history of the UK music scene, fashion trends, the changing industries in Manchester, the northern comedy and cabaret circuit, British drug culture, the invention of youth culture, different architectural styles, how to go on holiday abroad with virtually no money, what it's like to have bomb go off on the one night you happen to be over in Belfast during "The Troubles", how other European cuisines can't hold a candle to the Brits when it comes to breakfast, contemporary poetry, the New York club denizens' fascination with Benny Hill, the experience of having rock stars come and live with you, the care and feeding of small monkeys and how the love of a good woman can allow a good man to thrive.
And that's just the stuff I can think of off the top of my head. Seriously, every chapter contains another mad-cap escapade; every page some words of wisdom and genuine 'laugh out loud' humorous observations. Clarke's is a life well lived and getting to read about it was a total privilege. Recalled in a disarmingly chatty way, it is peppered throughout with some really beautiful language (well he IS a poet) set starkly against some admittedly grim back-drops, as he invites the reader to pull up a chair, settle in with a beverage of your choice and just let his wicked sense of humour and self-effacing recollections wash over you, while you sit captivated by this larger-than-life character.
You don't need to know anything about who John Cooper Clarke is before sitting down to read his autobiography (although I'm sure that there were thousands of fans desperately waiting on him getting around to writing one) you just need to be a fan of a cracking good yarn. And ladies...be prepared to fall a little bit in love with this adorable rogue. I know I have.
Like I said at the beginning of this review, I'm not a poetry person. (That's why my review has very little to say about our Bargain Basement Baudelaire's impact on the literary scene.) But you really don't have to be a poetry buff in order to find this book massively entertaining. You might - like me - come out afterwards actually wanting to go seek out some of Dr John Cooper Clarke's work, both in the printed and spoken medium; because I get the feeling that he's probably going to be the kind of poet that I might be able to get on board with.
I read Peter Guralnick's 2-part biography of Elvis Presley last year, despite never having been remotely interested in his music, films or fandom. It ended up being a five star read for me. Likewise, before this autobiography, I knew almost nothing about John Cooper Clarke, but it too is a hands-down five star read for me too.
Just read it. You won't be disappointed.
This was one of those books that I wanted to go on and on forever - and never, ever end. Considering I've never found any poetry that truly resonated with me - and the fact that I could only really remember who John Cooper Clarke was from some random TV appearances about 25 years ago - that I would actually sit and read his autobiography seems more than a little weird. Like...why? And I'll be honest with you, had it not been for the title of this bio, I probably would never have come across it in the first place. I was actually looking to see if there were any bio's of the Arctic Monkeys and "I Wanna Be Yours" came up in the Google results.
Even so, I'm not entirely sure what therefore made me choose to read this book...but I guess the gods of great reading decided to smile on me that day, because I procured a copy and started to get stuck into it immediately. And right from the get-go, this wily, witty, wild and wonderful man had me under his spell. I know he's a poet, but boy is he a great storyteller. I feel like I've been treated to a potted history of the UK music scene, fashion trends, the changing industries in Manchester, the northern comedy and cabaret circuit, British drug culture, the invention of youth culture, different architectural styles, how to go on holiday abroad with virtually no money, what it's like to have bomb go off on the one night you happen to be over in Belfast during "The Troubles", how other European cuisines can't hold a candle to the Brits when it comes to breakfast, contemporary poetry, the New York club denizens' fascination with Benny Hill, the experience of having rock stars come and live with you, the care and feeding of small monkeys and how the love of a good woman can allow a good man to thrive.
And that's just the stuff I can think of off the top of my head. Seriously, every chapter contains another mad-cap escapade; every page some words of wisdom and genuine 'laugh out loud' humorous observations. Clarke's is a life well lived and getting to read about it was a total privilege. Recalled in a disarmingly chatty way, it is peppered throughout with some really beautiful language (well he IS a poet) set starkly against some admittedly grim back-drops, as he invites the reader to pull up a chair, settle in with a beverage of your choice and just let his wicked sense of humour and self-effacing recollections wash over you, while you sit captivated by this larger-than-life character.
You don't need to know anything about who John Cooper Clarke is before sitting down to read his autobiography (although I'm sure that there were thousands of fans desperately waiting on him getting around to writing one) you just need to be a fan of a cracking good yarn. And ladies...be prepared to fall a little bit in love with this adorable rogue. I know I have.
Like I said at the beginning of this review, I'm not a poetry person. (That's why my review has very little to say about our Bargain Basement Baudelaire's impact on the literary scene.) But you really don't have to be a poetry buff in order to find this book massively entertaining. You might - like me - come out afterwards actually wanting to go seek out some of Dr John Cooper Clarke's work, both in the printed and spoken medium; because I get the feeling that he's probably going to be the kind of poet that I might be able to get on board with.
I read Peter Guralnick's 2-part biography of Elvis Presley last year, despite never having been remotely interested in his music, films or fandom. It ended up being a five star read for me. Likewise, before this autobiography, I knew almost nothing about John Cooper Clarke, but it too is a hands-down five star read for me too.
Just read it. You won't be disappointed.
December 11, 2020
Salford poet John Cooper Clarke has certainly led a fascinating life and documents it in - a lot of - detail in this memoir. Especially detailed are the account of his early years in a display that threatens to derail his story.
That early section is a fascinating look at popular culture of the 40s, 50s and 60s in some ways. But in other ways, it feels like a different book from what follows... A portrait of the artist as a young, and then middle aged, drug addict (the sections of the book I found most interesting).
Curiously, everything after his rehab and recovery seems rushed or at least in a lot less detail. Which feels odd, too, because it seems it's these years that he's never been happier. Perhaps there's not much to say about happiness!
So for me, a disjointed and unsatisfactory read. But there's a lot here that diehard fans will enjoy and this memoir is another display of Cooper Clarke's outstanding command of the English language.
That early section is a fascinating look at popular culture of the 40s, 50s and 60s in some ways. But in other ways, it feels like a different book from what follows... A portrait of the artist as a young, and then middle aged, drug addict (the sections of the book I found most interesting).
Curiously, everything after his rehab and recovery seems rushed or at least in a lot less detail. Which feels odd, too, because it seems it's these years that he's never been happier. Perhaps there's not much to say about happiness!
So for me, a disjointed and unsatisfactory read. But there's a lot here that diehard fans will enjoy and this memoir is another display of Cooper Clarke's outstanding command of the English language.
March 16, 2022
‘I Wanna Be Yours’ (2020) Is the autobiography of erstwhile ‘punk poet’ - now ‘people’s poet’ Dr John Cooper Clarke - the book title itself taken from one of Clarke’s most popular poems of the same name.
In ‘Wanna Be Yours’, Clarke recounts his life from early years growing up in Salford, to dedicated follower of fashion, via failed attempts at a music career, through embryonic proto punk poetry to life as a household name, playing the London Palladium and residing in Colchester (of all places).
Clarke is a great raconteur and in this book - social historian, a hugely engaging, eminently (on the whole) likeable personality, a punk poet of the people, who has been hugely influential in both poetry and culture alike.
But be that as it may, at 470 pages and too much of it dominated by JCC’s dependence and pursuit of class A drugs - clearly a major factor through most of his life and as such, is important and should be recounted…but to this extent, repetition abounds and tedium unfortunately sets in.
The poetry of JCC is brilliant and is rightly lauded as such (see his brilliant collection: ‘Ten Years in an Open Necked Shirt’) I’ve been privileged to have seen him perform twice - but this book, entertaining as it is (and it does feel like the voice of JCC speaking to us from the pages) could have been so much better, given the right direction and at least a modicum of editing.
It’s also frustrating to consider and goodness knows how much more of JCC’s great poetry we’ve lost due to the impact on his work ethic of addiction - something which he freely acknowledges here.
There are precious few poetry exerts and/or outtakes included here - as well as the odd passage written more poetically, to remind us of the literary brilliance that JCC can create, on the whole though, it’s written in a chatty, conversational manner as befitting the every day chatter and raconteuring that we’d expect from JCC.
All in all a very enjoyable and entertaining insight into the life and time of the phenomenon that is Dr John Cooper Clarke - just one that could have been significantly better by virtue of being more succinct.
But as far as JCC being subject to any literary criticism is concerned…
“Any complaints, mail them to last Tuesday when I might have cared”.
In ‘Wanna Be Yours’, Clarke recounts his life from early years growing up in Salford, to dedicated follower of fashion, via failed attempts at a music career, through embryonic proto punk poetry to life as a household name, playing the London Palladium and residing in Colchester (of all places).
Clarke is a great raconteur and in this book - social historian, a hugely engaging, eminently (on the whole) likeable personality, a punk poet of the people, who has been hugely influential in both poetry and culture alike.
But be that as it may, at 470 pages and too much of it dominated by JCC’s dependence and pursuit of class A drugs - clearly a major factor through most of his life and as such, is important and should be recounted…but to this extent, repetition abounds and tedium unfortunately sets in.
The poetry of JCC is brilliant and is rightly lauded as such (see his brilliant collection: ‘Ten Years in an Open Necked Shirt’) I’ve been privileged to have seen him perform twice - but this book, entertaining as it is (and it does feel like the voice of JCC speaking to us from the pages) could have been so much better, given the right direction and at least a modicum of editing.
It’s also frustrating to consider and goodness knows how much more of JCC’s great poetry we’ve lost due to the impact on his work ethic of addiction - something which he freely acknowledges here.
There are precious few poetry exerts and/or outtakes included here - as well as the odd passage written more poetically, to remind us of the literary brilliance that JCC can create, on the whole though, it’s written in a chatty, conversational manner as befitting the every day chatter and raconteuring that we’d expect from JCC.
All in all a very enjoyable and entertaining insight into the life and time of the phenomenon that is Dr John Cooper Clarke - just one that could have been significantly better by virtue of being more succinct.
But as far as JCC being subject to any literary criticism is concerned…
“Any complaints, mail them to last Tuesday when I might have cared”.
December 3, 2020
The soundtrack of your life often reflects the time when you were a teenager, when everything sears into the memory, embeds itself deep in the psyche and remains with you. Come my old age, my nursing home will have a very different soundtrack to the Hits of the Blitz that the grandparents favoured. For me it will be The Clash, The Slits, The Sex Pistols, The Ramones, Blondie, Siouxsie and the Banshees and of course, The Saints. Interspersed with the most unlikely offerings that came with the disco era. What can I say, the 70's and 80's were a weird, weird, gloriously outrageous, wonderfully fun, utterly ridiculous era.
In the middle of all that music there is, and has always been, the sound of John Cooper Clarke, whose rapid fire delivery of pointed, observational lines of simple gloriousness instilled in me a love of edgy performance poets. I do, however, credit 8 Out of Ten Cats Does Countdown with a renewed interest in Clarke's work, his performances on my favourite gameshow an instant audio reminder of the times of my youth. (Health Fanatic - look it up, the final stanza has always been in my head ...).
I WANNA BE YOURS is a memoir, covering his extraordinary life, from childhood through to parenthood, with people from his own family (so close to being a Beatles tribute group), to the time that 2-fifths of the Velvet Underground were living under his roof. There's the story behind the fashion, the stories behind the music, and the hard living, sex and drugs and rock'n'roll lifestyle, although to be honest the sex seemed somewhat less than the other two in this case.
Listening to this as an audio book was an excellent choice on my part, Clarke has the sort of voice stylings that are mandatory for the story of his own life. There's so much downplay and side cracking, and an audible honesty to the mistakes, the byways and the bad (and good) decisions he made. He's made lifelong friends, he's garnered legions of fans and he's made one hell of a life for himself, and I absolutely loved listening to I WANNA BE YOURS.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/revi...
In the middle of all that music there is, and has always been, the sound of John Cooper Clarke, whose rapid fire delivery of pointed, observational lines of simple gloriousness instilled in me a love of edgy performance poets. I do, however, credit 8 Out of Ten Cats Does Countdown with a renewed interest in Clarke's work, his performances on my favourite gameshow an instant audio reminder of the times of my youth. (Health Fanatic - look it up, the final stanza has always been in my head ...).
I WANNA BE YOURS is a memoir, covering his extraordinary life, from childhood through to parenthood, with people from his own family (so close to being a Beatles tribute group), to the time that 2-fifths of the Velvet Underground were living under his roof. There's the story behind the fashion, the stories behind the music, and the hard living, sex and drugs and rock'n'roll lifestyle, although to be honest the sex seemed somewhat less than the other two in this case.
Listening to this as an audio book was an excellent choice on my part, Clarke has the sort of voice stylings that are mandatory for the story of his own life. There's so much downplay and side cracking, and an audible honesty to the mistakes, the byways and the bad (and good) decisions he made. He's made lifelong friends, he's garnered legions of fans and he's made one hell of a life for himself, and I absolutely loved listening to I WANNA BE YOURS.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/revi...
February 8, 2021
I'm annoyed at myself for finishing this book so quickly but I couldn't bloody help it ! It was too good. I listened to it as an audiobook, and Clarke is so engaging and skilled at storytelling that this book could've been twice as long and it still wouldve felt like no time at all.
July 21, 2022
Well, I'm a fan so I found this autobiography super charming. Extra charming, in fact, because I clandestinely downloaded the audio book to hear the great poet's self-defined adenoidal Mancunian Yiddish and Cockney slang-laced voice reading his life to me. Yes, he's a bit superficial with all his accent on style and clothes, and, sure, rhyming poetry is old hat in a way, and he uses the same meter in most all of his poems, and he's so much better without musical backing (despite the talents of Martin Hannett and Vini Reilly, two musicians I otherwise revere unreservedly), but, damn! Clarke is unashamed to tell it like it was (for him), to drop names, to joke and tease, and even to give some clever and interesting social perspective to the post war years in terms of style and the way his generation and mine (boom and Blank--he's got about 12 years on me) absorbed and carried on our culture through film, TV, music, and then style and books. The only two things I disagree with him on are a) Genesis (dude, you've confused them with the Grateful Dead--that's the band with the 30 minute guitar solos) and b) that an artist should never avow their politics. To me, it depends on the artist. You can no more take the politics out of Kathe Kolwitz, Sue Coe, or Brecht than you could take the words out of poem. But, yeah, actors just sound like twats when they get all high and mighty trying to shame talk TV hosts, I give you that. And, no, I will not burn my copy of "Ou est la Maison de Fromage," for I love you live and solo as you are best heard.
February 18, 2022
"My paternal grandfather had been a regular soldier in India until 1948, and bore an uncanny resemblance to Mahatma Ghandi (who apparently suffered from corns and bad breath, in other words a supercallousedfragilemysticplaguedwithhalitosis, as Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke almost sang)."
Whilst reading this tome I found it hard not to hear John Cooper Clarke's familiar nasal, lugubrious Salford tones as I went along. It definitely has his speech patterns all over it! It also struck me that there's something of the music hall about JCC and his delivery; I can easily imagine him performing his poetry onstage, back in the day, given that they could be quite rowdy, bawdy places.
I Wanna Be Yours is very much a book of four quarters. The first, detailing his childhood and early life in a mainly Jewish area (he acted as a "shabas goy" for his orthodox neighbours) of Salford in Manchester is fascinating: as a piece of writing on the social history of this part of Lancashire in the early 50s it is glorious, vivid and full of detail. JCC's writing evokes so much atmosphere that you can visualise everything in glorious sepia.
The second quarter, which has some overlap with the first, describes JCC's first forays into apprenticeships, the working world, and his career as a performance poet. In a book of many surprises, one of the earliest is that John's first regular residency as a performer in Manchester's clubs was at Bernard Manning's Embassy Club. As he says, whatever your view of Manning's comedy, he was a master at what he did in terms of running a nightclub and encouraging new talent - however grudgingly. JCC also frequently encountered Northern disco entrepreneur Jimmy Savile - but the less said about him the better.
JCC's account of the development of his career into that of the punk poet we now know and love, performing as support to The Buzzocks, Joy Division, New Order and other big names of the late 70s and early 80s is of particular interest to those like me who were living in the North at the time, and were very familiar with the names John lists as friends, acquaintances and accomplices, such as Anthony Wilson, The Freshies' Chris "Frank Sidebottom" Sievey and many others. I especially enjoyed this section for the memories it brought back for me of those days in West Yorkshire!
Probably the least interesting section in many ways is, inevitably, the one dealing with JCC's years of drug addiction. Reading about his adventures on tour around the world with various groups and artists is to enjoy a colourful whirlwind of people and places, entertainingly described. However, the story of his constant pursuit of narcotics soon becomes exhausting to read, although it powerfully brings home the nature and effects of addiction: in this he pulls few punches.
The final quarter is rather like a ship sailing from tumultuous waters into a welcoming harbour, as JCC talks about meeting his French wife Evie and his life of domesticity in Colchester with her and their daughter Stella. He's clearly proud as punch that his work is now on the GCSE English syllabus and has influenced the likes of Ben Drew and The Arctic Monkeys, bringing his work to a new audience.
I Wanna Be Yours is an eventful read; I hesitate to call it "a rollercoaster of a read", but that's what it is. It's packed with incident, and the number and variety of names he drops as friends is remarkable - including sharing a house in Manchester with two members of The Velvet Underground. He's not afraid to call out those he dislikes with good reason, but is also fulsome with warm, generous praise for those he likes and admires.
● Bonus observation: One thing that *really* shocked me was seeing photos of John without his trademark sunglasses: he's the spitting image of Paul O'Grady.
Whilst reading this tome I found it hard not to hear John Cooper Clarke's familiar nasal, lugubrious Salford tones as I went along. It definitely has his speech patterns all over it! It also struck me that there's something of the music hall about JCC and his delivery; I can easily imagine him performing his poetry onstage, back in the day, given that they could be quite rowdy, bawdy places.
I Wanna Be Yours is very much a book of four quarters. The first, detailing his childhood and early life in a mainly Jewish area (he acted as a "shabas goy" for his orthodox neighbours) of Salford in Manchester is fascinating: as a piece of writing on the social history of this part of Lancashire in the early 50s it is glorious, vivid and full of detail. JCC's writing evokes so much atmosphere that you can visualise everything in glorious sepia.
The second quarter, which has some overlap with the first, describes JCC's first forays into apprenticeships, the working world, and his career as a performance poet. In a book of many surprises, one of the earliest is that John's first regular residency as a performer in Manchester's clubs was at Bernard Manning's Embassy Club. As he says, whatever your view of Manning's comedy, he was a master at what he did in terms of running a nightclub and encouraging new talent - however grudgingly. JCC also frequently encountered Northern disco entrepreneur Jimmy Savile - but the less said about him the better.
JCC's account of the development of his career into that of the punk poet we now know and love, performing as support to The Buzzocks, Joy Division, New Order and other big names of the late 70s and early 80s is of particular interest to those like me who were living in the North at the time, and were very familiar with the names John lists as friends, acquaintances and accomplices, such as Anthony Wilson, The Freshies' Chris "Frank Sidebottom" Sievey and many others. I especially enjoyed this section for the memories it brought back for me of those days in West Yorkshire!
Probably the least interesting section in many ways is, inevitably, the one dealing with JCC's years of drug addiction. Reading about his adventures on tour around the world with various groups and artists is to enjoy a colourful whirlwind of people and places, entertainingly described. However, the story of his constant pursuit of narcotics soon becomes exhausting to read, although it powerfully brings home the nature and effects of addiction: in this he pulls few punches.
The final quarter is rather like a ship sailing from tumultuous waters into a welcoming harbour, as JCC talks about meeting his French wife Evie and his life of domesticity in Colchester with her and their daughter Stella. He's clearly proud as punch that his work is now on the GCSE English syllabus and has influenced the likes of Ben Drew and The Arctic Monkeys, bringing his work to a new audience.
I Wanna Be Yours is an eventful read; I hesitate to call it "a rollercoaster of a read", but that's what it is. It's packed with incident, and the number and variety of names he drops as friends is remarkable - including sharing a house in Manchester with two members of The Velvet Underground. He's not afraid to call out those he dislikes with good reason, but is also fulsome with warm, generous praise for those he likes and admires.
● Bonus observation: One thing that *really* shocked me was seeing photos of John without his trademark sunglasses: he's the spitting image of Paul O'Grady.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 17, 2023
The memoir all obsessives of the self-professed Bargain Basement Baudilaire have been waiting for.
I Wanna Be Yours is written in the clear, down-to-earth, witty, gritty style that make his poems sing - those familiar with his delivery, from furious pace to long-drawn out Mancunian vowels and devilish wordplay, will read with his distinctive voice in their head (I look forward to returning and listening to the audiobook read by Dr Clarke).
It was a pleasant surprise that nearly half of the book focuses on a childhood growing up in Salford, where the origins of some of his most loved verse found inspiration - Salomey Maloney, I Married a Monster from Outer Space and Valley of the Long Lost Women. The places and people described are wonderfully vivid contrasts to the sepia world and prim austereness of post-war Britain only beginning to give way to influences from youth culture and the consumer society across the pond as glimpsed in the first flickers of the burgeoning technicolour revolution.
The unique people met from the worlds of music, poetry and drugs are pursued by high and dry anecdotes (in both senses), that never feel like names dropped onto the page to impress. Without spoiling any of the stories, the yarn of the dope dealer Nico sorts out in Amsterdam, and how JCC worked out who this was two decades later after recognising his fresh-faced ghost on the screen, is retold hauntingly.
from belladonna to beastly
if you wanna see who he used to be
go back to salford
have a few drops and see the marks
exit the review and this tribute to johnny clark
I Wanna Be Yours is written in the clear, down-to-earth, witty, gritty style that make his poems sing - those familiar with his delivery, from furious pace to long-drawn out Mancunian vowels and devilish wordplay, will read with his distinctive voice in their head (I look forward to returning and listening to the audiobook read by Dr Clarke).
It was a pleasant surprise that nearly half of the book focuses on a childhood growing up in Salford, where the origins of some of his most loved verse found inspiration - Salomey Maloney, I Married a Monster from Outer Space and Valley of the Long Lost Women. The places and people described are wonderfully vivid contrasts to the sepia world and prim austereness of post-war Britain only beginning to give way to influences from youth culture and the consumer society across the pond as glimpsed in the first flickers of the burgeoning technicolour revolution.
The unique people met from the worlds of music, poetry and drugs are pursued by high and dry anecdotes (in both senses), that never feel like names dropped onto the page to impress. Without spoiling any of the stories, the yarn of the dope dealer Nico sorts out in Amsterdam, and how JCC worked out who this was two decades later after recognising his fresh-faced ghost on the screen, is retold hauntingly.
from belladonna to beastly
if you wanna see who he used to be
go back to salford
have a few drops and see the marks
exit the review and this tribute to johnny clark
November 7, 2024
Sometimes called the "poet laurate of punk" John Cooper Clarke has been one of the coolest dudes alive for longer than i've been alive. Although he is best known for his associations with the punk scene he actually dates from the era of the Beatles and the Mersy sound but because he is literally the hippest man alive he has always managed to keep his finger on the cultural pulse and find a way to remain close to the cutting edge of things for decades now.
This is his slightly scatter-brained memoir containing a lot of details about clothes (the man has style it can't be denied) music (the man has taste) and drugs (the man had a serious habit) over the years.
If you're not into punk and associated culture and fashion you probably won't be interested in this but for those of us who are, it's a brilliant ride and JCC is an excellent tour guide through the stars and the sleaze.
This is his slightly scatter-brained memoir containing a lot of details about clothes (the man has style it can't be denied) music (the man has taste) and drugs (the man had a serious habit) over the years.
If you're not into punk and associated culture and fashion you probably won't be interested in this but for those of us who are, it's a brilliant ride and JCC is an excellent tour guide through the stars and the sleaze.
June 7, 2021
I wanted to enjoy this more, having seen JCC twice,once in his heyday when he was more poet than standup or celebrity,the second time he was slower,less shocking.
The poems speak for themselves, Salford laconic,best delivered in his early persona , rapid-fire, and those rhythms that lodge in your head. Took gall to stand up and read them, especially to those punk audiences back in the day.
Its a self-centred life of an addict but what a life.... how on every tour as soon as he checked into a hotel the priority was to get heroin, there's a touching story about how Nico gets him a friend to help supply him and he realises later it was Chet Baker,the jazz trumpeter,fallen on hard times.
Maybe an audiobook would have worked better for me,but that's just a quibble.
The poems speak for themselves, Salford laconic,best delivered in his early persona , rapid-fire, and those rhythms that lodge in your head. Took gall to stand up and read them, especially to those punk audiences back in the day.
Its a self-centred life of an addict but what a life.... how on every tour as soon as he checked into a hotel the priority was to get heroin, there's a touching story about how Nico gets him a friend to help supply him and he realises later it was Chet Baker,the jazz trumpeter,fallen on hard times.
Maybe an audiobook would have worked better for me,but that's just a quibble.
September 19, 2021
A book of two halves by Britain's "bargain basement Baudelaire" as poet John Cooper Clarke writes an autobiography of sorts. The first half of the book is an exercise in nostalgia as Clarke details growing up in the 1950's, 60's and early 1970's and the social and cultural developments in Britain during those decades with a welter of information about his favourite films, books, comics, songs, bands and much more.
I found the 2nd half of the book a bit wearing as Clarke outlines the arrival of punk music in the late 1970's before spending page after page on his addiction to heroin. If you're ages with JCC (he's 72), this is a worthwhile read. Otherwise, give a listen to one of his poetry albums. I'd recommend "Snap, Crackle & Bop".
I found the 2nd half of the book a bit wearing as Clarke outlines the arrival of punk music in the late 1970's before spending page after page on his addiction to heroin. If you're ages with JCC (he's 72), this is a worthwhile read. Otherwise, give a listen to one of his poetry albums. I'd recommend "Snap, Crackle & Bop".
January 29, 2021
I bought this book because I like his poetry. The book is a sure fire cure for insomnia. Endless name dropping and lists of songs, even ad jingles. Written in the style of what I did on my holiday, liberally sprinkled with old man type ‘groovy’ speak, eg ‘natch’ ‘kinda’. All mixed up with drug taking anecdotes. It could have been bearable if he wrote decent prose, and used it to create more than a dull account of things. Near the end he’s given up drugs, married and has a grown up daughter. He seems to be very happy. Then right at the end, in 2004, he’s buying crystal meth. Give it a name. Idiot
November 18, 2024
JCC is a hero of mine. I finally got to see him at Latitude this year (my profile photo is from that gig).
A true national treasure, possessing a unique way with words, a sardonic wit and a direct line into British culture - who else could rhyme ransacked with dhansacked, or appear in commercials with the honey monster?
He is even on the school curriculum.
It seems that he has led quite the life too. At times chaotic, close to penury for much of it and laden with enough narcotics to keep Pablo Escobar in hippos.
Knocked down one star because the name dropping got to me a bit. Is there anyone he has not met?
A true national treasure, possessing a unique way with words, a sardonic wit and a direct line into British culture - who else could rhyme ransacked with dhansacked, or appear in commercials with the honey monster?
He is even on the school curriculum.
It seems that he has led quite the life too. At times chaotic, close to penury for much of it and laden with enough narcotics to keep Pablo Escobar in hippos.
Knocked down one star because the name dropping got to me a bit. Is there anyone he has not met?
January 21, 2021
I wanted to like this book, I'm a fan of John Cooper Clarke's work and have seen him on stage a couple times and loved his shows. This book was not for me there were too many references to other muicians, which for some people would be of interest, but not me.
It felt like half of the book was about his heroin addiction and his sourcing the drug and how he took it or what the effects of it were like. I know the book is an autobography and this is what his life was like for around twenty years, but I found it depressing to read. Again that probably is not the books fault but not what I want to spend so much time reading.
The book is funny in places and I suppose written with a dry sense of humour, I would like to have learnt more about the last twenty years since he stopped taking hard drugs. He says it has been more of the same, but to me so had those twenty years of hard drug use.
I don't want to be sexist but maybe this is a mans book - there now I have been sexist!
It felt like half of the book was about his heroin addiction and his sourcing the drug and how he took it or what the effects of it were like. I know the book is an autobography and this is what his life was like for around twenty years, but I found it depressing to read. Again that probably is not the books fault but not what I want to spend so much time reading.
The book is funny in places and I suppose written with a dry sense of humour, I would like to have learnt more about the last twenty years since he stopped taking hard drugs. He says it has been more of the same, but to me so had those twenty years of hard drug use.
I don't want to be sexist but maybe this is a mans book - there now I have been sexist!
June 21, 2021
I didn’t want the 15+ hours of this to end, and had I the time, I’d listen to it again right away. The bits of the book I’d previously dipped into were superbly written, but hearing the Bargain Basement Baudelaire read his own life story lifts it to another level altogether. Toppermost of the poppermost.
All human life is here, an authentically-informed whistle-stop tour of western culture and Clarke’s engagement with it for 60-odd years. In the section where he describes his 1965 life, taking in the YCL, a near-addiction to Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, Jimmy Reed, Buddy Guy, Elmore James and Sugar Pie de Santo, I thought he was quoting from my imaginary diaries of a decade later.
It’s an unimpeachable talent who can honestly describe his narcotics habit, come out of it alive and triumphant, whilst finding humour in its squalid pathos.
Thanks to Aberdeen City Library (JCC is a stout defender of this basic educational right) ✊🏼 for lending me this.
Luxury. Pure, unashamed luxury…
All human life is here, an authentically-informed whistle-stop tour of western culture and Clarke’s engagement with it for 60-odd years. In the section where he describes his 1965 life, taking in the YCL, a near-addiction to Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, Jimmy Reed, Buddy Guy, Elmore James and Sugar Pie de Santo, I thought he was quoting from my imaginary diaries of a decade later.
It’s an unimpeachable talent who can honestly describe his narcotics habit, come out of it alive and triumphant, whilst finding humour in its squalid pathos.
Thanks to Aberdeen City Library (JCC is a stout defender of this basic educational right) ✊🏼 for lending me this.
Luxury. Pure, unashamed luxury…
November 29, 2020
A book that I did not want to end, so I tried to eke it out rather than devour it. A master wordsmith, his love of language and humour leaps from every page. So witty and clever, with an encyclopaedic knowledge of fashion, music and pop culture. Any amateur review cannot do justice to the genius of JCC, so I just urge you to read it! One of my all time favourite memoirs.
November 1, 2021
One of the greatest and coolest things I've always been able to tell people is that, not only do I live in the town where Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Humpty Dumpty were written, but that the captivating individual that is John Cooper Clarke lives here. And when you happen to see him, in these very ordinary settings, it's a bit like magic. He has such a striking and inimitable presence, it's like seeing a Tim Burton character come to life. He's like Edward Scissorhand's older and more sensitive brother.
I've also had the joy of meeting him a few years ago and he is a very lovely gentleman indeed. So it was with delight I received his memoirs 'I wanna be yours' as a Birthday present from my friend. And eager to know more about this elusive figure, I dived in.
The first part of the book, had me fascinated, since JCC is not far off the age my Dad would have been and so his fascination with the cinema and movie stars was something also that my Dad used to treasure. It feels a little like we're being invited into his world just a little at this point.
However it doesn't get much deeper than this. It really should be called a popular culture and style encyclopedia or compendium, since there is a massive amount of detail given to clothes and hairstyles and popular culture in general. And I feel that, sadly, this left me feeling shortchanged. The memoirs are really packed with this kind of peripheral detail and we aren't really taken beneath this. We do travel the journey of how JCC became such a successful poet and the people that inspired him, so that's interesting. And there are anecdotes that fit to the stories of touring. There is some brief warmth when he talks about his wife and love of his life and their daughter, which makes an impact but is fleeting.
If you're in recovery or thinking about it, definitely don't read this as it is a quite upbeat retelling of tales of scoring and how good various episodes of that were. I certainly know more now about what it entails than I did before. And whilst he is clean, it does feel like there's a degree of yearning there, but I'm guessing that's the way it is for most recovering addicts perhaps.
I Wanna Be Yours is written in an entertaining and pacey way but I don't feel like I know very much more about JCC than I did before and I think that's intentional. He obviously holds dear his privacy, so reading this feels very much like being in the audience at one of his gigs, drawn in tantalisingly close but kept so far, at a safe distance. I've considered whether I would want this to be something more confessional and emotional or if I prefer it to be the elusive collection of career anecdotes that it is. And so far, I still don't have the answer but I respect the decision that this is how JCC decided to approach it. It's still a fun and worthy read with his voice very recognisable throughout. But it is all impeccable suit and no soul and I missed a deeper substance. I have no doubt though that JCC will be the subject of tales and folkloric iconic legends ,so maybe the fact we don't get the details from the man himself isn't important.
I've also had the joy of meeting him a few years ago and he is a very lovely gentleman indeed. So it was with delight I received his memoirs 'I wanna be yours' as a Birthday present from my friend. And eager to know more about this elusive figure, I dived in.
The first part of the book, had me fascinated, since JCC is not far off the age my Dad would have been and so his fascination with the cinema and movie stars was something also that my Dad used to treasure. It feels a little like we're being invited into his world just a little at this point.
However it doesn't get much deeper than this. It really should be called a popular culture and style encyclopedia or compendium, since there is a massive amount of detail given to clothes and hairstyles and popular culture in general. And I feel that, sadly, this left me feeling shortchanged. The memoirs are really packed with this kind of peripheral detail and we aren't really taken beneath this. We do travel the journey of how JCC became such a successful poet and the people that inspired him, so that's interesting. And there are anecdotes that fit to the stories of touring. There is some brief warmth when he talks about his wife and love of his life and their daughter, which makes an impact but is fleeting.
If you're in recovery or thinking about it, definitely don't read this as it is a quite upbeat retelling of tales of scoring and how good various episodes of that were. I certainly know more now about what it entails than I did before. And whilst he is clean, it does feel like there's a degree of yearning there, but I'm guessing that's the way it is for most recovering addicts perhaps.
I Wanna Be Yours is written in an entertaining and pacey way but I don't feel like I know very much more about JCC than I did before and I think that's intentional. He obviously holds dear his privacy, so reading this feels very much like being in the audience at one of his gigs, drawn in tantalisingly close but kept so far, at a safe distance. I've considered whether I would want this to be something more confessional and emotional or if I prefer it to be the elusive collection of career anecdotes that it is. And so far, I still don't have the answer but I respect the decision that this is how JCC decided to approach it. It's still a fun and worthy read with his voice very recognisable throughout. But it is all impeccable suit and no soul and I missed a deeper substance. I have no doubt though that JCC will be the subject of tales and folkloric iconic legends ,so maybe the fact we don't get the details from the man himself isn't important.
June 17, 2022
Came across JCC through the Arctic Monkeys. Fascinating for anyone interesting in recent history, music history, fashion and pop culture. His life is as extraordinary as you’d expect and had me wondering if it is actually a privilege to be working class. I also recommend his love show!
January 11, 2025
Loved this and related to so many memories of John’s childhood. His life is similar to Forest Gump, he’s lived so many lives and met so many people. His stories are big and I’d like to hear more details. Need to go and listen to more of his poetry now.
January 20, 2022
What a mad old bastard
A great insight into a life of rock and roll, drugs, poetry, drugs, shipyards and drugs.
Also full of simpsonisms for fans of such things
A great insight into a life of rock and roll, drugs, poetry, drugs, shipyards and drugs.
Also full of simpsonisms for fans of such things
August 1, 2025
Any complaints, mail them to last Tuesday when I might have cared… John Cooper Clarke the genius that you are
April 29, 2025
Somehow I had no idea who JCC is, but my friend introduced me and gave me this book. A fun read and some great stories, but tbh after a while I got tired of the endless name-dropping or characters that were being introduced but were never mentioned again.
Also I wish heroin didn't exist so I'd never have to hear another "and then I went here... and tried to score heroin" story in my life.
Also I wish heroin didn't exist so I'd never have to hear another "and then I went here... and tried to score heroin" story in my life.
May 1, 2022
Så lycklig över att vara samtida med John Cooper Clarke. Igår kväll underhöll han hela Hammersmith Apollo med sin legendariska performancepoesi och den där clarkeska deadpanhumorn.
Bara ur bokens prolog:
"All my life, all I ever wanted to be was a professional poet [...]
The life of a useless flâneur, however, was not encouraged in the 1950s, especially among the blue-collar population of a heavy-industrial metropolis like Manchester."
Gick med i Audible igen och lyssnade på ett kapitel i taget, sedan satte jag mig med pappersboken och penna i handen och gick igenom allt igen. En fantastisk popkulturell upplevelse, peak joie de vivre!
Bara ur bokens prolog:
"All my life, all I ever wanted to be was a professional poet [...]
The life of a useless flâneur, however, was not encouraged in the 1950s, especially among the blue-collar population of a heavy-industrial metropolis like Manchester."
Gick med i Audible igen och lyssnade på ett kapitel i taget, sedan satte jag mig med pappersboken och penna i handen och gick igenom allt igen. En fantastisk popkulturell upplevelse, peak joie de vivre!
January 26, 2021
I am 53 and saw John many times.. and lover his warts and all adventures..not for everyone, but most working class boys or anyone who is not interested in average people and prepared to not to be told how to live..gets messy , but met all the rock n roll greats and all the people worth knowing who were on same path..his wit and compassion to fellow musicians in trouble would help emotionally never wandered..a good man knows a good man..first saw at Glastonbury..and said with paper they in hand look my divorce..not bad 50/50 on house she got the inside and I got the outside and pay for arrangements..I was hooked.. also part of the school curriculum (wanna be your washing machine). he followed with my fat friend fell down the stairs last night..we thought eastenders had finished early.. not bad for a sickly Salford boy punk poet, who regularly appears on 9 out of ten cats enjoy cool countdown...just say graphic reference to hard drugs some will find difficult.. thanks John ever in Aylesbury there is a bed here always as room as kids are off to university... my mind of man although many music differences, read it as in his own style has never left any associates out to dry and his will nice on the andy warhol factory goings on..lips willed although offers millions ever when doing at time.. solid.. spoiler.. just as good now freed from chain of addiction.. excellent narrated by himeslf he even second guesses you..as I say no matter where you are born, your dreams are valid.. thanks Johnny boy, your london mate..my life mirrowed yours without the talent and adventures..but now clean and boys working towards phd.. but I get slated I believe anything really worth knowing can never be taught, and if I was educated I would be a fool.. but spell I hear you.. a must listen..love to alo
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