13 December 2023
Newsdesk
Legendary poet and comedian John Cooper Clarke, spoke with Shaun Keaveny on Shaun Keaveny’s Daily Grind podcast.
John reveals how it was never his idea to write ‘I Wanna Be Yours’, how he could never be rockstar because he has too much self-doubt, not having a mobile phone or computer and why his poetry has never been therapeutic.
John Cooper Clarke reveals that it was never his idea to write ‘I Wanna Be Yours’:
Shaun Keaveny: I've only just found out about it. The Arctic Monkeys version of I Want To Be Yours. Its hit a billion streams, hasn’t it?
John Cooper Clarke: Yeah a billion on Spotify... Amazing, isn't it? I mean, you can't buy that kind of publicity. I can't thank those guys enough for covering that number. Which was already I’ve got to say, even when they picked it up, it was already the wedding favourite of the 21st century it remains the case.
SK: I just wondered if you remembered, like, writing that one. You know what I mean? Like, if you have a memory and recall, as good as that, or if it's just lost in the mists of time, because it's just one of many, many, many 1000s of poems you've written?
JCC: Well, it was some spare lines I had around and it’s one of those actually, that I'm grateful for the studio for. Whenever I've worked with musicians, you know, for a start, it was never my idea. But I couldn't think of a reason not to. I thought, Well, yeah all right. And we had did that, C A minor F and G chord progression, you know, beloved of most, do what numbers and pop songs generally. And so I figured that these St Valentine's Day kinda lines would fit nicely into that. I was thinking, obviously, you know, Neil Sedaka. You know, “you're my little valentine” and so that's what sort of tripped my wire there. I thought yeah, , Valentine poem, you know, you only need one hit don’t you, you know, and if it's on what other key days of the year, like, especially at Christmas, you're going to be a millionaire all over again. So I figured, you know, maybe a Saint Valentine's Day number might do this might do for me. What Merry Christmas is don't forget the likes of Noddy..
John Cooper Clarke says he could never be a rockstar because he has “too much self doubt”:
Shaun Keaveny: It's fair to say in it that you want it to be a rockstar before you want it to be a poet, didn't you, John?
John Cooper Clarke: Oh, I wouldn't go that far. No, no, I mean, not really (…) I never particularly wanted to be a rockstar, no. I've got too much self doubt.
SK: Yeah, that's true. That's the that's the thing that really crocs you when you want to be a rockstar, isn't it? You know what I mean? You do have to have that kind of an unassailable sort of self belief you
JCC: I do. I mean, I've got that in spades as well, you know, I'm being a bit disingenuous there, you know, but I think I'm a bit of a control freak. Like I say, if I can't be top dog, I don't want to know(…) . So once I seen Elvis, its like just forget about it.
John Cooper Clarke explains how his poetry writing has never been therapeutic:
John Cooper Clarke: I've never written poetry as any kind of therapy. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that, some people do, you know, good luck to them. But I've never written with that in mind. I've always intended to be a professional poet. So I'm writing for people. You know, it's an adopter of positions. That's what I mean, you can't really judge me by my poetry. Because I'm not always be in me, you know, you have to kind of get an angle on something. And sometimes you have to inhabit the mind of somebody that you wouldn't agree with, particularly, you know, so, really, you know, I'm not one of those self expressive, or therapeutic poetry writers. You know, reading my stuff won't make you a better person or anything. You know, but I'm writing for the public, you know, people who were, you know, bought a ticket. So, I've got that I've got them, you know, I've got you know, I'm answerable. So what I perceived to be made public.
John Cooper Clarke reveals why he hasn’t got a computer or mobile phone:
John Cooper Clarke: I haven't got a computer because I know how great they are. You know my daughter got a computer she said to me “You ought to get one of these dad” I said “how great are they? Get me Dion and The Belmonts singing Teenager in Love on film” and within three seconds…And so I was right about how good they are. If you give me a computer you would find me in six weeks time dead under a pile of pizza boxes that's why I haven't got a computer and it's why I don't have a mobile phone you know because it's the strange world of Gurney Slade baby.
Shaun Keaveny’s Daily Grind is available to listen to on all podcast platforms.
