John Cooper Clarke reveals “the performing poet’s worst enemy”

The “bargain basement Baudelaire” is setting out on a UK tour in April and tells Mark Ellen here about the earliest shows he saw and played, memories which happily include …

 

… the subtle art of crowd control.

 

… seeing Bob Hope when he was 9 and the strange impression of the adult world that suggested.

 

… the dress code that barred him from a Hendrix gig.

 

… auditioning for Bernard Manning at the Embassy Club and what he learnt from him. 

 

… “I was Little Richard’s gear carrier (aged 11)”.

 

… why he based his look on Ronnie Wood.

 

… the perfect song for the hopeless bass player. 

… the deathless advice his Dad gave him.

 

… why punk rock audiences were a breeze. 

… the desperate fashion-chasing changes of tack of the Mafia, the band he formed in the ’60s. Who became the Vendettas. Who became the Lovely Flowers.

 

… “the last time I saw a mouth like that it had a hook in it” and other comedy circuit one-liners.

 

… the life-changing inclusion of "Evidently Chickentown" in the Sopranos’ credits.

 

… and the greatest gig he ever saw “which may well have been cooked up in the playground of my imagination”.  

 

John’s tour dates here ….

https://johncooperclarke.com/gigs/

 

And this is his highly recommended memoir, I Wanna Be Yours …

 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wanna-Yours-John-Cooper-Clarke/dp/1509896104

Tickets for Word In The Park in London on June 3rd here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-happy-return-of-word-in-the-park-tickets-576193870377

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