The Northern Punk Poet

September 13, 2022
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When I was younger, I was a bit of a โ€˜Tumblrโ€™ kid. I loved Alex Turner, angsty songs and winged eyeliner (honestly, not much has changed). Naturally, โ€˜AMโ€™ by Arctic Monkeys was one of the main soundtracks to my teenage years, with the iconic โ€˜Do I Wanna Knowโ€™, โ€˜Arabellaโ€™ and of course โ€˜I Wanna Be Yoursโ€™ playing in my earphones in a melodramatic attempt to romanticise my train rides to schoolโ€ฆย ย 

For years, I did not know that โ€˜I Wanna Be Yoursโ€™ was a cover of a song by punk poet John Cooper Clarke. Embarrassingly, it was not until last year Spotify helped me make that discovery.ย 

ย 

The first time I listened to Clarkeโ€™s version I was hooked. This poem-turned-song is helpless in the best possible way. I found the droney, dry voice more real than Turnerโ€™s seductive cover of the song. Not only could I hear the lyrics, but I was feeling them too.ย ย 

 

One of the things that made me appreciate Clarke more is his background. Now considered the โ€˜Bard of Salfordโ€™ with poems encapsulating working-class Northern England, back in his younger years he didnโ€™t believe a literary career was on the cards. Stating โ€œIt wasnโ€™t on the menu for somebody like me to make a living out of literatureโ€ฆโ€ Yet, he is now considered one of the coolest people in rock and poetry, with his iconic hairstyles, sell-out tour at 73 years old and classic British humour.ย 

Hi, I'm a copywriter from Liverpool. I have always been obsessed with words. From being a bookworm as a child to a lyric-loving teenager to a full-time writer adult!

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