John Cooper Clarke

I certainly haven't seen him. Didn't he used to have a couple of the Buzzcocks in it? But, no, all stand up I think (don't follow his career incredibly closely tho, so might be worth finding a more rigorously accurate source).

I doubt he would have a band these days. How would he pay them for a start?

I was at Wickerman the other year when a rumour start that JCC was playing. But no one seemed to know when or where. I never did establish whether it happened. I like JCC and I also like RevPorl who sounds a bit the same... http://www.revporl.com/music.html

I was surprised to see how old he is- born in 1949, he's pretty close in age to David Bowie (1947), and not far from the Beatles and the Stones (Paul McCartney (1942) and Mick Jagger (1943))

then again he's looked like 'Don't Look Back' era Dylan for over 30 years I suppose.

I'm sure the band went the way of Hannett, i.e. packed it years ago...

saw this guy play in limerick last night. was a bit disappointed that he didnt have a band backing him at first, although it turned out to be more enjoyable than most rock shows tbh. v. funny, part working mans club comic, part hipster beat poet.

I dug up his "Me and my big mouth" CBS Hits album yesterday.

all time favourite. god the guy's lyrics are sharp in the context of hannett's production. such diverse music too. hannett did some truly weird shit with jcc, like "health fanatic" which sounds a bit like a post-punk "spastic". he's got lots of crap but 10-12 really beautiful songs.

man I really need to put some effort into finding a copy of Zip Style Method, that's the only one I'm missing.

That's on Spotify, actually...

He's in Washington D.C. tonight at the Hamilton.

Lovely appearance today on Desert Island Discs. Killer line: "It was a tough school. We had our own coroner."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000701x

I swear every time I've listened to this program in the last few years, it invariably features some boring millionaire i've never heard of before + usually one whom doesn't seem curious about music in the slightest.

Yes, that's more or less why I stopped listening to it. Bah!

It's a good corrective though in case you harbour the notion that people are interested in music.

Lol

enjoying the music and chat from JCC on this ep so far. And as someone who's once witnessed someone getting their winnings brutally robbed from them: Never smile walking out of a bookies is definitely some sage advice!

but I start nodding off when he drones on about punk.

the last straw for me is when he's civil and complementary about the Arctic Monkeys.. bring back the millionaires talking about how some John Legend track reminds them of that special day when their kid was born (and corporation tax was lowered).

Top top geezer...also anyone who likes to ‘schmei’ around is all good with me

Listened to "Suspended Sentence" for the first time in yonks. The backing is so fabulous, almost post-punk in 1977. Who's playing behind him, and do they back him in any subsequent works?

https://www.discogs.com/artist/3392156-The-Curious-Yellows

other involvement in The Fall and Gerry And The Holograms...

and other than Hannett I don't think any of them reappear on the later LPs!

A POETRY THREAD
A while ago I was reminded of John Cooper Clarke's brilliant poem "Evidently Chickentown" which basically sums up living in England in the 70s/80s. (Here's an excerpt and a link to the full poem) https://t.co/yeJOKrnXCb pic.twitter.com/KTj1QZQaSo

— Sandra Newman (@sannewman) July 31, 2019

cont.

… there were all these chickens in the back yard & Nico would just sit for hours staring out the back window & the chickens would come and peck at the window right in front of her face but she just sat immobile from depression and/or opiates, blankly staring at the wet chickens

— Sandra Newman (@sannewman) July 31, 2019

bleak

jcc was on celebrity pointless yesterday

he didn’t win

As pointed out above, used brilliantly in The Sopranos--best incorporation of a song over the show's entire run, I'd say.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBcbc8eWz6U&t=196s

www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBcbc8eWz6U