This isn’t a second bite at the cherry. The first one was just a nibble
Punk John Cooper Clarke on hitting poetic new heights at 70
His signature style hasn’t changed in decades, the skinniest suits and darkest shades remain in place, but John Cooper Clarke says he has noticed one big difference – his poetry is better than ever.
In the 1970s, the prospect of the septuagenarian versifier playing to bigger audiences than ever almost 50 years on, would have seemed an unlikely prospect.
But he’s here and, according to the man himself, he’s better than ever: “I do reflect on being more popular than I ever was.
“People seem to think I’m having a second bite of the cherry. But that first bite was a mere nibble in comparison to this one.
“The stuff I write now is far, far better than the stuff I wrote in the punk rock days.
“The more you do, the better you become at it.
“I much prefer the stuff I’m writing now than the stuff I may be more famous for.”
He’s back in Scotland this week, although his love affair with the country’s biggest city got off to a rocky start. The “Bard Of Salford” said Glasgow was pivotal in his early days after his debut at the famous Glasgow Apollo in 1978, lasting just four ignominious minutes. “I remember the beer-sodden art deco carpet of Green’s Playhouse,” said John, who is playing the City Halls.
“I don’t recall the first visit fondly. Punk rock had just got started and I was supporting Be-bop Deluxe, who weren’t punk rock at all.
“The road crew on the tour had warned me that I was going to catch hell in Glasgow. So confidence wasn’t part of my armour by the time I got there.
“I went on that stage with defeat written all over me. The worst thing that can happen to a poet with just a microphone isn’t hostility, but indifference.
“So I had proactive indifference threatening to spill over into hostility.”
Just six months later, though, John made a triumphant return to the scene of his embarrassing exit.
He was hired as support to Elvis Costello and found an audience who were infinitely more receptive to his clever couplets and wittily-woven words.
“I came back with some trepidation but punk rock had taken off a bit more and it was a much better fit,” said John.
“I got right back on that horse, playing to a full house at such a large venue.
“I’m so glad I did go back, as Glasgow is now in my top five favourite cities in the world.
“The enthusiasm that’s been shown to my poetry over the years in that fair city is very encouraging.”
He has supported the Sex Pistols, the Clash, Joy Division, Buzzcocks and many more.
His poetry has also featured in The Sopranos, in films, been the subject of documentaries and has been a DJ on BBC Radio 6 Music. John says he pens poems on a daily basis and is enthused by surveying a much more vibrant poetry scene than the barren landscape when he started out facing tough audiences at Bernard Manning’s Embassy Club.
What he doesn’t feel the need to reflect on in verse is the current political scene.
“I never felt I had anything to offer the political poetry world,” says John.
“Any politics in my poetry is accidental. Nothing any politician has brought about has ever altered the way I live.
“I’m a punk rocker, I don’t care about Brexit. If you’re pro EU, it’s sadly coming to an end. If you’re anti, then thanks God that’s all over.
“But it’s a business arrangement, nobody’s going to die.”
And while he says he’s in rude health and enjoying performing as much as ever, he has a message for Glasgow audiences.
“I’m very well but nobody lives forever, so get me while I’m alive.”
John Cooper Clarke: The Luckiest Guy Alive, is at the City Halls, Glasgow on Saturday
‘ The stuff I write now is far better than I wrote in the punk rock days