John Cooper Clarke has spoken about his poem, I Wanna Be Yours, becoming a worldwide hit after the Arctic Monkeys‘ song adaptation of it has pushed listening into the billions.The punk poet’s 1982 creation, which featured on his album ‘Zip Style Method’, was covered by the Monkeys for their 2013 album ‘AM‘.
It’s since found a new audience on TikTok and will this week pass a billion streams on Spotify.Clarke, who most recently released a covers album, ‘This Time It’s Personal’, with ex-The Stranglers member Hugh Cornwell in 2016 and shared his first new book of poetry in decades with 2018’s The Luckiest Guy Alive, spoke about the landmark achievement in a new interview.He told The Guardian in response to news of its billionth stream: “Is that a lot?
An American billion is different to a British billion – and I don’t know what either of them is. But it’s a fuck of a lot of listens.”Clarke’s poem, which Artic Monkeys singer Alex Turner quotes from on the ‘AM’ song of the same name with a few tweaks here and there, has become a staple of wedding readings thanks to its accessible and colloquial romantic lyricism. “I wanna be your vacuum cleaner, breathing in your dust/ I wanna be your Ford Cortina, I will never rust,” read some of its lines.The poet added to The Guardian that when he stays in a hotel where there’s a wedding happening, quite often the couple will approach him to say his poem was read.
Occasionally he delivers it at weddings himself, for friends: “I get a dinner out of it. It is to weddings what Always Look on the Bright Side of Life is to humanist funerals.”Elsewhere in the interview, Clarke said that he was in love with Artic Monkeys’ version.
Read more on nme.com
Get the latest stars news and celebrity rumours with exclusive stories, photos, videos and interviews.
Breaking up, scandals, engagements, divorces, gossip – all you need to know about the private lives of your favorite celebs.
Get to know the latest showbiz news along with exclusive interviews and even more. All this is waiting for you on the main page 24 hours a day, 7 days a week! Who, where, when, with whom, how, why and for what!? Stay tuned to know first!
Just follow us daily and we will provide you with the current news from the life of famous stars and celebrities.
Owner: SNOWLAND s.r.o.
Registration certificate 06691200
Address:
Snowland s.r.o.
16200, Na okraji 381/41, Veleslavín, 162 00 Praha 6
Czech Republic
©2024. All rights reserved.