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wintrovia's review
4.0
I've always liked his poetry but knew very little about John Cooper Clarke before reading this book. His trademark turn of phrase is well used throughout this book and helps to elevate passages that might be dull in another author's hands. I enjoyed the sections about his youth, growing up poor in Manchester in the 1950s and 60s but found the bits about his later success and time addicted to heroin a bit dull and repetitive. Overall this was an interesting life story of a national treasure and is worth reading if you have an interest in Cooper Clarke as a person as well as a poet.
kcfromaustcrime's review
5.0
The soundtrack of your life often reflects the time when you were a teenager, when everything sears into the memory, embeds itself deep in the psyche and remains with you. Come my old age, my nursing home will have a very different soundtrack to the Hits of the Blitz that the grandparents favoured. For me it will be The Clash, The Slits, The Sex Pistols, The Ramones, Blondie, Siouxsie and the Banshees and of course, The Saints. Interspersed with the most unlikely offerings that came with the disco era. What can I say, the 70's and 80's were a weird, weird, gloriously outrageous, wonderfully fun, utterly ridiculous era.
In the middle of all that music there is, and has always been, the sound of John Cooper Clarke, whose rapid fire delivery of pointed, observational lines of simple gloriousness instilled in me a love of edgy performance poets. I do, however, credit 8 Out of Ten Cats Does Countdown with a renewed interest in Clarke's work, his performances on my favourite gameshow an instant audio reminder of the times of my youth. (Health Fanatic - look it up, the final stanza has always been in my head ...).
I WANNA BE YOURS is a memoir, covering his extraordinary life, from childhood through to parenthood, with people from his own family (so close to being a Beatles tribute group), to the time that 2-fifths of the Velvet Underground were living under his roof. There's the story behind the fashion, the stories behind the music, and the hard living, sex and drugs and rock'n'roll lifestyle, although to be honest the sex seemed somewhat less than the other two in this case.
Listening to this as an audio book was an excellent choice on my part, Clarke has the sort of voice stylings that are mandatory for the story of his own life. There's so much downplay and side cracking, and an audible honesty to the mistakes, the byways and the bad (and good) decisions he made. He's made lifelong friends, he's garnered legions of fans and he's made one hell of a life for himself, and I absolutely loved listening to I WANNA BE YOURS.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/i-wanna-be-yours-john-cooper-clarke
In the middle of all that music there is, and has always been, the sound of John Cooper Clarke, whose rapid fire delivery of pointed, observational lines of simple gloriousness instilled in me a love of edgy performance poets. I do, however, credit 8 Out of Ten Cats Does Countdown with a renewed interest in Clarke's work, his performances on my favourite gameshow an instant audio reminder of the times of my youth. (Health Fanatic - look it up, the final stanza has always been in my head ...).
I WANNA BE YOURS is a memoir, covering his extraordinary life, from childhood through to parenthood, with people from his own family (so close to being a Beatles tribute group), to the time that 2-fifths of the Velvet Underground were living under his roof. There's the story behind the fashion, the stories behind the music, and the hard living, sex and drugs and rock'n'roll lifestyle, although to be honest the sex seemed somewhat less than the other two in this case.
Listening to this as an audio book was an excellent choice on my part, Clarke has the sort of voice stylings that are mandatory for the story of his own life. There's so much downplay and side cracking, and an audible honesty to the mistakes, the byways and the bad (and good) decisions he made. He's made lifelong friends, he's garnered legions of fans and he's made one hell of a life for himself, and I absolutely loved listening to I WANNA BE YOURS.
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/i-wanna-be-yours-john-cooper-clarke
redsmurf's review
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
I skipped a lot of the book. It was interesting but overly detailed. His story is written in an entertaining way. His addictions and relationships bared fully. He's a bit irritating tbh. Would have been better for me if he'd written more about the poetry.
beaniereadinginreading's review
2.0
Salford poet John Cooper Clarke has certainly led a fascinating life and documents it in - a lot of - detail in this memoir. Especially detailed are the account of his early years in a display that threatens to derail his story.
That early section is a fascinating look at popular culture of the 40s, 50s and 60s in some ways. But in other ways, it feels like a different book from what follows... A portrait of the artist as a young, and then middle aged, drug addict (the sections of the book I found most interesting).
Curiously, everything after his rehab and recovery seems rushed or at least in a lot less detail. Which feels odd, too, because it seems it's these years that he's never been happier. Perhaps there's not much to say about happiness!
So for me, a disjointed and unsatisfactory read. But there's a lot here that diehard fans will enjoy and this memoir is another display of Cooper Clarke's outstanding command of the English language.
That early section is a fascinating look at popular culture of the 40s, 50s and 60s in some ways. But in other ways, it feels like a different book from what follows... A portrait of the artist as a young, and then middle aged, drug addict (the sections of the book I found most interesting).
Curiously, everything after his rehab and recovery seems rushed or at least in a lot less detail. Which feels odd, too, because it seems it's these years that he's never been happier. Perhaps there's not much to say about happiness!
So for me, a disjointed and unsatisfactory read. But there's a lot here that diehard fans will enjoy and this memoir is another display of Cooper Clarke's outstanding command of the English language.
disreputable_dog's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
3.5