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The punk poet on his heroin years, dressing like Ronnie Wood, and achieving his boyhood ambition
Born in Salford in 1949, John Cooper Clarke is a poet and author. He cut his teeth in the clubs of Manchester before signing to Epic Records in 1978. He performed alongside the Sex Pistols, Joy Division, the Buzzcocks and Elvis Costello, scoring a UK Top 40 hit with Gimmix! Play Loud in 1979. His poem Evidently Chickentown was later used in The Sopranos, introducing him to a whole new generation, and his work is now on the GCSE English syllabus. As well as three poetry collections he published a memoir, I Wanna Be Yours, in 2020. His new poetry collection, Have It, is out now and he is touring the UK until 27 November.
This is me dressed up as a cowboy with a hat and six-shooter. Not the full schmear with the chaps and all the rest, but the best I could do. I was crazy about westerns. Still am, actually. My uncle Dennis was the only camera-owning relative at the time, so he would have taken the photo in our apartment above a chemist’s shop in Salford, located on a busy traffic intersection.