John Cooper Clarke Mail Bag & Guest Book

Sign the Guest Book and win nothing!

[updated - 8/16/97]

Here's Part 1 of the Guest Book and Mail Bag. The very first bunch people to stumble, discover or search for JCC on the net and find this site.

Here's what they said... Add your comments to the next updated page here!

(Please feel free to include your web page address and to add this site to your links).

We're visiting the UK in August. Dying to see JCC. Have most of his stuff (some of which was really hard to get on our last visit - we had to order "Maison de Fromage" in Manchester). Where will he be playing in August - someone please let us know. We've never seen him live but love his stuff and have turned on some of our Yank friends once they get past the language barrier.
Thanks a million. Glad to find JCC on the web - just buggering about, too. Punched in John Cooper Clarke after a mini JCC fest and found this site. Glad he's still keeping his fans happy.
Patricia... E-Mail
Happy to help... Harlow August 9th
Amazing. I've been using phrases from some of JCCs work for years without knowing and then discovered his work about 2 years ago but it is very hard to find. You've given me most of the tools to get into more of his work.
Thanks... Avi Runkel E-Mail
Hi Avi. Nice to have you check in. 'Bill L' e-mailed me a Zappa newsgroup thread and I saw your name on it. Take it from me... the transcript was not entirely accurate.
Thanks for the updates. JCC has reached new heights with 'The Truth Lies Therein.' One very beautiful poem. No need to rhyme and the piece is more than complete without any gimmicks. JCC must be proud of his site - it's fantastic.
Regards... Tom E-mail
Yes indeed... it's a pretty moving piece.
Hi... I first came across JCC in what must have been 1980 or so on a BBC 2 show, I was only about 13 or 14 then, but the words of Beasley Street buried themselves in my subconscious and have just been awakened by my stumbling on to your site. As far as I know JCC has never been to the ISLE OF MAN, (Road Racing Capital of The World ), but I'm sure he would go down a storm, especially at the time of the TT festival (June every year). Sixty thousand bikers, loads of venues, loads of ale, who knows... Maybe one day I'll get to see the man live. One can only wish.
Thanks for your site.
Gary & Diane E-Mail
Greetings Isle of Man. Glad you found the site. Who knows... one day JCC may perform there. In the meantime, I hope you'll take a minute to order the newly available CD's from someplace and play them loud enough so all on the Isle may hear them.
Stuck here in the wastelands of NYC I thought I was the only one to appreciate JCC. Any information about records which are available would be greatly appreciated. Keep up the good work!
Barry Wolifson E-Mail
We're adding stuff all the time Barry, so stay tuned. (And there's enough JCC fans in New York already to start your own 'Second Tuesday of Every Month Meeting Group.')
I live in Hull, East Yorks. Once saw JCC here in early 80's - what a star!! Been a fan ever since. Noticed on your site that he'd recently played at Scunthorpe which is near Hull - wish I'd seen it sooner, then could have been there - bugger!
Thanks for adding me to mailing list. I very much enjoyed the web site. Looking forward to regular accesses in the future.
From Millosman E-mail
Glad to have you onboard 'Millosman.'
I've just been having a look at your John Cooper Clarke page and was very impressed. I have the Innocents EP if you would like a colour scan. Why is JCC on a Stiff compilation? Was he actually signed to Stiff at one point?
I saw JCC 1977 when he supported Elvis Costello at the Nashville Rooms in London. Great gig. Unfortunately I never made it to one of those Punk Poet RAR meetings that JCC and Linton Kwesi Johnson so often performed at back then. I seem to recall taking some photos of him once, so now I'll have to go through my old photos as well.
Paul Hoskens, Germany E-mail
Yes I'd love some color scans of the singles if you can, and No, I have no idea how Evidently Chickentown came out in advance on a Stiff album - perhaps someone else can tell us.
I went to three J.C.C. gigs in Auckland, New Zealand (my hometown) in the early eighties (with New Order once, I recall) - sheer brilliance, & me therafter doting upon "Ten Years in an Open-Necked Shirt" plus the L.Ps...yet the man "vanished" for "Ten Years In a ???" - great to have news on 'im again via WWW site and by the way, all his stuff still sounds bloody good here on t'other side of world and after all this 'time lapsing business' !
Cheers
P.K. (a.k.a) peterk@iprolink.co.nz
Living at the obscure end-of-the-earth that is Hobart, Tasmania (a place JCC would never tire of ridiculing), it took me six years to find all the John Cooper Clarke albums and, by some miracle, the book. It only took me about 45 seconds to find your JCC page. Frankly, I hadn't expected one to exist, I just typed "john cooper clarke" on the search engine on some demented cyberwhim and bingo! Not just a page but a class act, individual layouts for the lyrics and all! Neat stuff, and I hope John does make it "official". It is good to see he is still rustling about over there.
Kevin Bonham in Tasmania E-Mail
Cheers for the nice words. We hope to have more news on the 'official status' soon - or at least this year.
Excellent web site! I met the man last year and he signed my copy of the freebie book that came with the vinyl "Snap,crackle...". Nice man. I first got into JCC around the time of "Gimmix." I loved "The pest" and "Twat" and have seen him many times since then. Best of all was when he supported The Damned at a free CND festival in Moss Side, Manchester circa 1981.
I'm still looking for a copy of "Ten years in an open neck shirt" - anyone got a spare copy???
From... DJCASSELL@aol.com
Can't help you with the book (has anyone tried writing to Arena/Arrow yet?), but glad you found the site and enjoyed it. Stay tuned to this URL for more updates in the near future.
Indeed, what a surprise finding this page by chance!
First I heard of JCC (INNOCENT!) through the compilation LP'Streets',the second the video 'Urgh! the music of war'. But I forgot him for many years. The other day I played back 'URGH!'. In the video, some other artists were out of date, but JCC was still brilliant and vivid. I felt BEAT,RHYTHM and PASSION, and I was fascinated by him again (although I didn't understand the words at once). I've just started collecting his CD's. Please include me in the e-mail update list.
Manabu Takayama from Japan E-Mail
Nuff Said.
Oh rejoice, rejoice, JCC lives. The best news I've had since the last best news I'd had; and that's definitely news worth having.
Have original copies of "Maison de Fromage" and "Snap, Crackle and Bop". No good having them if ya' can't brag about it, n'est par?
Keep trying to get in touch with the Bard. What's his manager's address? Maybe we should all try a little pestering, nicht wahr?
Hope to see some future dates and gigs published soon.
From: Adrian Collier E-Mail
Glad you found the site. Yeah it's ok to say you got the originals and make everyone jealous as hell. If that's what you want, n'est par? And his Manager's address is on the Management page. Feel free to pester him within reason, we need that gig guide.
Fabulous! This is why I joined the Internet! The last time I saw JCC was in '85, in the 100 Club in London. He was spot on, if a little fast, and it was a brilliant night. He was doing Jimmy Saville impressions (now then, now then; dignified etc.). At the end of the gig he was plugging a novel he said he'd just written. It was some kind of seafaring story I think, and he read a passage about a Captain somebody. That's all I remember. I got the impression it was about to be published, but I've never heard of it since.
The first time I heard JCC was around '79, when Radio 2(?) ran a show in which musical celebrities had an hour to play their favourite music. Frank Zappa played JCC's Cycle Sluts, and I was knocked for six - I'd never heard anything like it. I've been hooked ever since.
As far as the compilation video goes, I saw something like that on TV in the early eighties. It also had footage of a few other poets who were around at the time - Attila the Stockbroker did a poem called The Foyer Bar, and I think Little Brother and Mark Miwurdz were in there as well. I'm sure I also used to have a compilation tape called Me & My Big Mouth. And does anyone remember the Sugar Puffs advert? Please tell me I didn't dream that one...
Keep it going.
Paul Smith E-Mail
Another satisfied customer. Trust me... we'll make sure the Bard gets to hear how happy you are. It's true... he did do the Sugar Puffs commercial, but I ain't seen it either. (If anyone should have it on tape, I'd like to see it). And as for Zappa playing Psycle Sluts, that's true too. A devoted Zappa fan informs me that Frank also played Howling Wolf, The Channels, Edgar Varese, Black Sabbath, and others on his 'show.'
Pleased as punch to see someone keeping the great man in the public eye. It's over 20 years since I bought the first record of his and they still get played, and not one compilation tape that I make fails to have one of his poems onboard.
Anyway, please put me on your mailing list. Cheers and Keep Rockin'
Andrew E-Mail
What a great surprise, finding this page!! First heard of JCC thru 'Urgh! A Music War,' and he was the best thing in the film. I've only met one other person who's heard of him, and it wasn't even here in L.A. I've made sure to turn all my friends onto JCC, and they think I'm nuts when I start “singing” along to 'Conditional Discharge'!! Glad to hear he's still in the game. Any chance of coming out to L.A.?
From: Arkin2@aol.com
Great site. Please include me in the email update list. I've been a big fan of JCC for a long time: ever since I bought Disguise in Love way back in about 1981. But I've never seen him live.
Rob E-Mail
Just did a Yahoo search on JCC and found your site - excellent!
Saw John last night at the Duchess of York, Leeds, UK - first time I'd seen him live since the early seventies, when we used to see him a lot at the Black Lion in Salford. Saw him on TV occasionally in the eighties, heard the odd word here and there, just bought some stuff on CD to replace the old vinyl, wondered what he was up to lately ... then heard he was on in Leeds, 30 miles or so away ...
What can I say? He looked just the same and was as brilliant as ever. Two hours straight magic, some old stuff, some new, with a slight deviation into nearly losing it after the eighth whisky or so - but hung it all back together, finishing with 'Johnny's Clarke's song', 'Are you the Business' and 'Health Fanatic' (not necessarily in that order - it's all gone a bit hazy!)
He did about a dozen poems - the rest was jokes, surreal streams of insightful cerebral rambling, some 'club' singing ... haven't laughed so much in ages.
So, via this great website, I'd like to say thanks, Johnny Clarke, for a great night and I'll look out for the next one.
Thanks, Slev, whoever you may be! I'll keep track now I've found you, for ongoing info on the man.
Thanks again, Mel McClellan: E-Mail web page
Many thanks for a great job on the homepage. Please include me the unofficial chairman of the yet to be founded JCC Society of Sweden on your list of update-mail-list. A note to the discography. A couple of yrs ago I found a translucent vinyl (small size) with some 8 tracks some from the official material others new to me anyway, called "Ou est la maison de fromage, síl vous plait"
Cheers,
Hans-Olov Oberg Stockholm, Sweden E-mail
It obviously goes without saying that Hans-Olov is now the Vice-president and Chairman of the Swedish JCC Appreciation Society.
Thanks for the JCC web page, I've been looking for this for ages...
Yes I've got Snap, Crackle & Bop on CD after a long search and now I'm looking for 'Disguise In Love'.
Thanks again,
Paul E-Mail and Homepage
Well, we hope you get it soon Paul. No self-respecting JCC fan should be caught without it.
Hi, Thanks for the memories. Saw him twice in Australia. The first time he was great. The second time he was off his tits. I have just heard that he has reappeared on the scene. Keep me up to date on developments.
Keep it up or buy a cocktail cabinet.
Frank. E-Mail
Cheers Frank. If he ever comes back to Australia, please be sure to let us know. We'll see if we can do an internet live event.
During a conversation in the office today I recalled a couple of lines from 'Evidently Chickentown'. My colleagues didn't believe that a poem could have some much swearing in it....
I did a websearch on 'Evidently Chickentown' and your page came up on top - but no E.C!! :-( Any plans to put it up? (probably minus the 'f******')
Matt
Your wish is our command! It's done (with the 'f******'). Please note that Matt's e-mail address is being kept private because he was using the computer at his place of work for this frivolous purpose and we would hate to get him in trouble.
Hey, I made it to the JCC Web Page!!! I love JCC (his music anyway). I have Slev to thank for this. JCC on CD!!!??? I need to know more. Consider me an official JCC guest.
Yours in Chickentown
Rob Daria E-Mail and Homepage
Hey there Roberto. So you succumbed huh? We'll have to see what we can do about getting you those CD's.
Just found your John Cooper Clarke homepage (enjoyed it very much thank you I did). Figured I'd tell you that I met JCC the other day in some pub or other in London somewhere. I know it was West because I remember being driven down the A40 (Euston Rd) by my mates girlfriend.
Anyhow, he was doing comedy and poems and stuff. Oh, and it was free. He was however a very nice man if a bit thin.
Rich E-mail
Thanks indeed Rich for the nice words. Like our motto says.. "We do it all for you." Keep us posted when you see him again.
Further to your list of albums, I am sure I used to own a cassette called "Me & My Big Mouth" which appeared to be a compilation including Beazley St, 36 Hours & Kung Fu International.
It was stolen from my car and I've never seen another copy. Do you know anything more?
Dave E-Mail
Now you come to mention it, I do have vague recollections. However, I never owned that one personally so hopefully someone will send us more info on it. Cheers.
I think his songs are incisively funny, he is weird and convincing, a very powerful and imaginative man. Some songs with strong lyrics seem to have been dressed in merely a style of contemporary pop/rock music that is mockingly being copied but too loosely to be a persiflage.
Frans Goddijn E-Mail and Homepage
Thanks Frans. It's nice to have Holland check in. Maybe next we'll have someone from Arizona.
As someone whose year of birth begins with a 6, can I just say congratulations on the John Cooper Clarke home page. It's great to be able to evangelise the younger generation to the fact that somebody was writing timelessly funny lyrics to be spoken over electronic backing music years before rap hit the mainstream.
A hugely delightful stroll down memory lane. Now if you could only get him to endorse the site and get the lyrics to masterpieces like Beasley Street up there, maybe he'd have a whole new generation of fans. Nobody I work with under the age of 25 had ever heard of the Bard of Manchester, yet even I could get them to laugh at I Married a Monster from Outer Space and Salome Maloney. And they were both delivered in a Dublin accent trying to take off a Salford one. Not very nice.
Wishing you well on your site's endorsement and a JCC career revival.
David E-Mail
Gee... Thanks a bunch David. Maybe there's hope for this site yet. Consider Beasley Street added!
The site looks great. Since I didn't know anything about JCC prior to you spoon feeding me little cassettes, I owe it to you that I even know about him in this depraved state of Arizona. His music is great and his lyrics leave me scratching my head. That's a good thing. I'd like to see some live footage - is there any out there?
Bill E-mail / Homepage
Cheers Bill. We hope we're not going out on a limb with this site considering it's still not yet 'officially aproved,' but we do it for people like you. Yes, there is video footage here and there, but it's harder to find than Possom stew at the Carnegie Deli.
I just stumbled across your site. I'm glad that someone finally put one up for JCC. I've been interested in him for a while, but his stuff is hard to come by over here in the US, where little (if any) was ever released. I was glad to read at your site that some of his stuff was reissued on CD. I live in New York City, so some of the record stores should be able to get them as imports.
Regards, Matt - New York
Wow. Another one. It's great to see all these JCC fans stumbling across the site. Pretty soon we'll have a movement going here. Note that Matt's e-mail address is also being held back because like so many others, he uses his computer at work for fun purposes and we'd hate to see him get in trouble.
Fuzzy memories of a video made by John Cooper Clarke and LInton Kwesi Johnson around 1984? Any one recall this? What was the song?
Al in Pittsburgh PA. E-mail
P.S. Saw JCC eons ago in San Fran...1982...he opened for Bow Wow Wow - would not say it was very sucessful. I dug it though.
There is an official video release, but it's hard to come by. I've added the info for it in the Discography section. Frank says that it was shown on TV in Australia and he actually has 15 minutes of it on VHS. There's also supposed to be another video compilation of various Manchester artists, but I have no info on it.
Spreading the word to the masses!!! This is just what I've been waiting for, thanks, and please put my name on the mailing list.
Talking about videos I remember (in a haze) from a video festival in some Swedish town, an oi and punk video compilation that contained "I married a monster from outer space". My memory is really not up to it to recall the content, but it wasn't a "performance shot" like several of the others.
Regards, jerk - long-time JCC fan. E-mail
Hey there jerk. Glad you enjoyed the visit. The serious lack of JCC on the net had to be rectified somehow, so I just took it upon myself to fix it. If you should remember any more about the video, please let us know.
Re Gimmix: I always thought the penultimate line was... "The condition of admission is a haircut, A Tony Curtis or what?" (echo reverberation feedback noise)
Given JCC's own haircut (NME described him as half-man half-thicket) it seems plausible to me. Sadly all my JCC records are in boxes until I move house again, so I can't check my memory.
I once asked John why he liked the word 'leatherette' so much, (and I will try and remember the answers). He gave me a stage pass to the next gig but as a poor student I couldn't afford the trip.
David E-Mail
Cheers David. Your input is greatly appreciated. Try and remember what he said. (It's interesting to note how many of JCC's fans have 'fuzzy memories' - me included)
I have scoured second hand book shops for years to find 10 years in an open neck so that I could introduce my wife to the poetry of JCC then I remembered you can find everything on the internet.
Thank you for putting up such an excellent site... regards,
Matt Tierney E-Mail
No problemo. Glad you enjoyed it. But we still need that book re-printed, re-packaged and re-issued for all us people out there who want it, and maybe even a companion follow up volume to go with it. I'm writing to the guy who did the first one (Steve Maguire) to ask him if there's any chance.
I first heard JCC while crashing on some stranger's couch in Edinburgh during the summer of 1980. Snap, Crackle & Bop was constantly playing on the turntable. I have been a big fan ever since.
Jose Gutierrez E-Mail
Hi Jose. It's strange the way things work sometimes - don't you think? And you're probably a better person for it too. Thanks also for the single update info.
FYI. I found the following haiku by JCC at:
http://www.smh.com.au/archive/news/951107/news6-951107.html
SOMETIME in the late 1970s, punk poet John Cooper Clarke, an electrified hairstyle known to his fans as The Bard of Salford, created what many scholars (not really, but it sounds more impressive) consider to be the finest haiku of the English language:
Found using Altavista simple search on "John Cooper clarke"
Cheers, Harry E-Mail
No... Cheers to you Harry. The haiku is appreciated.
Wow, What a blast from my youth! Just today I was browsing through a "bargain Discount Store" in rural Australia and found a copy of "Ten Years in an Open-Necked Shirt". So what else would I do but search on the Net? I saw him twice in Oz, the first time he was ripped off his tits, but both times was everything we expected in performance....Pity I have lost my JCC tapes.
Charles E-Mail
Some people have all the luck. Unbelievable! Name your price.
Hi, here's an e-mail from Holland. I'm a JCC fan for a long time already, and wondered why I had not heard from him for such a long time. I was afraid JCC was no longer among us, because I read his health wasn't all that... I have been looking for quite a while on the web for info about JCC; until now I discovered nothing...please keep up the good work!
p.s. I will make a link to your pages on the music-link collection i've made on my homepage.
Robert van Hall, the Hague, Holland E-Mail Homepage
Hi there Robert. Glad you enjoyed your visit. The lack of JCC on the net is the only reason for this site existing. Next we'll see about that European Tour. Meanwhile keep your eyes aimed at the current activities section.
Fabulous site! I've been sitting here wondering what happened to the man for the past decade. What did happen? Has he been on the rubbish heap for ten years?
When JCC toured here, he gave an interview to the ABC which included an impromptu recitation of Death Takes a Holiday. I have a scratchy recording of it, but I'll contact the ABC and see if they happen to have the complete i/v on tape anywhere.
Cheers, Howard, Australia. E-Mail
He sure has a few fans over there on Oz land. Remember to keep us all posted about that interview. Some of us would certainly like to hear it - scratchy or not.
Ya! You young punks. Churn that crap down. We don't go for none of that poetry stuff. Damn communitz. I mean it! I'm going to come down and throttle you, soon as I can find me wooden eye. Wha's this? Arrgh!
Breastless in Phoenix. E-Mail Home Page
I think we need to start a whip-round to help this poor boy. He is obviously a sick canibalistic loser with no kind of life at all and is in urgent need of a quarter to get it started. (Either that or he's got an ok sense of humour).
Suprised to say the least that JCC, a man not given the credit he deserves for alternative comedy, is actually on the Internet. Seen him now a number of times, the last being in Derby last year and he was on top form. I am the proud owner of Ten Years in an Open Necked Shirt and it is getting rather tatty. Obtained Snap, Crackle on CD from Tower Records in London. Brilliant !!!
Andy, U.K. E-Mail
Nuff said!
Why can't anyone write down "The Pest"? I'm desperate for it!
Angry Swedish JCC-fan girl E-Mail
You have every right to be angry. The complete lack of JCC in every corner and crevice of our so called civilized world should make everyone angry. Nor we should have to take it. PS.. the lyrics are now added - and your e-mail link doesn't work.
Good to see 66 Dylan as stick insect survives - ask him about his heroes... I collected some TV stuff in the early eighties - including a Granada TV special, assorted clips including a classic with Neil Innes in some bathroom. I recall some freak regularly filming the late seventies gigs with some 8mm stuff, and later with a battery pack and the panasonic. I got a mixing desk tape of a Rafters show in Manchester sometime in '81, and the same geezer was there with his camera whirring.
Keep up the good work - and if anyone hears that yer man is coming down under any time let me know. I hear young Michael Jackson is managing a trip to Perth, and they look pretty well the same from behind....
Tim Keeble E-Mail
Hey Tim. Thanks for the info there... we appreciate it.
Hey! Nice job on the JCC website! Now cruising the internet is fun AND interesting.
Do you know where I can find the words to the poem 36 hours? I've been substituting my own words for so long now that I've rewritten the damn thing. Also, I can't find "Ten years.." in any bookstore in NYC, any clues?
TA... Steve Acker, E-Mail
Cheers for checking in. Sorry I can't help you with the book, except to say contact the last publisher. As to the lyrics... they are now added.
As the others say, a great homepage! Saw JCC himself in Chester recently, he was a lot less shaky than I thought he'd be, has some hilarious jokes on the subject of Burnley, "Where they still point at aeroplanes.....". Last time I saw him was at the G-Mex shindig in 1986, anyone else remember that???? No e-mail address sorry, this too is 'work', sort of..... Regards, Wazboy.
Glad you found us, but this hit & run e-mail has to stop. How are we to get hold of you?
Hello there! Thank you for the informative JCC web-site. Can you please put me on the JCC e-mail update list. Suggestion: The life and death of Martin Hannett is still a mystery to (not only) me. Could you do something on the invisible girls?
Hans Huisman, Amsterdam E-Mail
I'm stunned (and shocked) at the news about Martin Hannett. I had no idea. All I can do is start a tribute page. If anyone would like to add to it, please feel free to send your message here.

> Look for more guest book comments as we get 'em. <