107 Quotes by John Cooper Clarke

Lyrics became important for a while in the late Seventies. Patti Smith was a poet and a rock star, as much one as the other, the distinctions were a bit blurred and then you get swept up in it. Punk poet, it's a good enough term.

I went to what can only be described as a slum school in Salford - rough and full of trainee punks - but I was very lucky in that I had one inspiring teacher, John Malone, who gave the whole class an interest in romantic poetry.

I enjoy gigging in industrial towns. It seems to be where I go down the best. Somewhere where they have a history of manufacturing, they're my favourite places to play.

Where I grew up, the one unmistakable sign of homosexuality was to betray some interest in your appearance.

Fame just ain't a natural situation. But I shouldn't have worried because everyone thought I was a bit famous even before I'd done anything; people just assumed I was famous.

To make the hips the focal point of a pair of trousers is, to me, a fashion mistake.

I don't go looking for new fads.

I was pushing for a career in poetry and of course the received wisdom was that you would never make a living at it.

I quite like cooking, but not to the extent that I look on a kitchen as a domain.