THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

816-John Cooper Clarke-Evidently Chickentown.

1980-It has never been released as a single in the UK.

Best Bit-At 0.49. It’s a bloody good song.

John Cooper Clarke was born on January 25th, 1949, in Salford, Lancashire, England, he is a ‘performance poet,’ who is often referred to as ‘The bard of Salford,’ and he usually refers to himself on stage as ‘Johnny Clarke, the name behind the hairstyle.’ Clarke first found success during the ‘Punk Rock’ era in the late 1970’s, when he would tour, often opening for some of the biggest names of the day, including the Sex Pistols, Elvis Costello, and Siouxsie and the Banshees. Clarke has cited his school English teacher, John Malone as an inspiration, describing him as, ‘A real outdoor guy, an Ernest Hemingway type, red blooded, literary bloke.’ He has also declared the English poet Sir Henry Newbolt’ (1862-1938) as an inspiration. Clarke has also attributed his early success in part to the English poet Pam Ayres, who he watched perform on the British television talent show ‘Opportunity Knocks’ in 1975.

The discography of John Cooper Clarke includes seven Albums released between 1978-2018, and eight singles, or extended plays, issued between 1977-2012, there are also three official compilation Albums available. Clarke’s only charting single on the UK top 40 singles chart to date is ‘Gimmix! (Play Loud,’) which reached Number 39 in 1978. He has also issued two books of his poetry, which are ‘Ten Years in an Open Necked Shirt,’ (1983) and ‘The Luckiest Guy Alive’ (2018.)

‘Evidently Chickentown’ which was originally written as a poem, was set to music by Martin ‘Zero’ Hannett, (1948-1991) and Steve Hopkins, with Hannett producing, for John Cooper Clarke’s fourth studio Album ‘Snap, Crackle & Bop,’ from 1980. The musicians on the Album were ‘The Invisible Girls,’ who were a British Rock band, formed in Salford, Greater Manchester in 1978, which included Martin Hannett, (bass guitar) and Steve Hopkins (keyboards.) The Invisible Girls’ were initially formed as the backing band of John Cooper Clarke, and between 1978-1982, other artists, including Paul Burgess, (drums) Vin Reilly, (guitar) and Pete Shelley, (1955-2018) (guitar) also performed with ‘The Invisible Girls,’ releasing four Albums, and four singles in that time period.

Martin Hannett was born James Martin Hannett on May 31st, 1948, in Manchester, England, in later life his health and career declined due to his heavy use of alcohol and drugs, especially Heroin, He died as a result of a heart attack on April 18th, 1991, at the age if 42. Hannett who is best remembered for his innovative music production, was the producer of the ‘Spiral Scratch’ EP, by the English Punk Rock group the ‘Buzzcocks,’ which was one of the very first releases by a British Punk band, in October 1976. Other career highlights for Hannett include co-producing ‘Love Will tear Us Apart,’ for Joy Division, (1980) and ’11 O’Clock Tick Tock,’ for U2 (1980.) In total he produced three Albums for John Cooper Clarke, and for a list of the other songs on this ‘best 1000 songs’ that Hannett produced (see also best songs 1016 and 619.)

‘Evidently Chickentown’ uses repeated profanity in order to get it’s message across about how tough, and often mundane, suburban life can be. The repeated use of ‘bloody,’ is a method used by Clarke to covey his frustration throughout the song. Sometimes when performing the song live, Clarke will substitute the word ‘bloody,’ for the word ‘f..k.’ The lyrics to ‘Evidently Chickentown’ bare more than a passing resemblance to an earlier work titled ‘The Bloody Orkneys,’ written by the author and journalist Andrew Blair in 1952, under the pseudonym ‘Captain Hamish Blair,’ Clarke has said that he ‘Didn’t consciously copy it. But I must have heard that poem, years ago. It’s terrific.’

‘Evidently Chickentown’ has appeared in films and television programmes over the years, including in Danny Boyle’s 2001 film ‘Strumpet,’ and in Jacques Audiard’s 2012 film ‘Rust and Bone,’ but the song is probably best remembered for it’s use in the 2007 penultimate episode of the American television drama ‘The Sopranos.’ Sean O’Neal of the American online newspaper ‘The A.V. Club’ wrote that the song,’Ranks as one of the show’s sharpest and most effective musical moments, somehow capturing the vexation of a New York mafia guy with the words of a British punk who’s complaining about flat beer and cold chips.’

‘The bloody pubs are bloody dull. The bloody clubs are bloody full of bloody girls and bloody guys, with bloody murder in their eyes. A bloody bloke got bloody stabbed, waiting for a bloody cab.’