Beasley Street

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"Beasley Street" is one of the many notable works by punk poet John Cooper Clarke. Dealing with poverty in inner-city Salford in the Britain of Margaret Thatcher, Cooper Clarke has said that the poem was inspired by Camp Street in Lower Broughton. [1] It has a relentless theme of squalor and despair:

John Cooper Clarke English performance poet

John Cooper Clarke is an English performance poet who first became famous during the punk rock era of the late 1970s when he became known as a "punk poet". He released several albums in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and continues to perform regularly.

Premiership of Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Thatcher served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1979 to November 1990. She became Prime Minister after serving as Leader of the Conservative Party since 1975.

The rats have all got rickets
They spit through broken teeth
The name of the game is not cricket
Caught out on Beasley Street

The recorded poem is on Cooper Clarke's 1980 album Snap, Crackle & Bop . When it was released, BBC radio stations censored the line "Keith Joseph smiles and a baby dies/ In a box on Beasley Street." [2]

<i>Snap, Crackle & Bop</i> 1980 studio album by John Cooper Clarke

Snap, Crackle & Bop is the fourth album by John Cooper Clarke, originally released in 1980. As with Disguise in Love, the album featured The Invisible Girls as the backing band and was produced by Martin Hannett. Original first pressings of the LP included a booklet with the lyrics from John Cooper Clarke's 1978 album Disguise in Love together with photographs and artwork, the booklet was housed in a pocket that formed part of the jacket on the LP cover photograph. The album placed at No. 39 in NME's 1980 Albums Of The Year.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters are at Broadcasting House in Westminster, London, and it is the world's oldest national broadcasting organisation and the largest broadcaster in the world by number of employees. It employs over 20,950 staff in total, 16,672 of whom are in public sector broadcasting. The total number of staff is 35,402 when part-time, flexible, and fixed-contract staff are included.

Keith Joseph British barrister and politician

Keith Sinjohn Joseph, Baron Joseph,, known as Sir Keith Joseph, 2nd Baronet, for most of his political life, was a British barrister and politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he served in the Cabinet under four prime ministers: Harold Macmillan, Sir Alec Douglas-Home, Edward Heath and Margaret Thatcher. He was a key influence in the creation of what came to be known as "Thatcherism" and the subsequent decline of one-nation conservatism and the postwar consensus.

In the 2010s, Cooper Clarke has performed a "sequel" poem, "Beasley Boulevard" which deals with urban regeneration and mentions Urban Splash. [3]

Urban Splash is a British company which regenerates decaying industrial warehouses, mills, Victorian terraced houses and other buildings. The company has its head office in Castlefield, Manchester, but works across the United Kingdom.

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References

  1. ↑ "John Cooper Clarke On Life In Higher Broughton". salfordstar.com. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
  2. ↑ "A life of rhyme: John Cooper Clarke, the 'punk Poet Laureate'". independent.co.uk. 8 November 2009. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
  3. ↑ "John Cooper Clarke: Extra". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
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