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Baker's Dozen

Evidently Chicken Supreme: John Cooper Clarke's Favourite Songs
Alex Burrows , November 18th, 2020 11:32

Performance poet, style icon and broadcaster John Cooper Clarke tells Alex Burrows about his most-loved songs of all time and growing up during the birth of rock & roll. Portrait by Paul Wolfgang Webster.

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Dion & The Belmonts – 'I Wonder Why’
It could have been from his solo career, it could have been with The Belmonts. Again, he never really made a bad record, I just love his voice. Of all of those teen idols, those pin-ups, he had a real thing going on with his voice. He always sounds like he’s singing out of the side of his mouth. He’s so versatile. Throughout his career, no two albums have ever been exactly the same. He went through that slightly folky, hippy period in the 60s which was real good. He does a beautiful version of ‘A Sunday Kind of Love’. I loved Dion DiMucci. The way he dressed, what he looked like. I got into him at a very impressionable age, but I love his voice, with or without the Belmonts. It’s an object lesson in the things that the human voice can do – those chiming harmonies, incredible. The first I knew of him was the same as anyone else – ‘Teenager In Love’. Just a fantastic ensemble piece. I love doo-wop anyway. But you don’t have to love doo-wop to like Dion!