"I Wanna Be Yours" is a poem by John Cooper Clarke, on his 1982 album Zip Style Method. The poem was brought to wider audience via an adaptation by Arctic Monkeys on their 2013 album AM.
Original poem
The poem recounts the love of one person for another, using metaphors around various domestic equipment: Let me be your vacuum cleaner Breathing in your dust Let me be your Ford Cortina I will never rust
The poem was included in a GCSE English anthology. Clarke re-used the title of the poem for his autobiography published in 2020.
In 2023, The Guardian noted that "if it was previously Britain’s favourite wedding poem, it’s now quantifiably the world’s favourite British poem, full stop."
Arctic Monkeys adaptation
English rock band Arctic Monkeys brought the poem to a wider audience via an adaptation on their 2013 album AM. The adaptation contains novel lyrics written by lead singer Alex Turner, and is produced by James Ford and Ross Orton. As of September 5, 2023, their recitation has amounted over 1.403 billion streams on Spotify.
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References
2013 songs
Arctic Monkeys songs
Song recordings produced by James Ford (musician) Songs written by Jamie Cook Songs written by Matt Helders Songs written by Nick O'Malley Songs written by Alex Turner (musician)