Radio 4: Johnny Marr to guest on 'The Poet Laureate Has Gone to His Shed' (episode airs July 3, 2021)

As Summer has arrived and the days are longer, Simon Armitage is heading down the garden path for a second series of The Poet Laureate Has Gone to His Shed on Radio 4. Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, accompanied by his 12-string acoustic, will be Simon’s first guest.

The Poet Laureate Has Gone to His Shed begins Saturday 3 July at 7.15pm on Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.

Simon Armitage returns to Radio 4 for a second series of The Poet Laureate Has Gone to His Shed

Simon Armitage returns to Radio 4 for a second series of The Poet Laureate Has Gone to His Shed, with guests including Johnny Marr, Jo Whiley, Imtiaz Dharker, JK Rowling and more

www.bbc.com

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MP3 file of the programme available here, I think for one week only:

The Poet Laureate Has Gone to His Shed.mp3

1 file sent via WeTransfer, the simplest way to send your files around the world

we.tl

 

[Anonymous]

Simon Armitage must have ticked some box somewhere, because, he’s a useless Poet. I know it.

Ridiculous statement. Armitage is a national treasure. Can you read?

 

[Surface]

Great to hear him playing bits of Smiths songs and interesting to hear how they fell into a pattern of writing 3 songs at a time.

The Morrissey question and response from Morrissey about driving was funny.

 

[JB Slough]

Ridiculous statement. Armitage is a national treasure. Can you read?

National Treasure? Sends alarm 🛎 to me. He’s an utter amateur compared to great poets. Go read a book you fool

 

[Deleted member 29417]

National Treasure? Sends alarm 🛎 to me. He’s an utter amateur compared to great poets. Go read a book you fool

Ach, it's a bit mean, but it's true that so far he hasn't produced the line or poem he'll be remembered for & 'national treasure' is a warning sign - writers shouldn't be so bland that they never piss off the public.

 

[Anonymous]

Well, I don't know anything about Simon Armitage's poetry but he should probably stick to it. I gave up at the point when he asked Johnny something like "Can you ever see a point when you just stop?". Others can let me know if Johnny's answer was "Yeah, I'm thinking of packing it in next year actually". "How did you and Morrissey get together?" was another chestnut. And Marr incredibly managed to tell the same story he's now been telling for nearly 40 years as if he'd never told it before. I'm not a big fan of Johnny's songwriting but it might have been polite to as least acknowledge it with a question, rather than persistently grilling him about The Smiths. As for the story about Mike Joyce just looking right through him when he was rhapsodising about the songs - well, if Joyce really did say "I just thought it had a good beat" then Northern deadpan humour seems to be lost on this Northern poet - Joyce has waxed just as lyrical on many occasion about Morrissey's and Marr's talent, and about how exceptional the thought the songs were. To caricature him as a thick drummer just sound like he was angling for a bitchy quote from Marr. Polite indifference from Marr when Armitage relayed his feeble anecdote about asking Morrissey if he could drive. Quite appropriate though for a car crash of an interview. Still, Marr's guitar interludes were beautiful. I wish he'd do a whole album of just finger picking semi-acoustic stuff like that.

 

[ACTON]

Ach, it's a bit mean, but it's true that so far he hasn't produced the line or poem he'll be remembered for & 'national treasure' is a warning sign - writers shouldn't be so bland that they never piss off the public.

Exactly. Which is why I can't wait to see John Cooper Clarke in Ireland in May. Genius poet.

The kingdom of the blind
A one-eyed man is king
Beauty problems are redefined
The doorbells do not ring
A lightbulb bursts like a blister
The only form of heat
Here a fellow sells his sister
Down the river on Beasley Street
The boys are on the wagon
The girls are on the shelf
Their common problem is
That they're not someone else
The dirt blows out
The dust blows in
You can't keep it neat
It's a fully furnished dustbin
Sixteen Beasley Street

 

[Gregor Samsa]

Exactly. Which is why I can't wait to see John Cooper Clarke in Ireland in May. Genius poet.

The kingdom of the blind
A one-eyed man is king
Beauty problems are redefined
The doorbells do not ring
A lightbulb bursts like a blister
The only form of heat
Here a fellow sells his sister
Down the river on Beasley Street
The boys are on the wagon
The girls are on the shelf
Their common problem is
That they're not someone else
The dirt blows out
The dust blows in
You can't keep it neat
It's a fully furnished dustbin
Sixteen Beasley Street

The boys are on the wagon
The girls are on the shelf
Their common problem is
That they're not someone else

This is amazing stuff. Love JCC.

 

[Mozmar]

MP3 file of the programme available here, I think for one week only:

The Poet Laureate Has Gone to His Shed.mp3

1 file sent via WeTransfer, the simplest way to send your files around the world

we.tl

And with that I bid you all farewell.

"And with that I bid you all farewell."

Has the radish (aka deleted member 29235) fashionably flounced & left the building?