"Evidently Chickentown" is a poem by the English

performance poet Performance poetry is a broad term, encompassing a variety of styles and genres. In brief, it is poetry that is specifically composed for or during a performance before an audience. During the 1980s, the term came into popular usage to describe ...

John Cooper Clarke John Cooper Clarke (born 25 January 1949) is an English performance poet, who first became famous as a "punk poet" in the late 1970s. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he released several albums. Around this time, he performed on stage with sev ...

. The poem uses repeated

profanity Profanity, also known as cursing, cussing, swearing, bad language, foul language, obscenities, expletives or vulgarism, is a socially offensive use of language. Accordingly, profanity is language use that is sometimes deemed impolite, rud ...

to convey a sense of futility and exasperation. Featured on Clarke's 1980 album ''

Snap, Crackle & Bop ''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 ...

'', the

realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *Classical Realism *Literary realism, a move ...

of its lyrics is married with haunting, edgy

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

s. The poem bears a resemblance to a 1952 work titled "The Bloody Orkneys", written by Andrew James Fraser Blair, author and journalist, under the pseudonym Captain Hamish Blair. In 2009 Clarke said he "didn't consciously copy it. But I must have heard that poem, years ago. It's terrific." Clarke appears as himself reciting "Evidently Chickentown" in the 2007 British film ''

Control Control may refer to: Basic meanings Economics and business * Control (management), an element of management * Control, an element of management accounting * Comptroller (or controller), a senior financial officer in an organization * Controllin ...

'', directed by

Anton Corbijn Anton Johannes Gerrit Corbijn van Willenswaard (; born 20 May 1955) is a Dutch photographer, film director and music video director. He is the creative director behind the visual output of Depeche Mode and U2,Pitman, Joanna"The silent partner"' ...

. "Evidently Chickentown" appears in

Danny Boyle Daniel Francis Boyle (born 20 October 1956) is an English director and producer. He is known for his work on films including ''Shallow Grave'', '' Trainspotting'' and its sequel ''T2 Trainspotting'', '' The Beach'', '' 28 Days Later'', '' Su ...

's 2001 film '' Strumpet'', in

Jacques Audiard Jacques Audiard (; born 30 April 1952) is a French film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is the son of Michel Audiard, also a film director and screenwriter. He has won both the César Award for Best Film and the BAFTA Award for Best Fi ...

's 2012 film ''

Rust and Bone ''Rust and Bone'' (french: link=no, De rouille et d'os) is a 2012 romantic drama film directed by Jacques Audiard, starring Marion Cotillard and Matthias Schoenaerts, based on Craig Davidson's short story collection ''Rust and Bone''. It tells t ...

,'' during the transition between the subject matter of parts 1 and 2 in the 2021 two-part documentary ''

Tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus '' Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on u ...

,'' and at the beginning of S1 E5 of

's 2022 biopic ''

Pistol A pistol is a handgun, more specifically one with the chamber integral to its gun barrel, though in common usage the two terms are often used interchangeably. The English word was introduced in , when early handguns were produced in Europe, an ...

'' entitled "Track 5: Nancy and Sid." It was also used at the end of "

Stage 5 Stage 5 (or, originally, "Stage V") is an unofficial stage at the Walnut Valley Festival, an annual bluegrass festival in Winfield, Kansas, United States. Set up in the Pecan Grove campground, the informal stage began in 1987 when camper Russel ...

", a 2007 episode of the American television drama ''

The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American Crime film#Crime drama, crime drama television series created by David Chase. The story revolves around Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey-based American Mafia, Italian-American mobster, portraying h ...

''. Sean O'Neal of ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'' wrote that the poem "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."

References

External links

* *
Evidently Chickentown
– complete lyrics at johncooperclarke.com English poems 1980 poems The Sopranos {{UK-poem-stub