Punk poet John Cooper Clarke has detailed his admiration for Sheffield band Arctic Monkeys after their cover of ‘I Wanna Be Yours’ propelled Clarke back into mainstream popularity.

Clarke, who first became famous during the punk rock era of the late 1970s, went on to release several albums in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Having formed a friendship with Arctic Monkeys, the band displayed their affection for Clarke by producing a cover version of his poem ‘I Wanna Be Yours’.

The track would go on to come a fan favourite on Monkeys 2013 AM.

“I love the Arctic Monkeys. I love every album they’ve come up with so far, they’re utterly different from the one that preceded it,” Clarke told the NME before adding “It’s a great thing.”

“I can’t thank those guys enough for covering that one [I Wanna Be Yours] because it was already one of the great favourites from my repertoire!”

The song, appearing as the last track on the Arctic Monkeys album, has even become a wedding hit according to Clarke: “I meet a lot of people who get married in the summer months because I stay at hotels and usually work on a Saturday.

“They tell me ‘wow, I just read your poem at our wedding’.

“You can’t buy that kind of love, and I can’t thank the Arctic Monkeys enough for reintroducing the British public to that uncharacteristically romantic number.”