I Wanna Be Yours
Poem by John Cooper Clark
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"I Wanna Be Yours" is a spoken word poem by British poet 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 lyrics
The poetic spoken lyrics recount the love of one person for another, using metaphors around various domestic equipment:
I wanna be your vacuum cleaner
Breathing in your dust
I wanna be your Ford Cortina
I will never rust.[1]
The poem was included in a GCSE English anthology.[2] Clarke re-used the title of the poem for his autobiography published in 2020.[3] In March 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".[4]
Arctic Monkeys adaptation
| "I Wanna Be Yours" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Arctic Monkeys | |
| from the album AM | |
| Released | September 9, 2013 |
| Genre | |
| Length | 3:04 |
| Label | Domino |
| Composers |
|
| Lyricist | John Cooper Clarke |
| Producer | James Ford |
| Official audio | |
| "I Wanna Be Yours" on YouTube | |
The English rock band Arctic Monkeys brought the poem to a wider audience via an adaptation[6] which appears as the closing track on their 2013 album, AM. The adaptation, produced by James Ford and Ross Orton, contains novel lyrics written by lead singer Alex Turner. It was not released as a single, but the song still gained popularity as part of AM. In May 2025, the recitation reached 3 billion streams on Spotify.[7]
Weekly charts
|
Year-end charts
|
Certifications
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Canada (Music Canada)[36] | 5× Platinum | 400,000‡ |
| Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[37] | Gold | 45,000‡ |
| Italy (FIMI)[38] | 2× Platinum | 200,000‡ |
| New Zealand (RMNZ)[39] | 4× Platinum | 120,000‡ |
| Portugal (AFP)[40] | 5× Platinum | 50,000‡ |
| Spain (Promusicae)[41] | Platinum | 60,000‡ |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[42] | 3× Platinum | 1,800,000‡ |
| United States (RIAA)[43] | 4× Platinum | 4,000,000‡ |
| Streaming | ||
| Greece (IFPI Greece)[44] | Diamond | 10,000,000† |
|
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||