I Wanna Be Yours

"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 (2013-09-09)
Genre	Indie rock pop R&B
Length	3:04
Label	Domino
Composer(s)	Jamie Cook Matt Helders Nick O'Malley Alex Turner[5]
Lyricist(s)	John Cooper Clarke
Producer(s)	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. In May 2025, the recitation reached 3 billion streams on Spotify.^[7]

Weekly charts 2013 weekly chart performance for "I Wanna Be Yours" Chart (2013) Peak position UK Streaming (OCC)[8] 39 UK Indie (OCC)[9] 42 2021–2024 weekly chart performance for "I Wanna Be Yours" Chart (2021–2024) Peak position Czech Republic (Singles Digitál Top 100)[10] 39 Global 200 (Billboard)[11] 55 Greece International (IFPI)[12] 9 India International (IMI)[13] 2 Ireland (IRMA)[14] 78 Lithuania (AGATA)[15] 20 Malaysia (Billboard)[16] 21 Netherlands (Single Top 100)[17] 99 Norway (VG-lista)[18] 37 Poland (Polish Streaming Top 100)[19] 51 Portugal (AFP)[20] 26 Slovakia (Singles Digitál Top 100)[21] 44 Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[22] 66 Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[23] 93 UK Singles (OCC)[24] 99 UK Indie (OCC)[25] 4

Year-end charts 2022 year-end chart performance for "I Wanna Be Yours" by Arctic Monkeys Chart (2022) Position Lithuania (AGATA)[26] 43 2023 year-end chart performance for "I Wanna Be Yours" by Arctic Monkeys Chart (2023) Position Brazil Streaming (Pro-Música Brasil)[27] 199 Global 200 (Billboard)[28] 56 Poland (Polish Streaming Top 100)[29] 47 UK Singles (OCC)[30] 86 2024 year-end chart performance for "I Wanna Be Yours" Chart (2024) Position Global 200 (Billboard)[31] 49 Portugal (AFP)[32] 77

Certifications

Certifications for "I Wanna Be Yours" by Arctic Monkeys

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[33]	5× Platinum	400,000‡
Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[34]	Gold	45,000‡
Italy (FIMI)[35]	2× Platinum	200,000‡
Portugal (AFP)[36]	5× Platinum	50,000‡
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[37]	Platinum	60,000‡
United Kingdom (BPI)[38]	2× Platinum	1,200,000‡
United States (RIAA)[39]	3× Platinum	3,000,000‡
Streaming
Greece (IFPI Greece)[40]	Diamond	10,000,000†
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. † Streaming-only figures based on certification alone.

See also

• Evidently Chickentown
• Sleeper hit