Eric Clapton: Self
Photos
Quotes
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Eric Clapton : Uncle Mac was on the radio on Saturday morning and he would play a variety of music for kids. "How Much Is That Doggie In The Window" - all those kind of novelty things he would play. And then, every now and then, he'd play some different music.
[Muddy Waters' "My Life is Ruined" on the radio]
Eric Clapton : You didn't hear that anywhere else, except on this kiddie's program. And I thought, "Oh, man, this is for me!" I didn't even know that it was black music. I didn't know about black and white being different stuff. But, something about it got me. Something stirred me - without me even being aware of it. It took all the pain away.
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Eric Clapton : When I was 15, I was really gripped in the experience of getting involved in life in the arts. I wanted to know about French literature. I wanted to know about French cinema, Japanese cinema. I read Baudelaire. I read Keroauc, Ginsberg, and Steinbeck. But, I was to be addicted to the blues. Totally obsessed.
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Eric Clapton : This music is almost a thing of the past now. So, if you're not familiar with his work, then I would encourage you to go out and find an album called, "B.B. King Live at the Regal" which is were it all really started for me as a young player.
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Eric Clapton : People say I was pretty spoiled and I was selfish. I'm sure I must have had some qualities; but, not from what I hear. I was very fond of painting and drawing - anything that was introverted.
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Eric Clapton : There seemed to be nobody I could talk to that had any interests in this. You had to travel miles to find another person. We used to meet up at the Marquee Club up in Oxford Street. The Blues night was a Thursday night and you would meet like minds there and just dance. I meet Mick and Keith and Brian up there. They were just part of this crew that would go there.
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Eric Clapton : I still had no idea how you talked to girls. I was very shy. And then, suddenly, I was dating, picking up girls. It was like a girl in every gig.
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Eric Clapton : We were considered a good live act. We were asked to do the Beatles Christmas Show and we thought they were *wankers*. But, I got along with George very well; because, he was a guitar player.
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Eric Clapton : [referring to John Mayall] He was very cool. He had an incredible collection of records that I listened to all day for about a year. I would just put on records and play along with them and I went *at* it. A lot of my influences around that time weren't just guitar players. There were other singers and also Indian music. I listened to Bismillah Khan a lot. I wanted my guitar to sound like his reed instrument.
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Eric Clapton : I was so disheartened by the music business; because, it seemed to me that everywhere I looked, everyone was on the make. I think I was probably a nasty piece of work to have around, you know. If you're trying to launch into the successful music world.
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Eric Clapton : One of the biggest influences on what I wanted to achieve with the guitar was Little Walter - the sound he made with the harmonica played through an amplifier. And it was thick and fat. Very melodic.
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Eric Clapton : [on forming Cream] I wanted to be a blues trio - fusing jazz and rock. It was just a thing of where the three of us liked one another's playing and we decided to do it.
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Eric Clapton : [archival interview, 1965] What will happen is that after a long time, they'll become so well educated, musically, that they'll be able to dig Spades singing the blues; instead of having to take watered down imitations. They won't have to accept that anymore; because, they'll be free-thinkin' enough to be able to look at a colored man and dig him, without having any hang ups, you know. And then, you know, all the white guys are gonna have to find something of their own to play that is good enough to stand up to it. Because, they won't be accepted. They'll be rejected. There won't be any white blues bands. It couldn't happen.
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Eric Clapton : We'd talk about everyday kind of ambitions, you know, and the way we'd want the world to be. But, the conversations never stayed that way for very long. I mean, Jimi had such a surreal mind, once he started going, talking about anything, he'd end up talking about flying saucers, you know, sort of, purple velvet moons.
[laughs]
Eric Clapton : You couldn't keep him on the ground for any length of time.
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Eric Clapton : I went in there with my permed hair and pink trousers, high heel boots, looking like a freak from Mars.
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Eric Clapton : I knew it was wrong. George was my best friend. But, I felt the compulsion towards her, that she was probably the most desirable woman I'd ever met. And even though they were married, I wanted her. Even though she was unavailable. And that frightened me.
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Eric Clapton : The was our first recording was "All Things Must Pass". It was the first Dominoes real recording.
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Eric Clapton : For the first time, it felt there was a chance for us.
Steve Winwood : Eric said he wanted to talk to me and we were in the garden. This was quite late, you know, because the sun was beginning to come up. And George appeared from nowhere, from the mists of the morning.
Eric Clapton : And I said, "I have to tell you something. I'm in love with your wife."
Steve Winwood : And George looked at me, accusingly, and said, "Well, what are you going to do? Are you going with him or are you coming back with me?"
Eric Clapton : I felt her detach. Right there and then, I knew the deal was off.
Steve Winwood : So, I said, "George, of course, I'm going home with you." There were no extra words. There was nothing else to be discussed except who I was going home with. And I found that deeply depressing.
Eric Clapton : Everyone knew that George was playing around. But, she was absolutely loyal to him. And I thought, "What do you want? Do you want to see me crawl across the floor to you? What do I have to do?"
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Eric Clapton : I went into a sort of trance. It got really mysterious and I didn't know where I was. I had been given a little Persian book, the love story about Laila and Majnun. An absolute tragedy of doomed love. The hero ends up alone in the desert and gives his soul up to Allah before dying alone. I saw myself as that. I saw the whole experience with Pattie as tragic.
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Eric Clapton : The people in the South would go out back and roll around in the gravel, you know, about bein' in love with your best friend's wife. Eric did it musically. He wanted so much to get Pattie back and he said, "It was time to record."
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Eric Clapton : Music saved me. Just as it had when I was a boy at nine. It took the pain away.
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Eric Clapton : I wrote these songs for myself; because, I was feeling terrible inside.
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Eric Clapton : [after the funeral of his four-year-old son Conor] The Italians had gone home and Hurtwood was quiet - and it was just me there, with my thoughts. I started opening all my letters of condolence. Thousands and thousands of them. I opened one and it was from Conor. It had been posted weeks before from Milan. And I realized that if I could go through this and stay sober, then anyone can. And I suddenly became aware of the fact that there was a way to turn this dreadful tragedy into something positive. That I would consider living my life from this point on, to honor the memory of my son. I got hold of a little Spanish guitar that I had lying around and I had it with me the whole time. From the minute I woke up and for the rest of that year, I just played and played to stop from facing the situation.
[singing]
Eric Clapton : Would you know my name, If I saw you in heaven, Would it be the same, If I saw you in heaven, I must be strong, And carry on, Cause I know I don't belong, Here in heaven, Time can bring you down, Time can bend your knee...
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Pattie Boyd : I met with Eric in South Kensington. He said, "I've got something for you to hear." He played me this album. My gosh, it was so powerful. I was a bursting point of emotion. I couldn't believe that I was the inspiration for him putting this together. I thought when I heard it that everyone would know it was about me. And I didn't want this to happen. I couldn't stop listening to it. But, once the album was finished, I couldn't wait to get out and go home.
Eric Clapton : It didn't work. It was all for nothing. It was like a - - - rejection.
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Eric Clapton : [three days after Pattie rejects Eric for the second time, 27 year old Jimi Hendrix dies of an overdose] I went out in the garden and cried all day because he'd left me behind. Not because he'd gone; but, because he hadn't taken me with him. It just made me so fucking angry.
