Thoughts on Eric Clapton’s music
Somehow, as we were eating dinner on the front lawn last night, Elysha Dicks and I got to talking about Eric Clapton.
Clapton is a fine musician and songwriter. Elysha probably likes him more than me, but I enjoy many of his songs.
But we all must acknowledge that “Cocaine” is a terrible song. Truly terrible. I hated it back in 1980’s when I heard it for the first time, and I hate it even more today.
Yet it’s also Clapton’s third most played song on Spotify.
I don’t get it. Have people not listened to the lyrics to this stupid song?
Clapton’s second most played song on Spotify is “Tears in Heaven,” which is a lovely song, but it was written about the death of his four year-old son, who fell out of a New York City window and died, so I can’t listen to that song.
It breaks my heart every time.
Apparently no one else has a problem with it.
In fact, people like it so much that it’s Clapton’s second and eighth most popular song on Spotify. The most popular version of the song is the acoustic, Live at MTV Unplugged version, which is also crazy.
The man made a perfectly good studio version of the song, and yet fans prefer some MTV performance from 1992?
Clapton’s The fourth most popular Clapton song on Spotify is the live acoustical version of “Layla.” Another fine song, but again, the live version?
Maybe this is because the original studio version of this song was recorded when Clapton was a part of Derek & the Dominos, and fans want pure Clapton.
Kind of sucks for the other two members of Derek & the Dominos, though.
Clapton’s most popular song by far is “Wonderful Tonight,” which I probably enjoyed at some point, but after working as a wedding DJ for 23 years, I’m just about finished with this song.
“It’s In the Way That You Use It” is my favorite Eric Campton song at the moment. I suspect that I liked “Change the World” a lot at some point, but I find it a little too earnest for me today.
I have other songs that I like a lot from Clapton’s days in Cream, The Yardbirds, and Derek & the Dominos (“Crossroads” and “Bell Bottom Blues” especially), but calling them Eric Clapton songs disparages the bandmates that played a role in writing, recording, and popularizing these songs.
Sadly, there was a time in my life when I would correct people when they would say that “Layla” is an Eric Clapton song.
“No,” I’d scold. “It’s actually a Derek & the Dominos song.”
This didn’t stop being true, of course. I just stopped being a know-it-all prick.
At least when it comes to Eric Clapton.
