Eric Clapton and his music

Searing guitar. Bad drugs. Unrequited love. Tragic endings. It's all here.
By Brad Buchholz

Sunday, November 12, 2006

I've spent the past several weekends in my garage, tinkering with my broken-down time machine. The transmission's stuck; I can't get the thing to shift into reverse at all. But when I get it running again, you'll be the first to know — 'cause I've got a big trip ahead of me, one I've been wanting to take for a long, long time.

The dials are all set: September 1970. Miami. Criteria Sound Studios. More than anything in the world, I want to see guitar gods Eric Clapton and Duane Allman duel it out on one of the most enduring albums in the rock music canon: "Layla."

To get into the traveling mood, I recently checked out the new book by Austin writer Jan Reid — "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs by Derek and the Dominos." It's part of a Rodale Books series called "Rock of Ages," in which music writers tell the larger stories behind famous records. And as Reid (and obsessive fans like me) will attest: This album has one heck of a story.

Maybe you know the keywords of the "Layla" saga, too: Searing, soaring guitar; excessive drug use; unrequited love; tragic endings. An aching, intense confluence of rock and blues, "Layla" is a guitar masterpiece — the one and only studio record Eric and his Dominos would ever release, one so out of balance with the musical trends of its time it languished for more than a year before it caught fire on commercial radio.

Clapton was only 25 when "Layla" was recorded, though Cream and Blind Faith were already in his rearview mirror. Allman, the leader of the Allman Brothers Band and a virtuoso slide guitarist, was 23. For him, the sessions marked the start of a torrid 13-month storyline that would include the recording of the landmark Allman Brothers albums "Live at the Fillmore East" and "Eat a Peach" and end with his death, on Oct. 29, 1971, in a motorcycle accident.

As if preparing the required text for Layla 101, Reid tells the story of the record in detached, understated tones — much more so than in his popular Texas music book, "The Improbable Rise of Redneck Rock." Reid had a tough challenge in assembling the book considering that so many of the principal "Layla" characters are either dead (producer Tom Dowd, Allman, bassist Carl Radle) or inaccessible (Clapton is writing his own book). Thank goodness for Dominos keyboard player and vocalist Bobby Whitlock, one of the few survivors with memories to share.

Reid doesn't let these roadblocks stand in the way of relating essential "Layla" trivia. You knew, right, that "Layla" (the album and the song) was inspired by Clapton's then-unrequited love for model Pattie Boyd, who was married at the time to George Harrison? And that Boyd also inspired Harrison's "Something" and Clapton's "Wonderful Tonight"?

Did you know it was the Dominos' drummer — Jim Gordon — who performed and received the writing credit for the lovely piano coda that ends the title song? And that the very same Jim Gordon went mad years later and murdered his mother? And that he's serving a life sentence in prison?

Did you know Duane Allman contributed the seven-note "Layla" guitar intro — the very lick that is widely regarded today as Clapton's signature? And did you know that this rollicking, crank-it-up album was recorded using amps "the size of a cereal box"? Reid reminds us that the album's producer once remarked: "If anybody walked into that studio with squeaky shoes, we'd blow a take. That's how quiet they were."

The fan in me wishes to see more of these precious studio moments, the kind of detail that's been lost, for the most part, to drugs, death and the span of 36 years. Reid rewards us with a few of those gems. So, too, does author Randy Poe in his new biography, "Skydog: The Duane Allman Story."

But my gosh, I wanna see Eric and Duane blaze through "Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad" with the Dominos — that really is Allman firing off those first supersonic licks beneath Clapton's vocal, right? — and to know more intimately how these songs were revised and mixed. And as I read Poe's book, I yearn to catch the missing glimpse of Duane playing the first, sweet guitar solo on "Blue Sky" with the Allman Brothers during the "Eat a Peach" sessions, in those last days before his death.

A book — even faithful books like these — can only bring you so close to the sheer ecstasy of the music. That's why I can't wait to see Clapton on tour with 27-year-old slide guitar phenom Derek Trucks, nephew of Allman Brother Butch Trucks, who got his very name from that famous Domino band. And that's why I'm still spending the weekends in my garage, tinkering with that time machine. It should be ready any day now.

Hey, Jan Reid — want to take a ride?

http://www.statesman.com/life/content/life/stories/books/11/12/12layla.html

Eric Clapton, Old Friend Make New Album
J.J. Cale Joins 'Slowhand' In Latest Work
(CBS News) NEW YORK For four decades some of the most distinctive riffs in rock music have come straight from the guitar of the man known as "Slowhand," Eric Clapton. His many hits - both solo and with groups like the Yardbirds, Blind Faith and Cream - have earned Clapton 16 Grammy awards and an unprecedented three places in the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame.

But his long experience with fame hasn't always been happy.

"It's dust to me," Clapton said. "I don't think fame has any substance. So it doesn't have any interest to me. In fact, I think it's quite a dangerous commodity and very destructive."

That may help explain why on his new CD, "The Road to Escondido," which comes out this week, Clapton teamed up with a man who has spent 40 years trying not to be famous: songwriter and guitarist J.J. Cale.

"When they say, 'Well, you gotta do some interviews on TV,' I went, 'Oh, I like to watch TV, but I don't wanna be on it,'" Cale told Sunday Morning correspondent John Blackstone. "I guess I'm gonna be on it."

By his own choice, Cale has avoided the spotlight. Clapton had to push him into it.

"He was great initially, but then ... you could feel him kind of shuffling backwards out of the room all the time," Clapton said.

Cale was just a struggling songwriter out of Tulsa, Ok., and Clapton was already a superstar when he recorded one of Cale's songs, "After Midnight." It became one of Clapton's biggest hits.

"A buddy of mine called up and says, 'Well ... Eric Clapton's cut your tune,' You got a hit on your hands. Come down to Nashville and make an album,'" Cale said. "And I said, 'An album. What is that?' I come from the old, you know, you make one song. Right? He said, 'Oh, no. You gotta put 10 or 12.' I said, 'I ain't got 10 or 12 songs. That was it.' You know?"

Clapton didn't know Cale was offered a record deal after "After Midnight" came out, and said: "Isn't that funny."

Cale was just being modest. He did have more songs and in 1977 Clapton recorded another one: "Cocaine."

"I didn't really wanna know what he meant, except that at the time I was very pro-cocaine," Clapton said. "When I listened to it a little more, when I got into recovery and stopped doing all this stuff, I chose to believe it was anti-cocaine. Maybe it's ambivalent."

After that hit, Cale's life changed a bit.

"They sent money to me," he said.

Though most of Clapton's millions of fans didn't have a clue, throughout his career Cale was a constant muse, inspiring songs like "Lay Down Sally."

"It's a very difficult thing to describe," Clapton said. "It's an R&B thing. What it is I think is, he's taken elements of R&B and blues and mixed 'em up with country."

Cale's unique blend of blues, jazz and country is a product of his Oklahoma roots, and for Clapton roots are what really matter.

"I'm not really influenced by fashion and trend and popularity," Clapton said. "You know, those things have no meaning for me. I still prefer to listen to music from the past, and J.J. somehow is very connected to that."

So there is a distinct element of nostalgia in the songs on "The Road to Escondido" — a nostalgia reflected in the location chosen for the album cover photo shoot: The Paramount Ranch, an Old West movie set, now a National Park, near Los Angeles.

"We're old guys. I mean J.J.'s ... just a little bit older than me," Clapton said. "So these are very ... you know, accurate songs about where we are at in our own lives."

Most of the songs on the new CD are written by Cale but there's one blues standard, "Sporting Life," about getting older and wiser.

"I mean, I still pretend that I can go around the world, you know, doing what I did 40 years ago, but it's gettin' hard," Clapton said.

In fact, at age 61, old Slowhand admits he's slowing down. He says he doesn't play as well as he used to.

"I got a piece of footage from the mid-'90s of me when I was just playing blues and I thought there were some things that I was doing then I've sort of unconsciously let go of," Clapton said. "I don't do 'em anymore. Probably because they're too hard to do. [But] I believe I can still play with the same amount of emotion and feeling and expression that I've always set out to do."

Clapton's songs have always carried emotional weight, but perhaps none moreso than "Tears in Heaven". Voted "Song of the Year" in 1993, it was written in memory of Clapton's son Connor who died tragically at the age of 4.

Clapton soldiered on and in 2001 he married an American named Melia McEnery. Together they have three little girls, which is the title of a song he wrote for the new album. Clapton said he is lucky to be able to write "3 Little Girls" after his son's death.

"I'm a very fortunate man, very fortunate man," he said. "I've had a kind of second chance. I had to wait quite a long time, but that's all right, you know? It's proof that it can happen any time really."

For Clapton, after 40 years in a notoriously risky business, time, it seems, is on his side

"My life has been a roller coaster," he said. "You know it's been up-and-down. And I think what I've enjoyed over the last five years at least is a certain amount of continuity and a tranquil kind of life where I kind of know where I am. I wake up and I know where I am. I know who I'm with. I know where I'm going. And I like the pace of it all. It's very comfortable and it feels right. You know?"

Daughter of legendary rock guitarist to make her starring performance debut at Yorkshire venue

Lucy Harvey
RUTH Clapton is the first to admit that having a dad as famous as Eric has its advantages.
The 21-year-old has travelled the world, met some of her musical heroes and even sung backing vocals in New York's Madison Square Garden.
But being the daughter of one of the world's greatest guitarists also has its drawbacks.
She has been bullied, followed by paparazzi photographers and has always felt too afraid to fulfil her own musical ambitions for fear of comparisons with her father.
Until now.
After teaming up with guitarist Ross Cameron, Ruth has finally gathered courage to put some of her hundreds of song lyrics to music and on December 17 the pair will perform in public for the first time at The Priory in Doncaster.
She said yesterday: "I'm really nervous. It will be the first time anyone has heard me sing like that. I sung backing vocals for my dad in Madison Square Garden before but that was so different. I was singing his stuff and I wasn't centre stage.
"Almost everyone I know is going to be there. My dad won't be, because he is in the middle of a world tour but all my friends will and my mum. She'll probably be in the front row."
Ruth's mother, Yvonne, met Eric Clapton in the Caribbean in the early 1980s when she worked as a sound assistant at Air studios.
Although Ruth was born in Doncaster her mother moved backed to Montserrat in the Caribbean when she was just a month old and they stayed for eight years.
On their return to South Yorkshire, Ruth went to St Mary's School in Bawtry Road and later studied A-levels at Birkdale School in Sheffield, where in 2003 her father performed a fundraising concert for pupils, parents and staff.
At 18, knowing she didn't want to go to university, Ruth studied hairdressing at Vidal Sassoon in London, and spent time as a salon receptionist and mobile hairdresser in Doncaster. She is now a part-time stylist at Ginger, in Silver Way.
Although her parents had split up by the time she was born, Ruth has always felt close to her father and says they are quite alike.
But she also says his status as a musician has proved intimidating.
"I have always wanted to do music but I was frightened. It is quite nerve-wracking, especially with my dad being who he is," said Ruth, who lives in Bessacar with her boyfriend of two years, Derek Charnley, a 21-year-old community football coach for Doncaster Rovers.
"I have been writing songs since I was 13 but I have not wanted to step out and do it until now.
"I have decided to do it now because at 21 I'm not getting any younger and if I don't do it soon I'm going to miss the boat. I can't stand it when when people don't push themselves to do something because they are frightened."
She added: "Having someone by my side has made a big difference and Ross is being a great musical companion. When we first started I couldn't sing in front of him for four weeks. I think it was just the absolute fear factor of letting someone else hear me.
"But he has been really supportive and that's made a real difference. I feel confident now."
Ruth has known Ross for three years but it was only two months ago, when a mutual friend pointed out that she wrote lyrics and he wrote music, that they started working together.
Ross, who works in Doncaster men's clothes shop Homeboy, started playing the guitar when he was 13 and quickly built up a large repertoire including Clapton classics.
He has already experienced some musical success with his band The Kiks, who performed on the unsigned stage at last year's Leeds Festival, and earlier this year received a positive response to a demonstration tape he sent to record label EMI.
Ross said: "I am putting music to Ruth's lyrics and people think its brilliant. It really seems to have kicked off.
"We have gone for a Bob Dylan folk style and people say it sounds great."
Their debut performance will include their favourite track An Empty Heart Shows, which Ruth wrote during her time in London, six other original tracks and a cover of a Christmas classic.
Ruth said: " I don't care about being famous, I could have done that years ago. I don't want it to be like that. I want it to be about the music and as long as someone likes it, even if it is just one person, I will be happy."
14 November 2006

Eric Clapton & J.J. Cale on Inteview CBS


Eric Clapton Interview on CBS

Интервью с Клэптоном исключительно интересное. А первое скорее смешное. J.J. в своем репертуаре: Клэптон понизил меня до артиста.

Guitar great ERIC CLAPTON fears his next tour will be limited to California and surrounding states - because they're the only places he'll be able to convince new collaborator JJ CALE to play. Clapton, who recorded Cale classics AFTER MIDNIGHT and COCAINE, has teamed up with his blues hero for the first time on new album THE ROAD TO ESCONDIDO but he's not sure he can convince his pal to tour to promote it. The Brit reveals grizzled bluesman Cale isn't fond of travelling and will only perform at venues he can drive to from his home in Escondido, California. Clapton explains, "As long as we're in his neck of the woods, I think it will be agreeable to him. He doesn't like getting on buses or planes. "He won't even go in the elevator. We're staying at the Four Seasons in LA, and his room is on the second floor."

1998 TV ad promoting the Eric Clapton's Pilgrim Tour, endorsed by Lexus.


Eric Clapton 1987 Michelob Beer TV Ad


Eric Clapton appeared in this Honda commercial in Japan. Notably, EC overdubbed the studio version of "Bad Love" with a new, second lead guitar line featuring a Stratocaster with traditional single coil pickups versus the boosted Lace Sens

In support of their joint album, "The Road To Escondido", Eric Clapton and J.J. Cale sat down for an on-camera interview in Los Angeles. In it, the men discuss how they became aware of each other's music in the sixties, the sound that came out of Tulsa, Oklahoma, the songs "After Midnight" and "Cocaine," how their album came about, the recording process, the Crossroads Guitar Festival and more. Eric even talks about his time with Delaney & Bonnie, Blind Faith, Doyle Bramhall and Derek Trucks. The interview runs approximately 30 minutes!

http://streamos.wbr.com/wmedia/wbr/ericclapton/interview/caleclapton_worldwide-intervie...

http://streamos.wbr.com/qtime/wbr/ericclapton/interview/caleclapton_worldwide-interview...

The interview can also be viewed on http://blueroom.att.com/inc_mediaplayer/player.php?id=2146 Blue Room has the entire interview divided into chapters titled "Getting Together," "Tulsa,"Life After Cream," and "The Road To Escondido."

Eric Clapton and his band will visit Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary and Winnipeg in March 2007. As with the European and U.S. 2006 Tours, the Robert Cray Band will serve as support.

23 March 2007 - General Motors Place, Vancouver, BC
25 March 2007 - Rexall Place, Edmonton, AB
26 March 2007 - Pengrowth Saddledome, Calgary, AB
28 March 2007 - MTS Centre, Winnipeg, MB

Tour Kicks-off February 28th Hitting Major West Coast Cities

Fresh off sold out shows across the globe, Eric Clapton returns Stateside for the second leg of his U.S. Tour. The shows have featured a varied set list including rarely played Derek And The Dominos masterpieces "Got To Get Better In A Little While," "Layla" and "Tell The Truth" along with Clapton classics such as "Pretending," "I Shot The Sheriff" and "Cocaine" mixed with the newer soulful tunes from the latest Clapton album Back Home. As the NY Daily News headline read, "Eric Just Gets Better" and the Chicago Sun-Times review exclaimed, "What an all-star collection of axmen! You wouldn't want to pitch to the middle of this lineup."

This leg focuses on the Southwest, Midwest and West coast, beginning on February 28 in Dallas and will travel to 11 U.S. states plus three Canadian shows in Vancouver, Edmonton, and Calgary. As with recent East Coast dates, Robert Cray will again be the show opener. Further news and show dates of this tour will be announced shortly.


CURRENT LIST OF U.S. TOUR DATES
February 28, 2007 (WED) Dallas, TX American Airlines Arena
March 2, 2007 (FRI) Houston, TX Toyota Center
March 3, 2007 (SAT) San Antonio, TX SBC Center
March 5, 2007 (MON) Oklahoma City, OK Ford Center
March 7, 2007 (WED) Denver, CO Pepsi Center
March 8, 2007 (THU) Salt Lake City, UT Delta Center
March 10, 2007 (SAT) Las Vegas, NV MGM
March 11, 2007 (SUN) Phoenix, AZ America West Arena
March 14, 2007 (WED) Los Angeles, CA Staples Center
March 15, 2007 (THU) San Diego, CA ipay One Center
March 17, 2007 (SAT) Anaheim, CA The Pond
March 18, 2007 (SUN) San Jose, CA HP Pavilion
March 20, 2007 (TUE) Sacramento, CA Arco Arena
March 22, 2007 (THU) Seattle, WA Key Arena
March 23, 2007 (FRI) Vancouver, BC General Motors Place
March 25, 2007 (SUN) Edmonton, AB Rexall Place
March 26, 2007 (MON) Calgary, AB Saddledome
March 28, 2007 (WED) Winnipeg, MB MTS Centre
March 30, 2007 (FRI) Fargo, ND Fargodome
March 31, 2007 (SAT) Omaha, NE Qwest Center
April 2, 2007 (MON) Kansas City, MA Kemper Arena
April 3, 2007 (TUE) Moline, IL Mark of the Quad Cities
April 5, 2007 (THU) Detroit, MI The Palace
April 6, 2007 (FRI) Columbus, OH Schotenstein Center

Eric Clapton & His Band - Japan

---

11, 12 November Setlist

01. Pretending
02. I Shot the Sheriff
03. Got to Get Better in A Little While
04. Old Love
05. Tell the Truth
06. Motherless Children

Sit Down Set
07. Key to The Highway
08. Outside Woman Blues
09. San Francisco Bay Blues
10. Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out
11. Running On Faith

12. After Midnight
13. Little Queen of Spades
14. Further On Up The Road
15. Wonderful Tonight
16. Layla
17. Cocaine

Encore
18. Crossroads

---

14 November 2006 Setlist

01. Pretending
02. Got to Get Better in A Little While
03. Old Love
04. Tell the Truth
05. Anyday
06. Motherless Children


Sit Down Set
07. Driftin' Blues (EC solo)
08. Key to The Highway
09. Outside Woman Blues (with rhythm section today)
10. Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out
11. Running On Faith


12. After Midnight
13. Little Queen of Spades
14. Further On Up The Road
15. Wonderful Tonight
16. Layla
17. Cocaine

---

17 November Setlist

01. Tell The Truth
02. Got to Get Better in A Little While
03. Old Love
04. Anyday
05. Motherless Children


Sit Down Set
06. Driftin' Blues
07. Key to The Highway
08. Outside Woman Blues
09. Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out
10. Running On Faith


11. After Midnight
12. Little Queen of Spades
13. Pretending
14. Wonderful Tonight
15. Layla
16. Cocaine


Encore
17. Crossroads

---

18 November Setlist

01. Tell The Truth
02. Pretending
03. Got to Get Better in A Little While
04. Old Love
05. Motherless Children


Sit Down Set
06. Driftin' Blues
07. Key to The Highway
08. Outside Woman Blues
09. Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out
10. Running On Faith


11. After Midnight
12. Little Queen of Spades
13. Before You Accuse Me
14. Wonderful Tonight
15. Layla
16. Cocaine

---

20, 21 November Setlist

01. Tell The Truth
02. Five Long Years
03. Got to Get Better in A Little While
04. Old Love
05. Motherless Children


Sit Down Set
06. Driftin' Blues
07. Key to The Highway
08. Outside Woman Blues
09. Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out
10. Running On Faith


11. After Midnight
12. Little Queen of Spades
13. Before You Accuse Me
14. Wonderful Tonight
15. Layla
16. Cocaine

Encore
17. Crossroads

In the interview: Eric Clapton and J.J. Cale “It's my turn. Thus, the answer is:
No.”

The two musicians belong to the most influential songwriters and guitarists
of music history. We met both to a common interview. That so lively that
afterwards none knew more, who actually whom interviewt here. Of Alexander
Gorkow

In front of the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills swings palms in the solar wind. The two
gentlemen, who come wearing T-Shirt and Jeans, one had introduced
oneself more quietly. Clapton has a handshake like a weight lifter and a rust
sheet metal voice, with whom he could fill the Hollywood Bowl
without micro. The Oklahoma accent J.J.Cale (“Ya harry dean stanton cling
knouuuuu, maaan! ”) patters by the November summer like a drunk sea-bird.
The two are not only in a good mood, they are proper scratched open before joy,
probably above all over the fact that they may sit a few days together in the
sun, before Clapton flies on to the route to Japan. In addition they brought a
straight record in together, after so many years. The picture developed on the
close Paramount Ranch, before the gates of Los Angeles [pic of the website].



SZ: Mister Clapton, when do you have your first memory of J.J.Cale?

Clapton: 1970? 1971? J.J. had released two Singles'. A sensation. A cool,
unimpressed sound. First was “after Midnight”, on the B-side was “Slow
Motion”. The far was “on The Outside Looking in”, and on the B-side, which was
on the B-side?

Cale: No notion. “In My Time”?

Clapton: You must know it nevertheless.

Cale: Which I above all know: I've not two Singles' released at that time,
but three. Do you hear? *Three* Singles.

Clapton: Three? No two.

SZ: Is not so importantly, anyhow….

Clapton: Were three?

Cale: Yep. And first was not also “after Midnight”, as you said straight.
“After Midnight” was second. You forgot first: “Dick Tracy”!

Clapton: Dick Tracy”?

Cale: “Dick Tracy”.

Clapton: What is?

Cale: A Song, man.

Clapton: Do they know that? “Dick Tracy”?

SZ: Isn't that a film?

Clapton: J.J.! He does not know it, nobody knows it!

Cale (sings): Dick dick dick dick dick - TRACY!

Clapton: Ahahaha! Thus does the Song go?

Cale: The Refrain! A good Song. The large Leon Russell produced it.

Clapton: A joke! Do not let pick up itself, he wants you to disconcert!

SZ: I believe' also, thus I…

Cale: No joke, man. A collecter will still have the single possibly in
a way.

Clapton: The song does not exist! I know each damned song of you, J.J.! We
went through all' your Songs now for the record again.

Cale: Except “Dick Tracy”.

SZ: I do not know' it anyhow also.

Clapton: Do you play it me times?

Cale: I play it you times.

SZ: So. And now I would know gladly….

Cale: Eric, you must answer the question here to our friend.

SZ: … what fascinated you in such a way at Cale.

Clapton: Oh, I can hardly analyze that. It is this cool floating sound. “After
Midnight” met me from the first tone in the heart. So I covered
the Song.

SZ: Mr.Cale, is in an unfair way distributed the fame between you both?

Clapton: Yeah. Correct question.

Cale: It's *my* turn. Thus, the answer is: No. I mean, what is fame?

SZ: All know your Songs, “Cocaine” has the perhaps most famous guitar riff of
the world - however hardly one knows your face.

Cale: Man, for what are we here?

SZ: Now, here in Beverly Hills?

Cale: In the world! We are not always here, or? We are sometime gone again away. We
are water in a river. The water is clean, if we have luck, it is a few fish in
it, it flows, then it is away, new water comes. Like that is the life.
They like my Songs. Eric likes my Songs. If the water is gone, it remains
which: my Songs. They hear it. Eric hears it. I've had luck. I can say: The water
flows away, and a few Songs will remain.

SZ: Your buddy here, Mr. Cale, became very rich - also with your Songs.

Cale: Not only he, my dear one.

SZ: You took emoluments.

Cale: Not too few, not too few. There are more stupid ways of coming to
money, I can tell you.

SZ: Is it correct that you bought instead of a house a camper
from the money, which you suddenly got?

Cale: A new nice one! I' always lived in a camper . First, because it was cheap.
Later, because one could go away, if I wanted.

Clapton: “You know the story with the money? None knows it!”

Cale: Oh, Eric, please...

Clapton: But, it is great!

SZ: Please!

Cale: Oh no….

Clapton: But, it tell a lot about fame. Everyone has its picture of fame. The
picture, which delivered J.J., it was sensational.

SZ: Please?

Clapton: Tell' our man from Germany, where the money was!

Cale: I' s between the walls in the camper plugged, man.

SZ: Really?

Cale: It had to put it somewhere.

SZ: God, it must have been much!

Clapton: The emoluments for “Cocaine”? Much is not expression! J.J.
plugged' s into the cavities. As a kind barrier. No thief would have found
that. The camper was one immense money bomb, you understand?

SZ: You did not have an bank account, Mr. Cale?

Cale: No. … thus, it was like that: The record company calls: Mr. Cale, we have
here emoluments for you, a lot of money, if you ask us. I: Great,
you friends from the department of proceeds and profits, do it into a
suit-case, I'll get it! They: We need an account, where we can transfer it. Thus
I drive to the next bank. I say: Good day, I'd like to open an account. The young
man in the bank looks at me: Their domicile? I say' to him, I have' no
domicile, I live' in the camper, always on wheels, my friend….

SZ: And then?

Cale: He says: No domicile - no account. I' me thought: Okay, asshole, you do
not know at all, what you'ss miss. I had to convince the record company to
give me the money in cash. I never trust the banks. I just had to
hide the money well now. So that not an idiot will carry it away, if
he looks inside of my camper.

SZ: Mr.Clapton, do you envy J.J. every now and then for his special, rather
quiet fame? for its independence?

Clapton: I just wanted to say that. Of course I had. Look, he is a
sensational songwriters and musicians - and it had his peace contrary to me. I
mean, people in London wrote on the walls: “Clapton is God.” I thought:
I? God? You now all got crazy?

SZ: You touch humans.

Clapton: But: God? That was the ultimative cliche. Nobody is God, even the
Pope, who is only the vice president.

SZ: You wanted the fame - and you did not want it. Right?

Clapton: No, I sure wanted to be always the best guitarist!
I wanted that! I am pleased until today that many humans hear
my music and visit my concerts. But it's a musician' s thing, you know?! It
concerns the music. I never served the cult around my person.

SZ: Mr.Cale, how you would define the difference in the acknowledgment?

Cale: , We say Mmh in such a way: Eric is loved, he is really admired, today even
still more than in former times, if we look times correctly. With me it was
never love. It was however respect. If Eric Clapton covered your Songs and those
become first big hits and then classics, you feel respect.

SZ: Why doesn't your fame base on love?

Cale: Oh, I still didn't thought about no second .
Perhaps was my “after Midnight” a little folky? Or Eric has the
nicer face? One of both!

SZ: Are you not also nice?

Cale: I can be a little quiet and cynical. I' also never wanted,
eeeh, the whole nonsense.

SZ: What is - nonsense - in this case?

Cale: Well, the other things. My first manager wanted me to wear a white suit,
giving always beautiful interviews, white teeth and God, what else?. But am I
Liberace? My music does not get it, if I disguise myself. Others are
there to make that.

SZ: Now you just give a beautiful interview, I think.

Cale: Yes, or? It's different. The sun shines over California. My old
friend Eric is here. No stress.

SZ: Does your image, this "lonely cowboy on a horse" image at the end rely on a
certain laziness?

Cale: Mmh….

Clapton: What? Now please, J.J.!

Cale: I've made 14 records made, being much on the roud. laziness? No.
It is correct that the fame we know from television or the magazines,
went past me. Yes.

SZ: You once said, as long as you get the money there are better things
to do than to work.

Cale: Did I say that?

SZ: Allegedly. Very sympathetically.

Clapton: I'd say that you said it, J.J., it fits you.

Cale: I think, too. Thus, if I should have said that, then it belongs to the
better one of the things, which I said. I've never looked for fame. I've looked
for luck. I've found my luck. And my luck consists also of staring into the
landscape. Or to strum a little on the guitar.

SZ: You succeeded in overcoming drugs and, above all, alcohol problems,
Mr.Clapton: Were they a consequence of the unbelievable fame, that came
over you?

Clapton: That is always assumed. But it is not correct. That lies in the
family.

SZ: You grew up, which you experienced late, not with your parents, but
with your grandparents.

Clapton: Above all is it like that: Mummy and dad were alcoholics. All uncles
and aunts were alcoholics. And all Grandpas and grannies were also alcoholics.
All nice people, at that time in Surrey. And all together around the
clock: *totally fucked up*. Drunken.

SZ: So it was normal.

Clapton: Yes. The great-grandfather and -mother, too, by the way. My
great-grandfather was a boss of an agriculture cooperative.
He was the boss over the devices, which the farmers needed.
The most powerful man of Surrey. He, too: juiced.
Yes, the Claptons was always already powerful. And always totally jagged (drunken,
pissed).

SZ: So the fame does not have….

Clapton: Listen: I already was with 16 years: A full blown alcoholic. Was I
famous with 16? No. I seemed myself only in such a way. The music even saved me
first. I did not spend simply any longer so much time with drinking, because I
spent so much time with practicing.

Cale: Hehehe… however the devil naturally always finds a door!

SZ: In early years you played often with the back to the public, allegedly,
because you were so hard on drugs that you did not know where
in front and in the back is.

Clapton: Also so a persistent history, which is not correct. I mean, sure I was
on drugs! But I turned away from the public, because I did not want to see the
faces of the people. I cannot do that today yet. I never look in the public. I
do not have to any more, because nowadays you are lighted in a way that you
recognize not until two hours after the concert again the first faces.

SZ: What's wrong with the people?

Clapton: Nothing! It is not arrogance! But the expectation attitude in the
faces. I cannot deal with it, seeing people getting mad. Or like there's one
standing around, and I think: why does he look so pissed?

Cale: The people want to hear good music, man. Not to be looked at.

SZ: You have these fears, Mr.Clapton?

Clapton: There are evenings, in which it runs less well, that is evenings, in
which I am not with the thing, because I think over other things than over the
music. I need my guitar and my band to concentrate me. No diverson.

SZ: Was it cool to be on drugs at that time?

Clapton: A good point! The people said: Hey, poor boy! He is so sensitive. He
is in emergency. He must take drugs. That was bullshit. If you are young, have
cool models. My were: Ray Charles, Charlie Parker, Billie Holiday. All genius.
And: everyone on heroin. A stupid, young man with my family history slip there
into a causality inside, you understand?

SZ: Like Pete Doherty today? A dear boy from good house, who suddenly believes,
one must, in order to become a dark Dandy, take drugs?

Cale: Pete who?

Clapton: Doherty. A young guy in England, you do not know J.J.

Cale: It he on drugs?

Clapton: Obviously. Clearly, he has its idols. It's about glamour, which
is not there. But how many articles in the last years in the English
press were about with the music of his band Babyshambles - and
how many with his drug-shit? There you have it, the muck hold him
in the discussion.

SZ: None learns from history.

Clapton: Everyone takes the wrong conclusions from it. I thought, Ray Charles
is a genius, because he was on heroin. Consequence: I am a good guitarist. But
to be a genius, I must drink away my head and then set a
needle. Recently a musician says to me: Eric, I'm onyl good if I am on
heroin. I' to him said: If you are only on heroin a large musician, look for'
another job!

Cale: Never someone learned from history learned. I tell you, what history is: The
wind comes from right, and on the next day it comes from left. That is history.

SZ: And alcoholism is probably no pure musician illness.

Clapton: No, I founded, like you know, a center for drug addicted, among
them well-known humans and humans of the road, children and so on. Further
above: Generals, cardinals, writers, which I know. The president of the United
States is alcoholic. Is it glamour?

SZ: You believe, he is still one?

Clapton: I don't know. Before he me sues: George W.Bush is not Alcoholic,
despite long experience with alcohol and alcoholics probably I was wrong.
And if it is one nevertheless: He just needs a drink!

Cale: May God hold his protecting hands over its head….

SZ: … Mr.Cale, Mr.Clapton, Bob Dylan preaches for some months….

Cale: … man! Bob talks and talks, or? An own radio show, what has happened?
A mission?

SZ: … he says, the big musicians from the 20's and 30ern and 40ern are
now to discover. Too did little fame happen to these people? You, Mr.Clapton,
play these songs again and again.

Clapton: Definitely. And it's not about fame at all. It concerns
the wealth in this music: Howlin' wolf, Robert Johnson, we have to discover
much.

SZ: Why does this trend come now?

Clapton: The modern Pop music reached a saturation. It does not
continue any longer correctly, or, J.J.?

Cale: I do not see it that negative, it changed, the music, I'm okay with
that, it's not worse. But: it is physically, more technical, more effect-rich.
The point is: The people in former times had these effects not, not in
the Studio, not on the stage. There was only the song and the singer. If you
did not have magic, if you did not affect the people by the melody, you had
unfortunately, unfortunately to shoot yourself. Today you can do it by the
show. There treasures are on the reason of the lake - Bob is right thus.

SZ: A very conservative thesis, or?

Cale: Conservatively? Man, no notion.

Clapton: Already. But it is not reactionary. Bob shows the people that they can
discover things in the old music. It is more a kind gift. Who is the
small bastard with the bald head, who constantly samples around, called?

SZ: Moby?

Clapton: Yes, he made a Blues album, snatches music history out, puts drum n' bass
above, and none experiences, where he' taken it from. That is shit. You don't
have to do that. That contributes also to the education poverty.

SZ: Could you, still live Mr.Clapton without fame?

Clapton: Why do you ask?

SZ: 2001 you gave in the Royal Albert Hall in London your last concert. It
ended with an upsetting version of Judy Garland's “Somewhere Over The
Rainbow”. The half hall cried.

Cale: Eric!

Clapton: I thank you.

SZ: Two years later were you already route. Why?

Clapton: I cannot stop. I've already announced the retreat before.

SZ: When?

Clapton: With 17. No one was interested of course, bcause no one knew me.
I announced it nevertheless. With 18 I continued then. I should not
announce it again.

SZ: Why can't you stop? They have an attractive young wife, children.

Clapton: Because I wind up completely, if I am longer than ten days at
a place. I can't stand it, you understand you, I have to leave. … J.J.,
tell him, what you said to me yesterday!

Cale: I said to him, get yourself camper. Then he does not have to
carry away always 100 people and his family, if he moves.

SZ: The problem is: the lady of the records company gives me a sign,
we have to finish. May I still ask two questions?

Clapton: Ah, short answers?

SZ: Yes, ask. Thus, first question: Which is the secret of a large
guitar solos?

Cale: Oooops - the life question!

Clapton: From J.J. I learned it.

SZ: What?

Clapton: The secret. It reads: make it short! Start on time with
your solo and stop at time.

SZ: You did not always adhere to, as young musicians, or?

Clapton: Is that the last question or an auxiliary question to the next to last
question before the then really last question?

SZ: Auxiliary question to the next to last question before the then really last
question.

Clapton: You're right I didn't do that always. Like I said, it belonged to the
marvelous things, which I learned from the big J.J. Cale.

SZ: You'll get wise with age?

Clapton: Okay! J.J., what da you say?

Cale: No, one does not become wise. Seems to be so only in such a way. Why
does it seem to one in such a way? Because one becomes senile! Hehehe!

SZ: Okay. That's all.

Clapton: I must add that there are exceptions with the senility: J.J. and I are
the exceptions. I'll tell to you my theory. We all have a bucket with stupidities,
which we may commit in our life. If we used up the bucket, we have to hopefully
still live a few years. Without these stupidities. We used it up. The
condition, in which we are then, one calls? Wisdom!

Cale: Wow! Yours are used up?

Clapton: It cannot be different. I did quite many, my dear one.

The Englishman Eric Clapton (61) did not only turn out as the head of
changing Formations (e.g. Cream), as a style-forming guitarist and as a guest
musician of bands like the Beatles (“While My Guitar Gently Weeps”) to fame -
but also in dark regards by affairs and tragedies, like by death of his
4 years old son Connor, who fell 1991 in New York from the window of a
scyscraper. His addiction several times nearly killed Clapton. However
the American J.J.Cale (67) led always a life in relative separatingness,
produced thereby until today many praised records in the Tulsa sound,
at which musicians and bands - not at least Clapton - took themselves early an
example. Both released for the first time together a very beautiful album
in. It is called “The Road ton Escondido” and appeared at Warner.

George Harrison and Eric Clapton interview 1991

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Eric Clapton paid about $300 for his famed "Blackie" guitar in 1970. Beginning Friday, hardcore fans can buy an official replica of the Fender Stratocaster for a mere $24,000.

Blackie was Clapton's primary stage and studio instrument between 1970, when he built it from the best parts of three Stratocasters bought for $100 each, and 1985, when it entered retirement.

Just 185 of the replicas -- including faux worn wood and cigarette burns -- will go on sale in the United States, at Guitar Center stores. The retailer paid $959,500 for Blackie at a 2004 auction that benefited Clapton's Crossroads rehab center in Antigua. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the replicas will also go to Crossroads, according to a Guitar Center statement.

Blackie's notable public appearances include Live Aid in 1985, and Clapton's first music video, for the tune "Forever Man."

23 November 2006 Tokyo Budokan

Setlist

01. Tell The Truth
02. Five Long Years
03. Got to Get Better in A Little While
04. Old Love
05. Motherless Children


Sit Down Set
06. Driftin' Blues
07. Key to The Highway
08. Outside Woman Blues
09. Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out
10. Running On Faith


11. After Midnight
12. Little Queen of Spades
13. Anyday
14. Wonderful Tonight
15. Layla
16. Cocaine

Encore
17. Crossroads