the cream of clapton

i recently read eric clapton's autobiography & was just knocked out reading the first hand account of major music events in rock history by a legend. from hearing mccartney play a then-unfinished tune the world has come to know as a classic beatles song, to how george harrison composed "here comes the sun" sitting on clapton's lawn on a spring day. what interested me most was getting the true account of what happened between clapton and george harrison's wife.

i became seriously interested in music around age 11, & my parents began telling me bits and pieces of information about legendary bands and songs. i soon became the queen of useless music knowledge (for example: all 5 members of the traveling wilburys & what bands they came from). clapton was without a doubt my favorite guitarist during this time so i soaked up all the information i could about him - the bands he played with and dividing up the songs he wrote from the songs he covered. the first time i heard "layla" after learning it was written about george harrison's wife, i could hear the passion & despair (mind you, I was 11 years old & it sounded oh-so romantic) in his voice. i thought she must be some kind of amazing woman to have both george harrison & eric clapton head over heels in love with her.

clapton's account in his book is that this was an obsession basically stemming from the fact that she was unattainable. after years of drug use to escape this fact, they're finally able to be together. based on his account, things were great in the beginning, but he couldn't shake the drug use & was still touring (& cheating on her) constantly. this really changed my perspective, as i still held on to the near-mythical love story i'd created in my 11 year old mind (was that really 13 years ago?!). sometimes things are better in your imagination (such as the love story i'd imagined) & i wondered if this is the case with clapton himself: was being with this woman better in his imagination than what played out in reality? he seemed somewhat emotionally detached from the story as he wrote it & i was left wondering if this is due to the passage of time & waning of feelings as he's in a better place in his life now, or if it was never the passionate love affair the media (& the 11 year old me) hyped it up to be.
but then i played "layla" & "bell bottom blues" back to back (both written about her), & i realized it doesn't matter which is the cold hard truth. both songs are incredible & emotional & a testament to that part of his life - it's part of his soundtrack. knowing which songs he wrote during certain parts of his life makes it easier to understand his story because the music does the time-line more justice than a book could ever do. i'm not discrediting the book; i learned things i hadn't known before - music just has the ability to bridge a gap & communicate in a profound way.

& when i say profound i mean go out & listen to mr. slowhand's album 'from the cradle' & tell me it doesn't change you in a profound way.