I chose this song to start this blog for several reasons. In the first place, I've been a fan of Eric Clapton ever since I saw him in a concert in Camberley, Surrey. I was 18 at the time and Clapton was a member of The Cream, together with Ginger Baker on drums and Jack Bruce on the bass - see http://www.es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cream. I was absolutely captivated by his dexterity with the guitar. I wish I could play half as well!
The song itself was composed together with Will Jennings. This is what Jennings says:
"Eric and I were engaged to write a song for a movie called Rush. We wrote a song called 'Help Me Up' for the end of the movie... then Eric saw another place in the movie for a song and he said to me, 'I want to write a song about my boy.' Eric had the first verse of the song written, which, to me, is all the song, but he wanted me to write the rest of the verse lines and the release ('Time can bring you down, time can bend your knees...'), even though I told him that it was so personal he should write everything himself. He told me that he had admired the work I did with Steve Winwood and finally there was nothing else but to do as he requested, despite the sensitivity of the subject. This is a song so personal and so sad that it is unique in my experience of writing songs." – Will Jennings
The words "my boy" refer, of course, as everyone probably knows, to Eric Clapton's 4,5 year-old son who died after falling fron a 53rd floor in Manhattan. As a father myself, I can imagine the pain and suffering he and his wife must have gone through. Thankfully, he has now overcome that tragedy.
The following link shows Clapton singing this beautiful song.
No comments:
Post a Comment