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Eric
Clapton is not God.
What
Clapton is, however—other than a world-renowned guitarist,
drug-addict, and playboy—is a memoirist taking a stab
at his own life story in his eponymous autobiography. Though
Clapton delves into the aforementioned and usual subjects,
the book reads more like a testament to his sobriety than
an unabashed account of his life.
Clapton
writes of his semi-awkward childhood in Ripley, Surrey—he
believed his grandparents were his parents until age nine—and
his almost non-existent subsequent relationship with his biological
mother. Though his is a mostly typical 1950s upbringing, Clapton
recalls being hit "like a thunderbolt" upon hearing Chuck
Berry singing "Memphis, Tennessee" on a Saturday morning radio
show. "Music became a healer for me," he writes. "I learned
to listen with all my being."
Clapton
is clear from the beginning about his deep regard and appreciation
for blues music and writes at length about the importance
of his influences, including Big Bill Broonzy, Muddy Waters,
and above all, Robert Johnson, whom Clapton has previously
called "the most important blues musician who ever lived."
Anecdotes about these influences pop up throughout the book,
giving way to the book's clearly orated and slightly disjointed
feel. While readers will enjoy the brief glimpses into the
creation and subsequent disbandment of the Yardbirds, the
Bluesbreakers, and Cream (among others), Clapton comes across
with the insight of a passive outsider, leaving a lot about
the groups to the imagination. Hardcore and even middle-weight
fans hoping for something new probably won't find it within
this version of Clapton's selective memory.
Flashing
forward to his personal relationships, Clapton talks a lot
about love and lust but seems incapable of truly committing
himself to anything outside of music. Perpetually on and off
with teenager Alice Ormsby-Gore in the late '60s and '70s,
Clapton only seems to take up with her when all other options
have failed. Prompted by his addiction to heroin, Ormsby-Gore
never really recovered from her own addiction problems, and
though Clapton credits her family for aiding his sobriety,
she died in 1995 from a heroin overdose. Furthermore, through
his obsession and subsequent marriage and divorce from George
Harrison's ex-wife Pattie Boyd (for whom he wrote "Wonderful
Tonight" and "Layla"), it's clear that Clapton keeps even
his closest friends an arm's length away.
The family
struggles give the book its most realistic and sincere passages.
Clapton devotes an entire chapter to his late son Conor, who
died at age four after falling out of an apartment window
in 1991 and was the subject of the Grammy Award-winning song
"Tears in Heaven." After two stays at a Minnesota treatment
center, Clapton dedicates his sobriety to Conor and makes
a genuine effort to be a part of his daughter Ruth's life.
It's an admirable transition and personal evolution that any
recovery program would proudly endorse, and Clapton doesn't
fail to leave readers thinking optimistically about life and
sobriety.
While
any aspect of Clapton's life and career is clearly open game,
he spends almost too much time discussing the mundane rather
than the interesting. Readers can expect to find several pages
of Clapton bouncing around theories on fashion design, his
admiration of Giorgio Armani and Gianni Versace, life in the
Caribbean, luxury yachts, and pheasant hunting. Additionally,
he painstakingly chronicles the evolution of his Crossroads
recovery center in Antigua, from the initial concept and construction
process to the guitar auction fundraisers and beyond. Despite
Clapton's fervor for the process, it comes across as tedious
and worth skimming over.
Eric
Clapton is undoubtedly a rare legend in contemporary music:
A man who came out of relative poverty and enjoyed massive
success by doing what he loves. Where Clapton succeeds in
translating his personal experiences into songs, he falters
in translating those experiences into a literary context.
While Autobiography isn't a complete waste, it begs
for updated, expanded and even-more-cathartic editions hopefully
accompanied by the music with which he so often defines himself.
(December,
2007)
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