Life > January 17, 2008

By CeCe Brooks | Life editor

To be honest, apart from a few songs, I am no Eric Clapton aficionado. As I was in Barnes & Noble browsing, Clapton jumped out at me.

As I said before, I do not claim to know all of Clapton’s songs, but some of my favorites, include “Wonderful Tonight” and “Tears in Heaven.”

As I read the summary, I was intrigued by the life of this man. He went through multiple groups (The Yardbirds, Cream, Blind Faith and Derek and the Dominoes among others) before his solo days, several addictions and numerous romantic affairs throughout his life.

Although seemingly impossible, Clapton attempts to give every detail regarding his life, especially anything that affected his music.

He starts with his childhood in Surrey, England, where he claims a lot of his later behavior can be traced.

Clapton claims to have really disliked school mostly because of authority figures, but he did excel at art, which led to his eventual placement in the Kingston School of Art.

However, he soon found a greater passion in music through the local club scene and started skipping classes, which led to his expulsion.

This is where Clapton’s entry into music really started. He convinced his grandparents to buy him a guitar and taught himself through listening.

As such a great guitar legend, I was amazed to learn that he did not know how to read music for a significant amount of his career (it is unclear whether or not he ever did learn).

After his expulsion from school, Clapton began scouting through music clubs looking for inspiration.

The club is where he found many of his first bands and roommates (he did not live alone until his late 20s).

What I appreciated most about the book and what I really applaud Clapton for is his attempt to give the reader a very personal account of his life including his addictions to heroin and alcohol, his sexual exploits and many personal feelings during periods of his life.

He recounts his first guitars, how he learned how to play the blues and meeting famous music figures.

The only thing I wish is that I knew more about guitars and the music industry to really grasp what he was saying at certain points.

The number of musicians he encountered in his vast career is astounding.

Even though I am sure I missed some because there were so many, among them including The Rolling Stones before they hit it big, the Beatles, several members of Fleetwood Mac and Jimi Hendrix.

Many of these artists later became close friends and bandmates.

These are just some of the people he met in the 1950s and 1960s.

What’s almost scary in Clapton is his honesty about his life and his thoughts (he even cites lines out of his diaries).

Personally, I always hate it when you read about how a song you like came into existence and it turns out it was either fake or just not in the mentality you would imagine.

For instance, Clapton describes writing “Wonderful Tonight” in frustration with his girlfriend rather than love or happiness.

Although sometimes it is hard to like Clapton as he describes his heroin and alcohol addictions and what he did while under their influences, you must admire his candidness.

It is also fascinating to learn about the music business behind the scenes, both the creation of the albums and the craziness of the musicians.

Clapton describes so many instances of dropping acid or snorting coke before a show, I was amazed when he noted that he’s only missed a handful of shows.

Overall, I think Clapton does a good job of trying to condense a very long and eventful career and life into 300 pages.

The only thing I did not like about the book or Clapton’s writing as a whole was his tendency to ramble in certain subjects leading to a bit of discontinuity.

I would recommend Clapton to any music lovers or Clapton fans for an interesting read.

The autobiography gives a picture of an almost epic life with many ups and downs, successes and failures.