Clapton: The Autobiography by Eric Clapton
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Book Reviews of Clapton: The Autobiography
Book Review: Eric Clapton book
Summary: 5 Stars
I am enjoying the book immensely. It is a very good read. Glad I bought it.Book Review: If Clapton is the protagonist, then drugs and alcohol are the antagonists
Summary: 4 Stars
Fame is a funny thing. Famous people live their lives under the scrutiny of the media, fans, and fair-weather friends. Because of an exceptional talent, the person lives in a world that is not real, in that world develops an unreal self-perception, and acts based on that distorted perception. In the meantime, fans and devotees develop an image of the famous person based on information carefully disseminated by a publicist or simply through their own imagination, believing a person who can sing or play or write or put a ball or a puck in a goal so singularly well can only maintain that level of distinction in his or her personal life.
Fans of Eric Clapton, the musician/singer/songwriter, are likely to be disappointed by `Clapton: The Autobiography' because it is, in fact, honest. In addition to all of the heavily publicized episodes in Clapton's life, including his birth out of wedlock to a woman he was raised to believe was his sister, his departure from the Yardbirds because he believed they had become too "commercial" after the studio session for "For Your Love," his love for and marriage to Patty Boyd, and the tragic death of his son Conor, the reader of Clapton is certain to learn that he his, in fact, human. Like all humans, Eric Clapton has experiences the same emotions, to greater or lesser degrees, as just about every other inhabitant of the planet. The reader discovers that Eric Clapton is self-conscious, egocentric, narcissistic, and capable of petty jealousies, has suffered from depression, and was often not able to control his use drugs and alcohol. In the process of his experiences, he alienated many friends and colleagues.
What I found most intriguing and entertaining about `Clapton: The Autobiography' was its rawness and honesty. I think it is clear that Eric literally wrote the book himself. (Obviously, the word "autobiography" in the title suggests the book was written by the subject, but that is not always the case.) The rhythm of the book and the ideas that Clapton conveys are clear and direct. Also, there appear to be no subject that is off-limits. He starkly discusses his addictions and the destructive relationships in his life. He talks about his like or dislike for any one of a number of his contemporaries, including Steve Winwood, Ginger Baker, Jack Bruce, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison Jimi Hendrix, Mick Jagger, Billy Preston, B.B. King, and J.J. Cale among many others. He explores in some detail his relationship with George Harrison, whose wife Clapton eventually married. In other cases, Clapton indicates his like for one or another of his generation, other times he highlights his opinion of their eccentricities, and on still other occasions, he describes his envy and jealousy of them for reasons ranging from their musical skills or their ability to enchant and steal from Clapton his love interests.
I particularly appreciate Clapton's honesty where his personal beliefs and interests are concerned. For example, among many of the music, art, and Hollywood crowd, hunting and firearms are about as popular as the cigarette manufacturers. Clapton makes no excuses for his love for hunting and shooting, nor does he hide his smoking. Similarly, he makes not secret of his suspicions and distrust of people like Rupert Murdoch and George Bush. Although not addressed in the book, these examples of Clapton's individuality reminded me of 1993 when he won a bunch of Grammy's for `Unplugged;' every other presenter and award-winner wore a red AIDS ribbon - except for Clapton. Whatever else he is, Clapton is his own person.
If Clapton is the protagonist in `Clapton: The Autobiography,' then drugs and alcohol are the antagonists whose affects prevented Clapton from self-actualizing. If it can be considered such, the "resolution" included Clapton "getting clean" in the late 1980's, maturing to the point he could be a productive half of a meaningful relationship, and creating the Crossroads Clinic in Antigua to help others trapped by addiction. It appears to be a happy ending. I, for one, hope that it is.
Book Review: Eric Clapton Finds God
Summary: 4 Stars
It was rather unusual for me to get caught up in a book like this since I haven't really followed pop music for quite some time (although I do enjoy youtube videos of certain performers from my youth). But he was a childhood hero of mine and I was curious....
The stories of "Clapton is God" being written as graffiti all over London, even before he was in the band "Cream", are well-known. But the more sobering (literally) story of his finding the other God, is really quite compelling, and rather overlooked in reviews and interviews. This is quite peculiar because in doubtedly is the heart and core of the book.
The amount of drug and alcohol abuse in Clapton's life was truly unbelievable. He writes about being drunk 24 hours a day, in addition to doing copious amounts of coke, heroin, etc (often at the same time) nonstop, for about 3 decades. He once played an entire concert in a stadium lying on the floor next to the microphone (and no one complained. He said the audience was probably as drunk as he).
Clapton even attempted suicide at least once. The only reason he gives for not trying on a number of other occassions was simply because he wouldn't be able to drink if he were dead! Now THAT's addiction...
Anyway, the book (not surprisingly) turns out to be quite "spiritual", because towards the end of his 2nd rehab stay, when he is about to leave knowing he is still fully addicted, and that his life is a complete shambles, the miraculous occurs:
"I was absolutely terrified, in complete despair. At that moment, almost of their own accord, my legs gave way, and I fell to my knees. In the privacy of my room I begged for help. I had no notion of who I was taking to, I just knew I had come to the end of my tether, I had nothing left to fight with. Then I remembered what I had heard about surrender, something I thought I could never do, my pride just wouldn't allow it, but I knew that on my own I just wasn't going to make it, so I asked for help, getting down on my knees, I surrendered...
Within a few days I realized something had happened to me. An atheist would probably say that it was just a change in attitude, and to a certain extent that's true, but there was much more to it than that. I had found a place to turn to, a place that I always knew was there, but that I never wanted, or needed, to believe in.
From that day until this (over 20 years), I have never failed to pray in the morning, on my knees, asking for help, and at night, to express my gratitude for my life, and, most of all, for my sobriety...
In all this time since I've been sober, I have never once seriously thought of taking a drink or a drug."
It really is an extraordinary book. Eric is amazingly candid and very hard on himself (Patti Boyd herself said Eric was actually "too hard"), while being extremely self-aware (due at least in part to decades of therapy), and blessed with an astounding memory for almost everything that's ever happened to him. This was, of course, aided by a diary he has kept throughout his career.
The book is also perhaps unique among recent celebrity "tell all" books, that it offers a truly sincere effort by a singular man to come to grips with the truth about himself. In an age of information worship, this to me was one of the most striking and inspiring characteristics of the book. What Clapton's detractors don't seem to understand is that if they were able to do the same, they'd probably come off at least as unattractive at times, and probably worse. They simply lack the same degree of self-awareness.
At least Mr. Clapton never lost sight of the man he could become, and apparently ultimately did.
He's one smart, talented, survivor, and I'm sure now is an inspiration to millions of others who have struggled with their own various demons.
I, for one, am very, very grateful to him for having the courage and wherewithal to write and publish this volume.
Book Review: One who survived alcoholism
Summary: 4 Stars
It is hard to hear the "awful" truth of anything. When its addiction that is this awful truth, it seems even harder, if not much sadder. This is the feeling I have after reading, "Clapton, the Autobiography." It's the same feeling I came away from reading various books, articles and written anecdotes on the life of Kurt Cobain.
At least Eric Clapton gets to set the record straight (or at least tell his version of his perception of his life). One wonders what some around him would say about this book, however. I suspect they would agree that Clapton attempted to keep it honest, but its exact reflective content? This I have to assume is colored in favor of its author. There appears to be a whole other side to things that is being (deliberately?) left out for better or worse.
There is some revealing and brutal honesty in this book as we would expect. I love the opening bits in the chapter titled "Relapse". In the first few pages he describes his collaboration with Phil Collins. Here is an excerpt:
"I had the same band, except that Jamie Oldaker had replaced Roger Hawkins on drums, and Phil had also brought in Peter Robinson to play synthesizer, a new direction for me. We were soon having a great time, and the plan was working, `Between now (twelve midnight) and yesterday,' I wrote in my diary on March 12, 1984, `we've got five great tracks...Phil is so great to work with, you get so much done but it doesn't feel like hard work at all.... Peter Robinson is a genius and a great bloke too! In fact the whole thing is going so great, I hope it never stops!' I was amazed by how much we were achieving, and I thought the sound was incredible. `Good old Phil,' I wrote the following day, `he's a diamond alright.'
In this small snippet we get a real feel for Clapton's sense of friendship and collaborative juices, but sense an emotional immaturity. It is fueled, in part, by his alcoholism. This can be seen more clearly as he continues in these opening remarks to the chapter:
"Only one thing jarred. There seemed to be a kind of conspiracy to keep me from knowing that all the guys were boozing and doing a lot of blow. It was happening in secret, and it was as if they didn't trust me to handle it. I became very angry. `Somebody's been holding out on me,' I told them. `I'm not a kid. I want to know everything that's going on.' But when I voiced my disquiet, they just kind of shouted at me in a joking way and said, `But you don't do it anymore!'"
His ability to escape himself in his growing persona and fame through alcoholism, led to his addiction and obviously has inhibited Clapton's ability to appreciate, even in times of recovery and relapse, how emotionally immature (a "kid") he was at heart.
He continues, but now moving toward the description of the chapter's title, with the relapse:
"Before I left home, my attendance at twelve-step meetings had dropped, and I had neglected to find out if there were any where I was going. On my arrival, I had noticed that in the kitchen of the chalet I was staying in was a courtesy gift of a bottle of local rum on the sideboard, but instead of picking it up and deliberately pouring it all down the drain, I just put it away in a cupboard, thinking, `I'm not going to overreact to this by throwing it down the sink. I'll just put it somewhere where I can't see it.'"
I don't have to tell you what happened next...
These insights occur throughout the book and it is quite humbling to see the perversion that is alcoholic addiction. Eric Clapton's loomed large and if not for his musical genius and its outlet, would have destroyed him.
Buy it today.
Book Review: An eye-opener for sure, but not arrogant at all.
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm reading various negative reviews of this book, and I cannot believe that people are calling Eric Clapton arrogant in his writing. This book had its flaws, but Clapton's supposed "name dropping" and "arrogance" does not exist, at least not in this book.
I'll say first that I love Eric Clapton's music. He's the reason I'm playing my guitar, and he's taught me a lot about music. I'm only 24, though, and the only image I've ever had of Clapton is his current old man image. It's not much of an image, so I've always just focused on his guitar playing and music making. And because the guitar playing is one-of-a-kind amazing, I've managed to put Clapton up on this pedestal, and I didn't mind. To me, he deserved it.
The book erased that godly image of Clapton I had. As soon as he started getting into details about his life instead of his music, that image was erased from my mind. He did tons of drugs and drinking, had a bunch of issues with sex and women, which probably led to his crazy first marriage. I couldn't believe that the actual Eric Clapton was letting this stuff out! He's always been extremely shy, and you can tell in this book. The way he writes about his experiences are detailed, but at the same time so abstract. For example, when he starts to talk about his son's death, or his daughter that he didn't raise, you wonder some things, because he just doesn't talk about how those things made him feel.
I also could've gone with more guitar details. He talks about what his first guitar was, how much it cost, where his parents bought it for him and how he learned to play it, but he just doesn't talk about how playing it made him feel, and how he felt owning it for the first time (funny, because he's got the blues, and blues players are all about the feel. He just lets it out in his guitar playing, I guess.)
I honestly don't know where people get the "arrogant" criticisms from, though. He actually downplays his skills and does not reflect with happiness when he thinks about all the people he screwed up. Maybe the arrogance criticism comes from the fact that he only focuses on his side of the story. But how can he tell someone else's story? Either way, he reflects with remorse, and a little bit of shame as well. And calling Clapton a name dropper is an oxymoron. He was part of a music movement and an innovator, not a hanger-on. If anything, people were name dropping him.
Don't criticize the book because it only has a few black and white pictures. Clapton has always been very private, and him writing this book (all by himself, by the way, which explains why the writing is jumpy and brief at times) was enough insight into his life. And did a reviewer here actually think it was wrong that he married a younger woman and bought a boat? Why does that even matter?
And I'm biased here, but I found the story admirable and kind of sad at the end. Unlike a lot of his peers, he lived to tell his story. It broke my heart when he said the only thing he dislikes about getting old is that he won't see his young daughters when they're grown. In the end, he's a man who got down on his knees and admitted every single thing he did wrong. You can't turn back time and take everything back, but you can learn from your mistakes. And I think that's what Clapton did, and in this book he tries to tell the reader.