Eric Clapton example essay topic

Cocaine Early on in his career, Eric Clapton seemed to have a difficult time sticking to one band. He played with the Yardbirds, John Mayall's Blues breakers, Blind Faith, Delaney & Bonnie & Friends, and Cream. But throughout all the time he spent with each of those bands, no solo work was ever thought of until 1970. It was in 1970 that Clapton launched his solo career with his self-titled debut album. His first album had only one real hit, so to speak, with "After Midnight", but is still regarded as one of his better works.

Many felt that it was more of a D&B&F album, that merely featured Clapton on guitar. This was due to the amount of time he had been spending with the group, after he went "solo". Before his debut album was ever released, Clapton had formed a band with some of the D&B&F members called Derek and the Dominos. He played with them for most of 1970. In 1971 and 1972, Clapton was not heard from, at least not musically, as he was battling a heroin addiction that cut two years out of his early work. But, on January 13, 1973, Clapton stormed back with a live performance at the Rainbow Theatre in London.

That spawned his next record, "Eric Clapton's Rainbow Concert", which, obviously, featured live performances. It wasn't until a few months later, in 1974, when Clapton had a substantial solo career, with the release of "461 Ocean Boulevard". That record had the number one single, "I Shot the Sheriff", which is still a popular song to this day. In 1975 and 1976, Clapton released three records, as follow-ups to "461 Ocean Boulevard."There's One in Every Crowd", E.C. Was Here", (live) and "No Reason to Cry", respectively, had no where near the success of his previous album. But, thankfully, in 1977, Clapton released "Slow hand", which had mega-hits with "Lay Down Sally,"Wonderful Tonight", (which was a million seller) and "Cocaine".

Originally written by country-rocker J.J. Cale (who also wrote "After Midnight"), "Cocaine" was a bluesy-soul-rock song that, essentially, was about what Cocaine can do for you, and gave tips about what to do while high on Cocaine. If you wanna hang out you " ve got to take her out; cocaine. If you wanna get down, down on the ground; cocaine. She don't lie, she don't lie, she don't; cocaine.

If you got bad news, you wanna kick them blues; cocaine. When your day is done and you wanna run; cocaine. If your thing is gone and you wanna ride on; cocaine. Don't forget this fact, you can't get it back; cocaine. She don't lie, she don't lie, she don't lie; Cocaine. Some will argue that "Cocaine" was not actually about drugs, but I think it's pretty clear that this song, if not based purely on the name of the song, is in all reality about drugs.

When the song was released, drugs were a major part of Rock 'n' Roll, and a major staple among hippies, and teens. Not that they aren't today, but drugs were an easy topic to write and / or sing about, as some of them were still legal. Glamorizing drugs is in now way "cool" or "good", but with the proper attention span, and the type of mind that is not easily affected by song lyrics, "Cocaine" can be a very catchy toon. Clapton, in my opinion, added the perfect blues-rock feel to this song. His singing of the lyrics, and his virtuoso guitar playing could not have been matched by any other.

And even though the song glamorizes drugs, it is still the epitome of the greatness that is Eric Clapton.