Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7777 in Books
• Published on: 2008-07-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

Mail on Sunday
Clapton relates what happened with painful honesty. In other rock stars, such plump contentment might seem hypocritical, even vulgar. But with Eric Clapton, you feel that a little comfort is the least he deserves.

Observer
This is an essential read

Daily Telegraph
It's a raw and remarkable piece of self-exposure

Customer Reviews

God writes...
'Clapton is God' may have read the grafitti, but the tone of Eric Clapton's first autobiography is shy, matter-of-fact, flat. This may disappoint some but to me it made it all the more real...this is, after all, just how we expect Eric to communicate: his music is sublime, but his personality understated, introverted, filled for much of his life with the fear yet the encouragement of rejection that contributed to his alcoholism and heroin addiction.

Nothing is left out. He is unsparing about himself, his honesty, even understated, shining through on every page. His life, after all, has been very full and included plenty of demons. His account of his feelings following the accidental death of his son is almost too painful to read. His passion for helping other addicts, however, is warm and heartfelt.

Also evident is his generosity to other musicians he admires. Comparing him to Hedrix is now a standard pub conversation and he has nothing but praise for him. He compliments musician after musician. For him it really does seem to be 'all about the music'. The other stuff is there too: the affair with George Harrison's wife; the fact that his parents hid his illigitimacy from him; the entertaining anecdotes such as the difficulty of having a slash on the White House lawn. But, despite the fact that he rarely does much more than name song titles and musicians, it is the music that shines through: you want to run to those CDs and listen to them all over again.

Clapton is a remarkable guitarist and this is a remarkable account of a life filled with real sadness and happiness. Thank God there are still a few older people writing autobiographies these days!

Not the best, alot missing for an autobiography
Written very carefully ! - I am a huge Eric Clapton fan and was almost disappointed by this book, what about your guitars? what about the picture in the middle of book saying after surgery ... what surgery? no mention in the book - what about your guitar tech you have had for years.
If your a guitarist then theres a lot missing :( if you just want to know about Eric its a good start or an insight anyway. Started brilliantly then seemed to be very rushed and went downhill.

Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton finally writes his side of the story and an engrossing read it is too. In this book he writes pretty candidly about his life and career and you get a real feel for his struggles with addiction and his various relationships. Some parts of his life are glossed over, as is his prerogative in an autobiography, or not mentioned at all and for this reason I'd say this is a good complimentary biography to other, more in-depth books out there. The latter part of the book leaves you feeling more positive where he talks about his wife and children and his approach to life and music. It may have more impact when it is considered next to the first part of his life and the turmoil and struggles he seemed to go through. There are some excellent colour plates in this book, as well as additional black and white images to begin each chapter. You get a sense of loss when he talks about the various friends and musicians he has lost over the years, and his past is a veritable who's who list of top musicians and artists since the sixties. Overall this is a candid and interesting read and worth a look if you're a fan of his work.