When the guitarist the world knows as "Slowhand" strolls onto the stage at Yas Arena on Friday as part of the Yas Island Show Weekends, Eric Clapton's legion of fans will be waiting to rock to some of the British legend's greatest hits.
And with 2011 marking the 40th anniversary of his acclaimed album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, a whole host of classics spanning his five-decade-long career will certainly be putting in an appearance on the set list.
Like all great songwriters, Clapton, 65, has long drawn on his own life experiences and poured them into his music to produce songs that have stood the test of time, such as Layla, Tears In Heaven and My Father's Eyes.
And with the legend coming to Abu Dhabi, there's no better time to look behind the loves, loathings and losses that have shaped Clapton's musical legacy.
You Were There
Clapton wrote You Were There initially in reaction to the death of Princess Diana at the age of 37 in a car crash in Paris in 1997, but also admits that it turned into a tribute to his longtime manager, Roger Forrester.
"I went around to the newsagents on the Sunday morning and it was on the front page that Princess Diana was dead. All this stuff started coming up like it did for everybody. For me, it was like a compilation of feelings that go back to every loss that I've ever experienced," he said.
"[But] I didn't want it to get pinned onto this event. I wanted to actually place it somewhere where I felt it really belonged. And so I took it to a relationship that I have been involved with, myself, for the last 25 years, which is with my manager. And I took this feeling and put it in this song for him."
My Father's Eyes
Clapton was inspired to write his Grammy-winning song My Father's Eyes, which appeared on his 1998 album Pilgrim, about the fact that he never met his father, Canadian soldier Edward Fryer, who shipped off to fight in the Second World War before he was born, following a brief relationship with Clapton's 16-year-old mother Patricia Clapton.
"It's a very personal matter but I never met my father," Clapton said in 1985, also revealing that until the age of nine he had been raised to believe his grandparents were his parents and his mother was his older sister. All of which resulted in his mother leaving young Clapton with his grandparents in Surrey, England, when she later married another soldier and moved to Canada. The guitarist admits that the song was also influenced in part by the loss of his son, Connor.
"I realised that the closest I ever came to looking into my father's eyes was when I looked into my son's eyes," Clapton said. "So I wrote this song about that. It's a strange kind of cycle thing that occurred to me and another thing I felt I would like to share."
On his initial reluctance to release the track, he added, "This was the hardest song to record on that album. I would veto it each time. I think, subconsciously, I just wasn't ready to let go, because it meant — on some level — letting go of my son."
Layla
Arguably Clapton's most recognisable song thanks to its distinctive opening guitar riff and pleading lyrics, Layla was born out of his all-encompassing unrequited love for English model Pattie Boyd, who was at the time married to his close friend, George Harrison (right).
It's inspired by the classical poet of Persian literature, Nezami Ganjavi's The Story of Layla and Majnun (with Layla meaning "night" and Majnun meaning "madman"), a gift from his friend, Islamic scholar Abdul Qadir as-Sufi, who told Clapton the story had parallels between him and Boyd. Clapton's love for his best friend's wife saw his life slide out of control.
He sent her a stream of love letters — addressed to Layla — in which he implored, "If you want me, take me, I am yours." Recalling the first time she heard the track, Boyd, who called it "the most powerful and moving song I had ever heard", said, "My first thought was, ‘Oh God, everyone's going to know this is about me.' But... the song got the better of me. I could resist no longer."
Clapton's obsession with Boyd throughout the late '60s and early '70s, until they became a couple in 1974, culminated in the guitarist telling Harrison at a party, "I have to tell you, man, that I'm in love with your wife."
"George was furious," said Boyd. "He turned to me and said, ‘Well, are you going with him or coming with me?'" But these days, Clapton is dismissive of his classic hit, saying, "As a song just in itself I don't think it's got much going for it to be honest… but historically where it's at in the scheme of things, you know with me and George and Pattie, it got a life of its own."
Wonderful Tonight
Another track inspired by Pattie Boyd, Clapton wrote the song on the evening of September 7, 1976, while waiting for her to finish getting dressed so they could head off to Paul and Linda McCartney's annual Buddy Holly party.
Running late for the bash, Clapton recalls that Boyd kept trying on clothes and coming down to ask him, "Do I look all right?", to which he replied to every outfit, "Yes, you look wonderful. Can we go now?" Eventually picking up his guitar to keep himself occupied while he waited, he came up with Wonderful Tonight.
"Wonderful Tonight was the most poignant reminder of all that was good in our relationship," says Boyd of the song. "And when things went wrong it was torture to hear it."
Tears In Heaven
Clapton famously wrote the poignant Tears In Heaven as an ode to his son Connor, who died in 1991 at the age of four after falling from the window of the New York apartment he was staying in. Of the song, which won three Grammy Awards in 1993, Clapton says that despite its haunting melody, it's actually "a song of optimism... of reunion." Revealing, "My question was ‘Will I see you again?' In a sense, it wasn't even a sad song. It was a song of belief… What was worrying me was I hope to God we didn't meet up in some kind of heaven hotel lobby and just walk by one another."
Clapton also insists that the Jennifer Jason Leigh-starring movie Rush, on whose soundtrack Tears In Heaven would appear, became the perfect outlet for the song, saying, "I really wanted to be able to say something about what happened to me and the opportunity that this movie presented me was excellent, because it meant that I could write this song and express my feelings and have it come out quickly."
And co-writer, US songwriter Will Jennings (the man behind Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On), adds, "Eric saw a place in the movie for a song and he said to me, ‘I want to write a song about my boy.' This is a song so personal and so sad that it is unique in my experience of writing songs."
Don't miss it
Eric Clapton fans will be able to enjoy some of the hits live at the Yas Arena on Friday as the legendary guitarist comes to the UAE for the first time. The concert kicks off the 2011 Yas Island Show Weekends programme, which will also see DJ Tiesto spinning records at the Flash Forum, followed by American rock band 30 Seconds to Mars. The announced programme culminates with soul icon Stevie Wonder.
Prices for concert tickets start from Dh250 for general admission to Dh350 for grandstand seating, or Dh650 for the golden circle. There is a group discount for four people buying general admission tickets together, which offers a saving of Dh200. Visit thinkflash.ae for tickets.
