Eric Clapton: The Autobiography by Eric Clapton

Author:Eric Clapton [Clapton, Eric]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Tags: Biography & Autobiography, Composers & Musicians, Personal Memoirs
ISBN: 9780767925365
Google: PnItnwEACAAJ
Amazon: 076792536X
Publisher: Three Rivers Press
Published: 2007-10-08T11:00:00+00:00

owever much I might have thought I loved Pattie

at the time, the truth is that the only thing that I

couldn’t live without was alcohol. This really

made my need or ability to commit to anything,

even marriage, pretty inconsequential, and anyway

it was only a matter of time before the “no women

on the road” rule was invoked, and then I’d be off

and running again. Pattie came with me to

Albuquerque, New Mexico, then to El Paso,

Texas, and from there to all the gigs till we got to

San Antonio. At each show I would bring her up

onstage and sing “Wonderful Tonight” to her. But

after the San Antonio gig, I told her that she must

go back to England. It was men-only time again; I

had had enough of domestic bliss. She was not at

all happy about this, and of course as soon as she

was gone, it was back to business as usual.

One of the first things Pattie did when she got

back to England was to start organizing a party for

all our English friends to celebrate our wedding. It

was set for Saturday, May 19, when there was a

break in my tour schedule, and was to take place in

the garden at Hurtwood, where a huge tent would

be erected. Guests were instructed to turn up

“about 3:00 P.M.” and told that they didn’t have to

bring presents if they didn’t want to. “If you are

free,” we had printed on the invites, “try and make

it, it’s bound to be a laugh.” There was no real

form to the party. People were just expected to

arrive whenever they wanted, wearing whatever

they liked, and have a good time.

The first person I remember showing up was

Lonnie Donegan, who came far too early, at about

10:00 A.M., followed closely by Georgie Fame. I

didn’t have a clue what to do with them, and we

ended up going upstairs to a small bedroom where

Georgie began rolling joints. I stayed up there for

most of the day getting stoned and becoming more

and more paranoid as people were arriving. I

really had no idea how to be a host and couldn’t

cope, so instead of being around to greet

everybody and offer them drinks, I hid. Eventually,

sometime during the evening, I went downstairs to

the tent to find this huge party going on, with

hundreds of people, from all my famous musician

friends to the grocer and the butcher and all the

Ripleyites, milling around, chattering, eating and

drinking, and making out in the bushes. It actually

looked like the kind of party I would like to go to.

A stage had been set up in the tent, the idea

being that the band would consist of anyone who

felt like getting up and playing. A succession of

great musicians joined in the jam session that took

place later in the evening, including Georgie and

Lonnie, Jeff Beck, Bill Wyman, Mick Jagger, Jack

Bruce, and Denny Laine. I remember Denny’s

wife, Jo Jo, getting up to sing, and then we couldn’t

get her off, so whoever was at the mixing board

had to keep switching off whichever mike she was

using, and she would just move to another one.

George, Paul, and Ringo also played, only

missing John, who later phoned me to say he

would have been there too if he had known about

it.

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