“I can’t imagine what it sounds like”: Eric Clapton on the classic track he refused to listen to
Eric Clapton always saw himself as a messenger of the blues. Even if he was considered one of his generation’s best rock guitar players, everything he did was an extension of the kind of music that people like Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf made so popular in their prime. Although he wasn’t afraid to cover many of his idols’ tunes on record, he felt that one of his interpretations wasn’t worth going back to ever again.
But ‘Slowhand’ didn’t simply turn himself into one of the best artists of all time overnight. Some of his best moments with The Yardbirds had shown him finetuning his act, and even if he wasn’t considered one of the greatest to pick up a guitar yet, you could hear how he fit in with the rougher side of the British Invasion, standing alongside people like The Rolling Stones as the blues connoisseurs of the genre.
As far as connoisseurs go, though, The Yardbirds were a far cry from the kind of music he wanted to play. There were still some great covers of artists like Tiny Bradshaw thrown into the mix, but it was hard for him to take things seriously when he was being forced to play along to tracks like ‘For Your Love’. While Clapton was quickly out the door, it didn’t take him long to find a new home with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers.
Although the album was practically a supergroup with John McVie of Fleetwood Mac on bass, there was no question that Clapton was the true star of the show on the one record he made with them. The Yardbirds may have had the chart success that they wanted for the time being, but listening back to the way that Clapton’s tone worked on tracks like ‘Steppin’ Out’, he was coming close to that guitar hero persona.
Cream may have been right around the corner for him, but Clapton still figured that his job was to do justice to people like Robert Johnson, eventually working up songs like ‘Rambling On My Mind’ for the Bluesbreakers. Whereas most people can listen to that tune and hear a guitarist on fire and on the cusp of greatness, all Clapton hears is a nervous kid fumbling his way through the blues.
When talking about paying tribute to his hero, Clapton thought that outside of the Cream tune ‘Four Till Late’, he didn’t think it was worth it to look back on his performance on this record, saying, “The version of ‘Four Till Late’ on Fresh Cream was probably okay, but I don’t think I’ve ever listened to my performance of ‘Rambling On My Mind’ that I did with John Mayall. I can’t even imagine what that sounds like.”
Granted, Clapton was always going to be a little bit cagey when talking about his takes on Johnson’s material. The guitarist tended to see Johnson in the same way that some artists look at acts like The Beatles, and when it comes to covering them, it’s no use trying to match them if the tracks they made were already perfect.
Still, Clapton shows off more than a few fretboard fireworks on ‘Rambling On My Mind’ that helped shape his reputation going forward. He hadn’t quite ascended to the ‘Clapton is God’ level yet, but there had to be some wayward rock disciples hanging around wondering if they should convert to The Church of Slowhand.
