The only solo song Eric Clapton has played over 1000 times
The entirety of Eric Clapton‘s career trajectory has been about being the consummate journeyman.
Every good blues artist knows that the best way to keep themselves going is to play to the people directly, and Clapton’s best and worst moments have always come when he’s had a guitar in his hands, playing to a sea of faces waiting to be enraptured by his dexterity with the instrument. But with all of those gigs under his belt, there were bound to be a few tunes that ended up getting more mileage than others.
Looking at Clapton’s track record, you also have to keep in mind all of the bands that he had been in prior to going solo. There were always going to be people there to listen to the best blues covers that he could pull out, but when he first struck out on his own in the 1970s, there was no way anyone was going to simply ignore the fact that he was in Cream. They were one of the greatest supergroups that ever was, and tunes like ‘Sunshine of Your Love’ and ‘White Room’ were bound to become concert staples.
Even though ‘Slowhand’ would give the occasional nod to his old bandmates, it’s not like he was looking to live his life in one style. He had already gone through a wilderness period of working with one supergroup after another, like Blind Faith and Derek and the Dominoes, but the guitarist that showed up in his solo career was a lot different from the one shredding guitar solos alongside Duane Allman.
Though ‘Layla’ by the Dominoes has the distinction of being the most played tune in Clapton’s discography, the 1970s were his time to prove that he could be a star without other legends beside him. He wanted to prove that he was the kind of songwriter that everyone could take seriously, but even if you were to ask the guitarist personally, there are more than a few records during that decade where drinking was taking priority over the songs.
Many of his greatest albums from this time have an asterisk next to them for being a little too downtempo compared to his early days, but if there’s any shining light from this era, it’s Slowhand. For a brief moment, all the stars aligned to give Clapton one of the best albums of his career, and while his cover of JJ Cale’s ‘Cocaine’ is forever solidified in rock history, there has never been a song in his discography more universally loved than ‘Wonderful Tonight’.
Aside from the fantastic guitar hook that ties the tune together, a lot of people forget that this is a sad song in many respects. The axeman may have finally been happy with Patti Boyd, but if you listen to the bridge, it’s clear that his drinking habits were getting in the way of him expressing how he really felt half the time, especially when he talks about her helping him to bed after getting trashed at a party.
However, looking past that, there’s a reason why the tune is so beloved. For many, this is the kind of pure love song that Clapton could write in his sleep, and of all his solo material, he has played through the tune a whopping 1258 times as every couple in the audience holds each other close.
There are certainly more celebrated tunes he played with his individual bands and more emotional tunes like ‘Tears in Heaven’, but the beauty behind ‘Wonderful Tonight’ comes from how simple it is. The story contained in the track is a lot more complex, but it’s much easier for any musician to put a happy face on a traditional love song.
