Cocaine
Essay title: Cocaine
Cocaine
Early on in his career, Eric Clapton seemed to have a difficult time sticking to one band. He played with the Yardbirds, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Blind Faith, Delaney & Bonnie & Friends, and Cream. But throughout all the time he spent with each of those bands, no solo work was ever thought of until 1970. It was in 1970 that Clapton launched his solo career with his self-titled debut album.
His first album had only one real hit, so to speak, with “After Midnight,” but is still regarded as one of his better works. Many felt that it was more of a D&B&F album,that merely featured Clapton on guitar. This was due to the amount of time he had been spending with the group, after he went “solo.” Before his debut album was ever released, Clapton had formed a band with some of the D&B&F members called Derek and the Dominos. He played with them for most of 1970.
In 1971 and 1972, Clapton was not heard from, at least not musically, as he was battling a heroin addiction that cut two years out of his early work. But, on January 13, 1973, Clapton stormed back with a live performance at the Rainbow Theatre in London. That spawned his next record, “Eric Clapton’s Rainbow Concert,” which, obviously, featured live performances.
It wasn’t until a few months later, in 1974, when Clapton had a substantial solo career, with the release of “461 Ocean Boulevard.” That record had the number one single, “I Shot the Sheriff,” which is still a popular song to this day.
In 1975 and 1976, Clapton released three records, as follow-ups to “461 Ocean Boulevard.” “There’s One in Every Crowd,” “ E.C. Was Here,” (live) and “No Reason to Cry,” respectively, had no where near the success of his previous album. But, thankfully, in 1977, Clapton released “Slowhand,” which had mega-hits with “Lay Down Sally,” “Wonderful Tonight,” (which was a million seller) and “Cocaine.”
Originally written by country-rocker J.J. Cale (who also wrote “After Midnight”), “Cocaine” was a bluesy-soul-rock song that, essentially, was about what Cocaine can do for you, and gave tips about what to do while high on Cocaine.
If you want to
hang out you’ve got to take her out; cocaine.
If you want to
get down, down on the ground; cocaine.