From 1999:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GPzVQ7Nb2g

I often wonder how Eric Clapton manages to get along so well with so many black musicians after he said all that racist stuff . And he is still very unapologetic about it to this day, which is....I don´t know, maybe a good thing because at least he sticks with what he genuinely believes in ?

The man has black band members, he worshipped Jimi Hendrix, and contemporary black artists love and respect him, and it seems to be a mutual thing.

It´s also weird because one of his most famous songs is a cover version of Jamaica´s most popular artist ever (Bob Marley´s I Shot The Sherrif).

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There are artists that I like who don´t or didn´t like my people and said or still say nasty things about my people or other ethnic groups but I still kind of like them for their art (like Alphonse Mucha or Salvador Dali, or maybe Mel Gibson and his rants, or Clint Eastwood or Chuck Norris)...but I see a difference in liking the artist´s art and collaborating with such an artist.

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How do you feel about this? Are D and those other artists just ignorant about Clapton´s rants, or are they so starstruck that they just accept their differences in ideology?

The man is openly racist and lives in Antigua, of all places.

Didn´t D´Angelo stay at Clapton´s rehab clinic in Antigua and pay a huge sum to him?

Eric has loved D from day one. There is a mini doc on the making of voodoo and Eric is in it, swooning over what he's hearing in the studio. Eric also dated Naomi Campbell for a time, so I would say his relationship with race is complicated.

He also claims he was drunk as hell and that the experience contributed to him realizing he needed to get sober. At least thats what I heard.

I loved this!

steakfinger said:

He also claims he was drunk as hell and that the experience contributed to him realizing he needed to get sober. At least thats what I heard.

From what I know, he repeated what he said in 1976 during an interview in 2004.

Eric used the n word again in 2004?

KoolEaze said:

steakfinger said:

He also claims he was drunk as hell and that the experience contributed to him realizing he needed to get sober. At least thats what I heard.

From what I know, he repeated what he said in 1976 during an interview in 2004.

And even as recently as 2007, he's repeated his support for Enoch Powell - who, for those who don't know, is the Conservative politician who favoured 'repatriation' for Britain's Black and Asian population, and famously gave the apocalyptic and inflammatory 'Rivers of Blood' speech in 1968, all about what he saw as the degradation of the country by its immigrant populations (who had arrived from Britain's former colonial possessions to settle and work in what they then saw as the 'Mother country') and his fear of a looming day when "the Black man will have the whip hand over the White man."

That said, this is a great version of that song. I think Eric often has great feel as a musician, even though I don't know what the hell kind of cognitive dissonance is going on with his politics. Thanks for posting.

[Edited 4/25/15 3:23am]

speaking of D'Angelo... new tour dates, check http://blackmessiah.co/

KoolEaze said:

The man is openly racist and lives in Antigua, of all places.

Excuse my ignorance, but whats the significance in that?

kygermo said:

KoolEaze said:

The man is openly racist and lives in Antigua, of all places.

Excuse my ignorance, but whats the significance in that?

Sorry for sounding a bit cryptic. I said that because Antigua is not exactly a country with a predominantly "white" population, hence my comment.

Sorry for derailing the thread a bit.

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I like the performance and the choice of song, and I think both Clapton and D´Angelo did a great job. Would love to see him cover more Curtis Mayfield songs though....maybe People Get Ready or a guitar heavy version of Give Me Your Love, or some of the more political songs. D´Angelo´s cover versions are always a nice treat, so far I´ve loved every cover he´s done.

KoolEaze said:

kygermo said:

Excuse my ignorance, but whats the significance in that?

Sorry for sounding a bit cryptic. I said that because Antigua is not exactly a country with a predominantly "white" population, hence my comment.

AHH I see, so the majority of the population is black and/or ethnic. I didnt know that!