Eric Clapton made news earlier this year when he said he would refuse to play live shows that required proof of vaccination. Recently he talked about his new politically-based song, “This Has Gotta Stop,” with The Real Music Observer. Prior to the new song, Clapton and Van Morrison released the anti-lockdown song, “Stand And Deliver.” Clapton said he feared he would never play again following health issues after receiving the vaccine.
“I’m cut from the cloth where if you tell me I can’t do something, I really wanna know why I can’t do it.”
Eric Clapton
“I’m feeling pretty good,” he said. “I think it’s been about nine months since I got sick from the (vaccine), and for a couple of months I wasn’t sure if it was gonna go away, if it’s gonna get worse. I couldn’t play — I really couldn’t play — and I wasn’t sure… I had a lot of work to do, whether I was gonna get fit for that or whether it was gonna have to be canceled. Two years of work had already been canceled. And I came to the States. And that was like a trial; that was in September of last year. And I was really pushing to see if I had recovered enough to be able to stand alongside the guys I play with and hold up my hand. And I had a great time. I still have some stuff going on, which is affected by the cold or the weather or stress to, sometimes. But on the whole, I think I’m pretty much the way I was — thank God — before I walked into that.”
Clapton continued: “My career had almost gone anyway. At the point where I spoke up, it had been almost 18 months since I had kind of been forcibly retired. And I joined forces with Van. I got the tip that Van was standing up to the measures. And I thought, ‘Why isn’t anybody else doing this?’ … I’m cut from the cloth where if you tell me I can’t do something, I really wanna know why I can’t do it.”
Clapton explained last year that he had lost friends and associates due to his viewpoints. “My family and friends think I am a crackpot anyway,” he said. “I would try to reach out to fellow musicians and sometimes I just don’t hear from them. My phone doesn’t ring very often. I don’t get that many texts and emails anymore.”
Earlier this month, a woman in Germany unknowingly listed a pirated version of an Eric Clapton live album for sale on eBay for $11. The CD belonged to the woman’s deceased husband. Clapton’s management sued and won a lawsuit against the woman, and the judge in the case ordered her to pay for the legal fees of both parties (around $3,900), which Clapton’s legal team later waived.
