My Father's Eyes
| My Father's Eyes | |
|---|---|
| Eric Clapton | |
| publication | 1998 |
| length | 5:24 |
| Genre (s) | Pop rock |
| Author (s) | Eric Clapton |
| Label | Reprise Records |
| Award (s) | grammy |
| album | Pilgrim |
My Father's Eyes is a pop rock song written by Eric Clapton and released on his 1998 album Pilgrim as well as a single.
Inspiration and content
That Clapton never met his own father, who died in 1985, inspired him to write the song. In the play, Clapton describes how he wished he had met his father. The song is also aimed at his son, who died at the age of four in a fall from the 53rd floor of a skyscraper in New York City . "In the song I tried to find the parallels between looking into my son's eyes and my father's."
Music video
First, the video shows how a basketball hits the ground several times in a row and bursts on the last impact. This sequence is shown again at the end of the video, but without the ball bursting. In the further course of the music video, Clapton is shown singing and making music with his Eric Clapton Stratocaster and a person running on a treadmill .
Reception and awards
At the Grammy Awards 1999 Clapton received a Grammy for the song in the category "Best Male Vocal Performance - Pop" ("Best Male Pop Vocal Performance"). The song reached number 57 in the German single charts and was placed 33 and 31 in the United Kingdom and Switzerland. In Austria, the single was ranked 18 and stayed in the charts for a total of twelve weeks. In the United States, the single was ranked number two on the adult contemporary charts, number seven on the adult top 40 charts, and number 21 on the top 40 mainstream and 26th mainstream rock charts.
Other versions
Clapton recorded two takes of the piece during the recordings for the album Unplugged , which were not officially released. On the deluxe version of 2013, Clapton first published the recordings that were previously inaccessible. With the Cuban percussionist Pedrito Martínez he released a new version as a single in 2020.
Individual evidence
- ^ Pilgrim - Eric Clapton | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards | AllMusic , accessed January 4, 2015, allmusic.com
- ↑ Eric Clapton: The Autobiography. 2007
- ↑ Eric Clapton - My Father's Eyes (Official Music Video) (4:35), accessed January 4, 2015, youtube.com
- ↑ see Eric Clapton / discography
- ^ Pilgrim - Eric Clapton | Awards | AllMusic , accessed January 4, 2015, allmusic.com
- ↑ Eric Clapton and Pedrito Martinez Covers 'My Father's Eyes'