Monday, November 30, 2020

Eric Clapton - "It's In The Way That You Use It" (forgotten song)

 

So it turns out that Eric Clapton is collaborating with Van Morrison for another anti-lock down song.  This is apparently separate from the Van Morrison songs we learned of last month.  This is disappointing, dangerous, and completely tone deaf: how many people should be put at risk so this septuagenarian can do live shows again?

I'm not the biggest Eric Clapton fan, but owing to the time and place of my birth, I can't help but a fan to a certain degree.   He's objectively a guitar god, "Badge", "Layla", and "Wonderful Tonight" are all great song, and they have formed the soundtrack for various moments in my life.  So with sadness, I have to admit that the news about Clapton's does have a measure of personal disappointment.  

I will mark this occasion with a song that I like, even if not one of his greatest.  "It's in the Way That You Use It" was first featured on the soundtrack of "The Color of Money", a film that I really enjoyed when it came out.  It was later released on his LP "August", but it will always be a soundtrack song for me.  I'm not here to convince you that it's one of his classics, and it definitely has cheesy 80s production.  In preparing this post I learned that it was co-written by Robbie Robertson, which is pretty cool.  But I'm not going to deny that I like this song, even if the latest news does diminish my enjoyment just a bit.

"I've seen dark skies, never like this"

Eric Clapton - "It's in the Way That You Use It"