River of Tears: swimming back in time
At the time Eric Clapton’s Pilgrim album was released in 1998, I just happened to be drowning in a deep funk of my own, so far down I’d forgotten up even existed (things are much better now, fyi). So Pilgrim suited my mood most precisely. I listened to it over and over and over again. It was a solacing boon to my gloom. Sometimes, it helps to just go with the sadness, I discovered, as have many others, so I’ve heard.
Words of praise from a Rolling Stone review (David Wild, Mar 19, 1998):
On the album’s sizzling title track, he evokes some of the soulful eloquence of the great Curtis Mayfield. And Clapton’s vocals on “River of Tears” and “Broken Hearted” (with lovely backing vocals and tin whistle from Paul Brady), the ultradelicate “Circus” and the country-tinged “Fall Like Rain” are among the most convincing of his career.
So it wasn’t just me and my mood.
River of Tears (lyrics here) is truly one of the most powerful songs on the cd, if your mood is inclined toward the blue zone. Today, I found this video of Clapton’s live performance of the piece in Los Angeles during his 2001 world tour. Watching this, I traveled back in time (briefly). Easy to understand here, also, why those fans all those decades ago in London used to scrawl “Clapton is God” on walls.
