NBC Today Show - Eric Clapton interviewed by Matt Lauer
Watch video: Clapton on love, music, addiction
More than once, Eric Clapton contemplated taking his own life, and the only thing that stopped him was the realization that if he were dead, he wouldn’t be able to drink anymore.
Sober now for 20 years and really self-aware for just the past 10, the titan of the guitar listened as TODAY co-host Matt Lauer recited a litany of his trials — addictions to heroin and alcohol, the suicide attempts, medical problems, car crashes — and then asked him why he’s still alive.
“I still must have something left to do,” the 62-year-old Clapton, who’s won 18 Grammys and been enshrined in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame three times, finally decided.
One of those things was to pack his life into a book, “Clapton: The Autobiography,” which is being released along with an accompanying CD of his life’s work: “The Complete Clapton.”
“It was like I was writing a letter to myself,” he said of the book. “We started out with a ghostwriter, and then I had to rewrite it because ghostwriting allowed me to blame people.”
Dressed in a T-shirt and a rumpled and nondescript jacket, the stubble-faced Clapton, with his sensible haircut and plain glasses, looked more like a retired teacher than one of the greatest guitarists the world has ever known.
He spoke softly and simply, like someone who didn’t need to punctuate his self-importance. Like someone who’s finally discovered who he is.
It’s not surprising that self-discovery took a while.
CLAPTON REFLECTS ON STARDOM, REGRETS
Before the above mentioned segment, Clapton was gracious enough to sit down and talk for a few minutes to answer a few of my questions.
Among the subjects we discussed: which of his bands he wishes had stayed together longer, who he's listening to now, and which of his songs he'd put on his iPod.
You can read this complete conversation here.
