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" From the beginning, I knew intuitively that if nothing else, music was safe, and that nobody could tell me anything about it. Music didn't need a middleman, whereas all the other things in school needed some kind of explanation. "

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" I remember hearing Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, Big Bill Broonzy, Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley and not really knowing anything about the geography or the culture of the music. But for some reason it did something to me - it resonated. "

Eric Clapton

Knowing

Music

Remember

" I like solitude. I like the anomalous life. I like a quiet life. "

" The point of being at home is to be with my family as much as possible. "

" It's taken me to be an older guy, an old man, to have an old man's voice. Because I only liked old men's voices. As a kid, I didn't like pip-squeaked singers. "

Eric Clapton

Voice

Man

" Music became a healer for me. And I learned to listen with all my being. I found that it could wipe away all the emotions of fear and confusion relating to my family. "

Eric Clapton

Family

Emotions

" One summer I remember, I got exposed to Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly and Buddy Holly was a very very big, made a very big impression on me. Because of a lot of things, you know, the way he looked and his charisma. "

" The first guitar I ever had was a gut-string Spanish guitar, and I couldn't really get the hang of it. I was only 13, and I talked my grandparents into buying it for me. I tried and tried and tried, but got nowhere with it. "

" But the guitar, when you think about it, is the most versatile, really. I mean you can pick it up and take it with you wherever you go. "

Eric Clapton

Mean

Guitar

" I tried when I was 13, when my grandparents gave me an acoustic guitar, and I tried for a year. It hurt so much to play. I mean, the fingertips hurt so much, I gave up. "

Eric Clapton

Play

" I'd love to knock an audience cold with one note, but what do you do for the rest of the evening? "

" In playing, I suppose my greatest gift was to express the way I felt or the willingness to express myself. "

" I'm not a big fan of lead vocalists, people who sing but don't play. I never wanted to be in a band where the guy who was up front just sang. I've always thought it better when one of the musicians sings, like Steve Winwood. "

" An obsession is where something will not leave your mind. "

" I never met Johnny Rotten, and I didn't want to meet Johnny Rotten. "

" I listened to King Oliver and I listened to Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, John Coltrane, Archie Shepp... I listened to everything I could that came from that place that they call the blues but, in formality, isn't necessarily the blues. "

" Music became a healer for me. "

" The first band I identified with from Chicago was the Muddy Waters band. "

" Oh yeah, I mean, it wasn't a very good guitar, most good guitars have got thrust rods in the necks that you can adjust or that'll keep them in shape, you know keep them straight. This one just, well it turned into a bow and arrow after a couple of months. "

" My dedication to my music has driven everyone away. I've had girlfriends, but I always end up on my own. I don't particularly like it, but I don't see a way 'round it. "

" I remember when I thought of singing as the bit that went between the guitar playing - something I couldn't wait to get out of the way. Singing was originally like a chore that I didn't really enjoy. "

" It was a mystery to me, how the tuning was, or the style seemed to come out of nowhere, it obviously had roots in America going way back, there was nothing like it for me I'd ever seen before. "

" There's a desire in me to express something - to match what I hear in my head. "

Eric Clapton

Hear

Match

" A British pressing with a compilation of the best stuff really, I mean actually not only that but, these were all kind of semi hits for the people on it in America. "

" I think I deliberately sold out a couple of times. I picked the songs that I thought would do well in the marketplace, even though I didn't really love the song. "

" I often enjoy singing in an acoustic setting more than an amplified one. "

Eric Clapton

Acoustic

Enjoy

" To sing in a lower key is harder work. You have to use your diaphragm more. "

" I sought my father in the world of the black musician, because it contained wisdom, experience, sadness and loneliness. I was not ever interested in the music of boys. From my youngest years, I was interested in the music of men. "

" My original interests and intentions in guitar playing were primarily created on quality of tone, for instance, the way the instrument could be made to echo or simulate the human voice. "

" The toughest thing about being a celebrity, I suppose, is being polite when I don't want to be. "

" I just like the company of beautiful women. I have a weakness in that department. And I suppose because I am fairly well off and a famous musician, I'm up for grabs. And that makes me an eligible bachelor in the press. "

Eric Clapton

Beautiful

Famous