From a distance, you would think a legendary guitarist, singer, songwriter and recording artist like Eric Clapton had an easy climb to the top. Maybe that’s because he always looked so cool, calm and collected. The reality is that Clapton experienced a complex upbringing, he was introverted, a loner. The guitar gave him an outlet, even if the pain never quite went away. He struggled with drugs, alcohol, and relationships (professionally and personally) — and overcame them all. Life In 12 Bars, a warts-and-all documentary directed by Academy Award winner Lili Fini Zanuck, goes deep into the life of one of the most celebrated and beloved guitarists of all time. Premiering at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival and featured on Showtime, the documentary is now available on DVD and Blu-ray Disc. A double-CD or four-LP soundtrack album includes 32 tracks from Clapton’s five-decade career.
Those curious about the musician’s rise will marvel at the footage of the Yardirds, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Cream, Blind Faith, Derek and the Dominos, the Beatles, George Harrison, Muddy Waters and BB King. His love for the blues transformed his life, and once he took up the guitar, his journey to becoming a three-time Rock and Roll Hall of Famer began. It was not without its detours. As the film shows, he left the Yardbirds because the music shifted from blues to mop-top inspired pop (as Clapton saw it). His time with John Mayall’s Blues Breakers allowed him to spread his wings, “let loose,” as Mayall says, and eventually be unwillingly ordained “God.” Then, without any notice, he left Mayall to form Cream with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker.
The story, driven largely by commentary from most of the participants, reverts back at two points to encounters with Clapton’s mother, whom he originally thought was his sister. She left her newborn in England and moved to Canada, leaving the child to be raised by his grandparents. He would see his mother in ensuing years, with her other family she’d raised in Canada, and she rejected him outright as her son. This left clearly an indelible scar on the guitarist’s psyche, which may have contributed to subsequent addiction issues, along with numerous relationships with women, including an obsession with best friend George Harrison’s wife, Patti Boyd.
Meanwhile, the success and demise of Cream, friendships with Jimi Hendrix and George Harrison, a session with Aretha Franklin, and subsequent outfits like Blind Faith and Derek and the Dominos (especially when it gets into the Allman Brothers Band and the development of “Layla”) all receive sufficient screen time in Life In 12 Bars, Once Clapton became a solo artist, his personal life in the 1970s and 80s became a mix of jet-set excess and self-abuse, as the film so vividly illustrates, some uncomfortable to watch and digest. It wasn’t until his son, Connor, came into his life that Clapton felt truly at ease. The child’s tragic death at age 4 would have destroyed any man. Yet Clapton held on, stayed sober and used his music to deal with the loss.
After winning Grammys for Unplugged in 1993, the course of Clapton’s life set sail as he established the Crossroads Centre, a rehabilitation facility for drug and alcohol addiction in Antigua. He also established a relationship with a daughter from an early affair, as well as with three younger daughters he fathered with his current wife. Today, as he winds down touring commitments and feels the pull of old age, Life In 12 Bars beautifully encapsulates a life, conquering personal hardship and ascending to heights of artistic achievement few could only imagine — and, as BB King says in his onstage salute to Clapton, “live forever and a day” to tell it.
~ Shawn Perry
