Exploring Eric Clapton's Collaborations with George Harrison and The Beatles
In the late Sixties, the Beatles and Eric Clapton kicked off a nearly five-decade-long tradition of recorded collaborations.
Sure, "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"—the only official EMI Beatles recording Clapton ever played on—is an undisputed highlight, but Slowhand's fretwork also graces recordings by all four solo Beatles. In fact, the former Yardbird is the only guitarist—ever—who played on a Beatles album and on official studio recordings by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.
Clapton even wrote (and played on) a tune for Ringo—"This Be Called a Song"—in 1976. As we'll see, Clapton and the former Beatles also played on the same sessions for different artists throughout the decades.
Today, however, we'll restrict our focus to the late Sixties through 1970, the golden era of Clapton-Beatle collaborations. We'll explore the the rest of the Seventies, Eighties, Nineties and beyond in the near future.
Although they had already been friends since the Beatles' "moptop" period, Clapton and Harrison never got together in a recording studio (to actually record something) until a few years later. And once they started, the floodgates were opened—at least through 1970 or so; they'd open again several years later.
It's only fitting that Clapton's best Beatles buddy was Harrison, the Fab Four's lead guitarist. The pair had the most in common; they shared a guitar or two (not to mention a wife). Harrison wrote "Here Comes the Sun" at Clapton's country home; the duo toured with Delaney & Bonnie in 1969 and, well ... let's just get right to the music below!
By: Damian Fanelli
Source: Guitar World
