Clapton playing ‘Cocaine’ again
Eric Clapton is playing “Cocaine” in concert again on his current U.S. tour.
The recovering drug addict and alcoholic, who founded the Crossroads Centre addiction recovery center on the Caribbean island of Antigua, stopped performing the song when he first got sober.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. Oct. 4, 2006 For The Record
Los Angeles Times Wednesday October 04, 2006 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 65 words Type of Material: Correction
Eric Clapton: A Quick Takes item in Tuesday’s Calendar section said that Eric Clapton is performing the song “Cocaine” in concert again, implying he hadn’t played it in concert after he stopped using drugs in the 1980s. While he had stopped playing the J.J. Cale tune for a time after becoming sober, he has, in fact, been performing it in concert periodically in recent years.
“I thought that it might be giving the wrong message to people who were in the same boat as me,” Clapton said in an interview. But upon further reflection, he decided to play up its anti-drug elements. “It very clearly says in the opening verse, ‘If you wanna get down, down on the ground,’ I mean, that’s, I think, the focal point of the song. That’s what the song’s about, is that, you know, there’s a price.”
Clapton, 61, also said he missed playing “Cocaine,” with its signature guitar riff, “just purely from a musical point of view.”
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