Eric Clapton Shares Eulogy For Former Bandmate John Mayall
The Godfather of British Blues, John Mayall, whose band John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers served as a training ground for some of British rock’s greatest guitarists, died Monday at age 90. Eric Clapton, perhaps the best-known of those guitarists, has now shared a tribute to Mayall.
In an emotional video message posted to Instagram, Clapton expressed his love for Mayall. “He was my mentor and a surrogate father too,” Clapton said. “He taught me all I really know and gave me the courage and enthusiasm to express myself without fear or without limit.” Here’s the full text of his message:
About my friend John, who I learned passed last night or sometime yesterday, I want to say thank you chiefly, for rescuing me from oblivion and God knows what. When I was a young man, around the age of 18, 19, when I decided that I was going to quit music, he found me and took me into his home and asked me to join his band. And I stayed with him, and I learned all that I really have to draw on today in terms of technique and desire to play the kind of music I love to play. I did all my research in his home, in his record collection, for the Chicago blues that he was such an expert on. And I played with his band for a couple of years, me, Huey, and John. And it was a fantastic experience. And he taught me that it was OK just to play the music you wanted to play without dressing it up or making anybody else like it — whether it mattered, whether they like it or not, to listen to myself, to my in or out motivations.
And he was my mentor and a surrogate father too. He taught me all I really know and gave me the courage and enthusiasm to express myself without fear or without limit. And all I gave him in return was how much fun it was to drink and womanize when he was already a family man. And I wish to make amends for that. I did that while he was alive, and I’ve obviously since learned that that is not the best way to carry on. I shall miss him. I shall miss him, but I hope to see him on the other side. So thank you John. I love you, and I’ll see you soon — but not yet. Not yet, as they say, in the Gladiator movie. God bless you. Thank you.
Watch Clapton deliver those words below.
