"Tears in Heaven" by Eric Clapton

I have always wondered if it was true it "Tears in Heaven" was a tribute to Conor Clapton, Eric's pre-school son, who died in an accident. I had to look it up and found it was true.

On 20 March 1991 at 11 a.m., four-and-a-half-year-old Conor Clapton died when he fell from a 53rd-story window in a New York City apartment. He landed on the roof of an adjacent four-story building.

Conor was in the custody of his mother, Italian actress Lori Del Santo, and they were staying in the apartment during a visit to New York from Italy. The boy's father, Eric Clapton, was also in New York (his permanent home is in Surrey, England) and was staying at a nearby hotel at the time of the tragedy. Clapton and Del Santo never wed. (Eric was married to Pattie Boyd, George Harrison's former wife, at the time of Conor's August 1986 birth). Clapton has another child, Ruth Kelly, born in January, 1985, to Yvonne Khan Kelly (also during Clapton's marriage to Boyd).

The death of Conor Clapton was one of those accidents that seem so preventable with hindsight yet aren't imaginable until they happen. The housekeeper had just finished cleaning the window and left it open to air the room when Conor ran past him and fell out the 4-by-6 opening. By law, New York City apartments must have window guards installed on every window in all residential buildings with three or more tenants, but a 1984 ruling exempted condominiums from this regulation, placing the onus upon the owners of such units to install such safety devices. The apartment Del Santos and her son were staying in was a condo unit, thus the window Conor fell through lacked a guard.

The death of his son had a deep impact on Eric Clapton. For nine months the grieving father concentrated on coming to terms with his loss rather than on performing. When he returned to the stage, his music had changed, becoming softer, more powerful, and more reflective. "Tears in Heaven" (composed by Eric Clapton and Will Jennings) was Clapton's way of pouring his grief and growing acceptance of Conor's loss into his music. The song was created for the 1991 film Rush, but in truth it was always about Conor — whatever Clapton was feeling was bound to come out in whatever he wrote. At the 1993 Grammy Awards, Clapton's recording of "Tears in Heaven" won the award for Best Pop Vocal Performance (Male Category), garnered Song of the Year honors for Clapton, and helped propel his "Unplugged" album into the Best Male Rock Vocal Performance spot and the winner's circle for the coveted Album of the Year prize.

Other songs Clapton has written about Conor are "The Circus Left Town," which recalls the last time Clapton saw his son alive (they attended a circus the night before Conor's death), and "Lonely Stranger."

I had to look it up after I heard the song just playing around on my computer with my music collection and it made me think of it. Knowing who and why behind the song changed it for me.



Would you know my name
If I saw you in heaven?
Would you feel the same
If I saw you in heaven?
I must be strong and carry on
cause I know I dont belong here in heaven...

Would you hold my hand
If I saw you in heaven?
Would you help me stand
If I saw you in heaven?
Ill find my way through night and day
cause I know I just cant stay here in heaven...

Time can bring you down, time can bend your knees
Time can break your heart, have you begging please...begging please

Beyond the door theres peace Im sure
And I know therell be no more tears in heaven...

Would you know my name
If I saw you in heaven?
Would you feel the same
If I saw you in heaven?
I must be strong and carry on
cause I know I dont belong here in heaven...