Eric Clapton has posted a new acoustic instrumental track on his official fan website that appears to be a tribute to Prince. The wistful tune, apparently titled “PRNRIP,” is about two minutes, 10 seconds long, and features Clapton finger-picking a repeating jazzy, folky melody.
A couple of days after Prince’s untimely death on April 21 at the age of 57, Clapton posted an homage he penned to the influential music star on his Facebook page.
“I’m so sad about the death of Prince, he was a true genius, and a huge inspiration for me, in a very real way,” Eric wrote. “In the eighties, I was out on the road in a massive downward spiral with drink and drugs, I saw Purple Rain in a cinema in Canada, I had no idea who he was, it was like a bolt of lightning!…In the middle of my depression, and the dreadful state of the music culture at that time it gave me hope, he was like a light in the darkness…I went back to my hotel, and surrounded by empty beer cans, wrote ‘Holy Mother.’…I can’t believe he’s gone.”
In other news, a new special focusing on Clapton’s upcoming studio album, I Still Do, will premiere May 20 — the record’s release date — on MTV Live and VH1 Classic. The show, titled I Still Do — An Intimate Discussion About Rock, the Blues, and Shepherd’s Pie, features Clapton and famed producer Glyn Johns being interviewed by veteran British comedian Paul Whitehouse in Eric’s kitchen. The program also will feature Clapton performing a few songs off of I Still Do, as well as behind-the-scenes footage of the recording sessions.
I Still Do marks the first time Clapton has collaborated with Johns since Eric’s 1977 album Slowhand.
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