Robert Cray was stunned when he first heard “Stand and Deliver.” Eric Clapton, his onetime musical hero, who became a mentor and friend, had released his first protest song in 56 years of recording. Only it wasn’t about George Floyd or global warming. Clapton’s midtempo shuffle, a collaboration with Van Morrison released in December, went full anti-lockdown, taking aim at the government for trying to control a global pandemic by temporarily shuttering restaurants, gyms and concert halls.
What grabbed Cray’s attention was the second verse.
Do you wanna be a free man Or do you wanna be a slave? Do you wanna be a free man Or do you wanna be a slave? Do you wanna wear these chains Until you’re lying in the grave?
Cray — one of the great blues guitarists of his generation, a five-time Grammy winner and Black man born in segregated Georgia — emailed Clapton immediately. Was the 76-year-old guitar great comfortable singing Morrison’s words, which compared the lockdown to slavery?
___________________________ All it takes...is all you got. ____________________________ For those who have fought for it, Freedom has a flavor the protected will never know
ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ
December 05, 2021, 02:43 PM
sigmonkey
Cray should commend Clapton.
Slavery of any iteration, is wrong, or it is not.
"the meaning of life, is to give life meaning" ✡ Ani Yehudi אני יהודי Le'olam lo shuv לעולם לא שוב!
December 05, 2021, 06:39 PM
remsig
I'm not a huge Eric Clapton fan, but have a lot of respect for him to take a stand against the Covid idiots. On his recent tour he would only perform in venues where they had no Covid requirements. I can get with that all day long.