![\"Stephen](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Stephen-Stills-Eric-Clapton-Split-Far-Out-Magazine-1140x855.jpg\")
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(Credits: Far Out \/ AVRO’s TopPop \/ Beeld en Geluid Wiki \/ Netherlands Institute for Sound and V…<\/p>\n
Tue 16 December 2025 16:30, UK <\/p>\n
By the early 1970s, Eric Clapton<\/a> had finally found himself amid a musical milieu he\u2019d been chasing for years.<\/p>\n He was always a reluctant creature of the counterculture. Stood as one of the leading forces of Bohemian lysergia, wielding his trippy Gibson guitar designed by The Fool, his novel use of fuzz pedals, and far-out improvised jams cutting a diffident psychedelic mark amid London\u2019s swinging peak.<\/p>\n Yet, it was the roots revival Clapton felt truly at home. Having jumped ship from The Yardbirds due to their pop trajectory, a spell in John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers would give a clue to his earnest love of music\u2019s foundational DNA over the kaleidoscopic excesses splashed across the charts.<\/p>\n After Cream\u2019s demise, Blind Faith<\/a> and Derek and the Dominos would set the stage for Clapton\u2019s deeper hurtle towards rock\u2019s rustic beginnings, establishing a sonic template that would largely anchor the next 50-odd years of solo material.<\/p>\n Over in America\u2019s West Coast, Stephen Stills was charting a similar course. While his and Neil Young\u2019s former Buffalo Springfield dwelled in a subtle realm of sunshine-psych, Stills too blossomed into a Californian heavyweight amid rock\u2019s rootsiness, soaking up the fascination with the States\u2019 musical sentiments. Teaming up with The Byrds\u2019 David Crosby and The Hollies\u2019 Graham Nash, the celebrated harmony trio captured the Woodstock zenith that hung in the air with their alchemic brew of folk rock and stirring paeans to peace.<\/p>\n It turned out that from across the Atlantic, Clapton was paying close attention. For his eponymous 1972 debut album, Clapton had invited Stills to add a solo and some basslines to his \u2018Let It Rain\u2019 single, possibly a likewise jam after laying down guitar parts for Stills\u2019 \u2018Go Back Home\u2019 two years earlier, but just as likely due to his sheer fandom of that album\u2019s mammoth single.<\/p>\n According to lauded session musician George Terry, who had spent time in the studio with both, the collaborator stated, \u201cI clearly recall Eric telling me that Stephen would go to heaven for writing that song.\u201d<\/p>\n The lead single from 1970\u2019s Stephen Stills, \u2018Love the One You\u2019re With\u2019 stands as the former Buffalo Springfielder\u2019s defining hit. A joyous zest of steel drums and boasting an impressive vocal support from comrades Crosby and Nash plus extra singing heft from Rita Coolidge, her sister Priscilla Jones, and The Lovin\u2019 Spoonfuls\u2019 John Sebastian, the warm singalong was inspired by a chance remark from keyboardist Billy Preston<\/a>, stressing, \u201cIf you can\u2019t be with the one you love, love the one you\u2019re with.\u201d<\/p>\n While the rest of the record pursues a gentler course of folk rock contemplation, \u2018Love the One You\u2019re With\u2019 certainly leaps out of the speakers with an extra buoyant surge, clearly, all involved having heaps of fun. Not only would his Preston nod peak at the top 20 in the States, but if Clapton\u2019s predictions prove correct, all it\u2019ll take is one blast of \u2018Love the One You\u2019re With\u2019 to convince Saint Peter to fast-track admission into those pearly gates.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Related Topics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Credits: Far Out \/ AVRO’s TopPop \/ Beeld en Geluid Wiki \/ Netherlands Institute for Sound and V……\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":320120,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[96,36499,128,41190,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-320119","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-eric-clapton","10":"tag-music","11":"tag-stephen-stills","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=320119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320119\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/320120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}