Play 2:40 & fade of “Tears of Heaven” by Eric Clapton - lyrics on powerpoint)
I am a fan of Eric Clapton’s music but until this week I didn’t know what motivated Eric to write the song we just heard. “Tears of Heaven” won Eric Clapton a 1993 Grammy and Song of the year award. I know Eric didn’t write it for that. You see, Eric Clapton wrote that song in memory of his son, Conor. On March 20, 1991, 41/2 year old Conor fell out of Eric Clapton’s 53rd story window. It was one of those accidents that was so preventable and yet aren’t imaginable until they happen. Apparently a housekeeper cleaned the 4’ x 6’ window and left it open to air out the room. Eric went to retrieve a fax and Conor apparently thinking the window was a door fell to his death. As you can imagine the death of Conor had a deep impact on Eric. He said later, “Something in me died that day too. I kept asking, ‘What if I hadn’t gone to the fax machine? What if the housekeeper hadn’t cleaned the window? For the next year it felt like I could not breathe, like I was in a hole with walls so steep I could never escape.”