The Story Behind One of the Hardest Songs for Eric Clapton to Record, “My Father’s Eyes” [Video]

It wasn’t until he was 9 that Eric Clapton learned that his parents, the people raising him, Rose and Jack Clapp, were his grandparents. Up until then, he also believed that his mother, Patricia Molly Clapton (1929-1999), was his sister. His mother had a brief affair with his biological father, Canadian soldier Edward Fryer, who was stationed in England during World War II. She was left pregnant at 16 and never heard from Fyrer again.

Eric Clapton never met Fryer, who died in 1985 from leukemia. Years after his father’s death, Clapton started reflecting on their lost relationship and how he wished they had known one another in “My Father’s Eyes.”

Released on Clapton’s 13th album Pilgrim in 1998, “My Father’s Eyes” was first written while he was living in Antigua and Barbuda. Lyrics weave through questions, confusion, and the void of never knowing his father.

Sailing down behind the sunWaiting for my prince to comePraying for the healing …