Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood “Presence of the Lord”

Eric Clapton wrote this song, which is a testimony of faith. It’s the first song for which he wrote all the lyrics.

Steve Winwood sang lead, as he did with all of the Blind Faith songs. Even though it’s a very personal song,

Clapton made sure he wouldn’t be the lead vocalist by writing it in a higher key than he could sing. He thought Winwood was a much better singer (most would agree), and wanted him on this track.

The song is about how Clapton was becoming more comfortable with his life. He had just left Cream at the peak of its popularity, and was looking forward to playing with Blind Faith.

He wasn’t too comfortable though: Clapton was fighting drug addiction and falling in love with George Harrison’s wife, whom he would later marry.

Clapton called this a “song of gratitude.” It was one of his first songs to explore spirituality, which he did on some of his solo tracks in the ’70s. He said the message of this song was to “say ‘thank you’ to God, or whatever you choose to call Him, for whatever happens.”

Blind Faith released just one album, and didn’t issue any singles. The album was very successful, going to #1 in both the US and UK, but the band broke up after one difficult tour.

The album cover was a photo of a young girl with no clothes on holding a model spaceship. According to photographer Bob Seidemann, who shot the cover, he had the idea but did not have someone to pose. While riding the London subway, he saw a young girl who would be perfect and asked her to pose for the cover. He went to the girl’s house to ask her parents’ permission to pose topless for the cover.

They agreed, but the girl backed out. However, the girl’s younger sister begged the parents to let her pose instead. They agreed and the younger sister ended up posing for the cover. Seidemann called the image “Blind Faith” and Eric Clapton made that the name of the group. >>
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