Legendary guitarist Eric Clapton has a new album, I Still Do, due out soon, but according to Slowhand himself, it might be his last. In a new interview with Billboard, Clapton is asked about the final track from the new release, a cover of the standard “I’ll Be Seeing You.”
Clapton said, “It’s one of those things that’s been haunting me… I love the song and I love the sentiment. Just in case I don’t cut another record, this is how I feel. I kind of might be saying goodbye. But I’ve been doing that for a while.”
While the farewell isn’t too strong, a number of afflictions have been plaguing Clapton and affecting his ability to play. In the same interview, Clapton explained that he battled a full-body case of eczema in the studio. “It was a nightmare… I started thinking that it was psychosomatic, that maybe I was nervous. And maybe I was. Who knows? I had full-body eczema and it ended up my hands.”
He also talked about different illnesses that have complicated his touring in a recent Rolling Stone piece, saying “I’ve had some health issues with my back and a neurological thing that is tricky, that affects my hands. If there’s no serious fallout, I’ll start looking to do some work. If there is, I’ll have to figure out what to do next – maybe take it easy for a while.”
Whether or not Clapton decides to make new music, he’ll always go down as a guitar legend. I Still Do comes out this Friday, May 20th, and you can watch the reflective video for the lead single “Spiral” by following this link.