"My Father's Eyes" is a song written and performed by

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list of ...

and produced by Clapton and

Simon Climie Simon Climie (born 7 April 1957) is an English songwriter/producer and the former lead singer of the UK duo Climie Fisher. Biography Climie was born in London. Beginning his career primarily as a songwriter/session musician, Climie found him ...

. It was released as a single in 1998 and was featured on the album ''

Pilgrim A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) who is on Pilgrimage, a journey to a holy place. Typically, this is a physical journey (often on foot) to some place of special significance to the a ...

''. The song reached the top 40 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hot 100 Airplay The Radio Songs chart (previously named Hot 100 Airplay until 2014 and Top 40 Radio Monitor until 1991) is released weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine and measures the airplay of songs being played on radio stations throughout ...

chart, peaking at number 16, which remains his last top-40 hit in said country as of . It also spent five weeks at number two on the ''Billboard''

Hot Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet ...

chart. It became a top-five hit in Canada, where it peaked at number two, and reached the top 20 in Austria, Iceland, and Norway. In 1999, it won a

Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance was a Grammy Award recognizing superior vocal performance by a male in the pop category, the first of which was presented in 1959. It was discontinued after the 2011 Grammy season. The award wen ...

. Clapton performed this track for the first time in 1992 and again in 1996, in both electric and unplugged versions. These versions of the song were completely different from the official single release in 1998. He would later retire the song in 2004, along with "

Tears in Heaven "Tears in Heaven" is a song by English guitarist, singer, and songwriter Eric Clapton and Will Jennings, written about the death of Clapton's four-year-old son, Conor. It appeared on the 1991 ''Rush'' film soundtrack. In January 1992, Clapton ...

", until the '' 50 Years Further On Up the Road'' world tour in 2013.

Inspiration and content

Clapton wrote "My Father's Eyes" whilst living in

Antigua and Barbuda Antigua and Barbuda (, ) is a sovereign country in the West Indies. It lies at the juncture of the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean in the Leeward Islands part of the Lesser Antilles, at 17°N latitude. The country consists of two maj ...

in 1991. The song was inspired by the fact that Clapton never met his father, Edward Fryer, who died of

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...

in 1985. Describing how he wishes he knew his father, the song also refers to his own son Conor, who died in 1991 at age four after falling from an apartment window. In ''Eric Clapton: The Autobiography'' (2010), Clapton wrote: "In

he song He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

I tried to describe the parallel between looking in the eyes of my son, and the eyes of the father that I never met, through the chain of our blood."

Accolades

Track listing

# "My Father's Eyes" # "

Change the World "Change the World" is a song written by Tommy Sims, Gordon Kennedy, and Wayne Kirkpatrick and recorded by country music artist Wynonna Judd. A cover version was recorded by English singer Eric Clapton for the soundtrack of the 1996 film ''Phe ...

" # "Theme from a Movie That Never Happened" (Orchestral) # "Inside of Me"

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:My Father's Eyes (Song) 1998 singles 1998 songs Eric Clapton songs Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance Reprise Records singles Songs about fathers Songs written by Eric Clapton