Eric Clapton – Let It Grow

A song off of Eric Clapton’s classic 461 Ocean Boulevard album. Its a song that doesn’t get a lot of airplay but it’s a good song. Background singers Marcy Levy and Yvonne Elliman join Clapton on the chorus as the song builds. It comes to an instrumental climax at the end.

The album was Clapton’s second album after ending a three-year heroin habit. The album peaked at #1 in the Billboard Album Charts, #1 in Canada, and #3 in the UK in 1974.

From Songfacts

In 1970, Eric Clapton released a song with his group Derek & the Dominos called “Keep On Growing,” where he sang about finding fertile ground for love. In his gentle solo track “Let It Grow,” he stays with the garden theme as a metaphor for love, singing, “Plant your love and let it grow.”

Clapton played the dobro on this track. A dobro is a type of acoustic guitar with a raised bridge and resonator cone which produces a moaning sound.

Yvonne Elliman sang backup. Before joining Clapton’s band in 1974, she played Mary Magdalene in Jesus Christ, Superstar. She had a disco hit in 1978 with “If I Can’t Have You.”

461 Ocean Boulevard is the address of the house in Miami where Clapton and his band lived while they were making the album.

Let It Grow

Standing at the crossroads, trying to read the signs
To tell me which way I should go to find the answer,
And all the time I know,
Plant your love and let it grow

Let it grow, let it grow,
Let it blossom, let it flow
In the sun, the rain, the snow,
Love is lovely, let it grow

Looking for a reason to check out of my mind,
Trying hard to get a friend that I can count on,
But there’s nothing left to show,
Plant your love and let it grow

Let it grow, let it grow,
Let it blossom, let it flow
In the sun, the rain, the snow,
Love is lovely, so let it grow, let it grow

Time is getting shorter and there’s much for you to do
Only ask and you will get what you are needing,
The rest is up to you
Plant your love and let it grow

Let it grow, let it grow,
Let it blossom, let it flow
In the sun, the rain, the snow,
Love is lovely, let it

Let it grow, let it grow,
Let it blossom, let it flow
In the sun, the rain, the snow,
Love is lovely, let it grow