Eric Clapton – Before You Accuse Me

When I think of lead guitar players…Eric Clapton is usually the first to automatically come to mind. I’ve seen Clapton twice and was always impressed with his trademark blues licks. His Cream era guitar playing influenced generations of guitar players.

This is a song I don’t hear as much anymore and I’ve always liked it. This song was written and originally recorded by the rock pioneer Bo Diddley in 1957.

He never considered putting it on a record until guitarist Robert Cray and drummer Jim Keltner started jamming on the song one day in the studio during the Journeyman sessions. The Cray/Clapton combo on this song makes it a favorite of guitar fans.

Eric released the song as the B-side of “Bad Love,” the first single from Journeyman. …I like this one better than the A side.

Before You Accuse Me

Before you accuse me, take a look at yourself
Before you accuse me, take a look at yourself
You say I’ve been spending my money on other women
You’ve been taking money from someone else

I called your mama ’bout three or four nights ago
I called your mama ’bout three or four nights ago
Well your mother said “Son”
“Don’t call my daughter no more”

Before you accuse me, take a look at yourself
Before you accuse me, take a look at yourself
You say I’ve been spending my money on other women
You’ve been taking money from someone else

Come back home baby, try my love one more time
Come back home baby, try my love one more time
If I don’t go on and quit you
I’m gonna lose my mind

Before you accuse me, take a look at yourself
Before you accuse me, take a look at yourself
You say I’ve been spending my money on other women
You’ve been taking money from someone else

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

43 thoughts on “Eric Clapton – Before You Accuse Me”

    1. I had that listed last night but didn’t leave it in for some reason…the CCR version on Cosmo’s Factory. I didn’t know about Cray either.

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  2. Did you see Clapton when he came to Starwood in the early 90s? Excellent show. As we were walking in, Clapton was playing and extending the intro of Bad Love. To me, that’s always been the best part of the song. Like you, I prefer Before You Accuse Me.

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    1. Yes I did…The reason I remember that show is because during a 3 week span I saw Robin Trower, Santana, and Eric Clapton…great guitar playing.
      I also caught him at Bridgestone when it first opened.

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      1. Yeah, I saw Santana too at Starwood. I don’t remember if it was in the same time period as Clapton or not. Good show, but for me, Santana’s constant jamming was a bit much. The songs went on and on and unlike with The Allman Bros. I couldn’t get into the flow.
        I like Robin Trower a lot, especially Bridge of Sighs.

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      2. Robin Trower I saw in Clarksville…I believe it was a place called The Cannery if my memory is correct.
        I’ve never been into Santana as much as others…I enjoyed his playing but I’m not a big fan. I so wish I would have seen the Allman Brothers.

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  4. Hi, PowerPop! I’m not going to stay here for long, but I just came to let you know that I’ve re-launched Jimi Heaven, the Jimi Hendrix blog. It’s not on WordPress, but if you type “jimiheaven” into Google, you should be able to find it. Also, you can type in “jimiheaven.gonevis.com.” I’m glad I gave the project another try! 🙂 Thanks for your encouragement.

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      1. Oh, thanks! You know, I think I may stay here just to read and check out the blogs. I like to read. So even though I won’t be blogging here, I’ll probably stick around. 🙂

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      3. Yeah, sometimes it’s good to just read and see what’s going on. Reading can help inspire your writing, you know? 🙂

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      5. You know, Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix became friends. Jimi inspired Eric to really set himself free and travel down new directions. I think Jimi respected Eric’s skills, too.

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      6. Eric was the first guitar hero really of that generation. There is a story that Eric was just blown away by Jimi and Eric called Pete Townshend and asked him to go to the movies. Pete said he had never done that before…Eric just sat there speechless and finally brought it up afterwards how great Jimi was…

        Pete also said in his autobiography that to appreciate Jimi you had to see him. He said his guitar was truly an extension of him.

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      7. That’s right, Eric was stunned on that night. I think that was the night when Jimi played “Killing Floor”. Eric really liked that song, but he avoided playing it because it was kind of hard. Jimi just blasted through that song and shocked everybody!
        That’s right, Eric was a huge star back in the day.

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      8. I like watching youtube videos on people who watched him for the first time…what they say. The one person I’m going to look for is Jimmy Page…I’ve never read anything he has said about him.

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      9. What band was Jimmy Page part of? I’ve heard of him before, but I don’t know much about him. I’m just curious. 🙂

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  5. Very good record that,like you say, is seldom heard on the airwaves. He’d be a great artist to see. I think the thing I love about his work is that he absoltuely has the capability but he knows how to focus on the song and not just show off endlessly with long solos.

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  8. A classic! I’ve never seen Eric Clapton live, which is unfortunate since he is definitely one of my favorite guitarists. Last time he came to New York City, ticket prices outrageous. I’m simply not willing to pay $300 or even more for a ticket!

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    1. Oh no…it would take a full reunion of the Beatles to pay that. I saw him when it was still affordable to go. This was before the 100 dollar ticket.

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      2. I can’t help it. George was a lucky man. Her autobiography was really good. She was still in love with George…much more than Clapton…Clapton wasn’t what you would call a great husband.

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      4. Yea he started flying a pirate flag near the end…that was about it for her lol.
        Why he did that with Ringo’s wife…is beyond me…Lennon was super pissed…called it incest.

        No…she is hitting seventy or above.

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      5. I missed the pirate flag thing. That’s bizarre.

        Probably because Linda wouldn’t have him & he wouldn’t have Yoko. Hey, Mo! LOL! Plus, he’d had multiple affairs and developed a coke habit.

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      8. Yea he was slumming to be with her. He also got with Stevie Nicks at one time in the 80s. That was a step up.
        If it wasn’t for that breakin and him being stabbed…he might still be alive. That set him back.

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