Eric Clapton – Promises

I had this single when I was a kid that was passed down to me from someone. This was before I knew about Cream, Yardbirds, or anything else. It was probably my first impression of Eric Clapton. When I did hear Cream it was a bit of a shock.

A country rock song by Eric Clapton that’s always been a favorite of mine. It was released in 1978 and peaked at #9 on the Billboard 100, #82 on the Country Charts, #37 in the UK, and #7 in Canada. This song was from his Backless album. At the time when Clapton was influenced by Don Williams the country artist.

His album Slowhand was released the year before this album. He kept the same producer, Glyn Johns, and recorded in the same studio (Olympic in London). This album was laid-back like Slowhand. It also has a country feel with Tulsa time and this song Promises. The album is not as critically acclaimed as Slowhand…this single was the only hit song on the album.

The album peaked at #8 on the Billboard Album Charts, #22 on the Canadian charts, #18 in the UK, and #22 in New Zealand in 1978. The female singer in this song is Marcy Levy. She wrote Lay Down Sally with Clapton and George Terry.

It was written by Richard Feldman and Roger Linn

Promises

I don’t care if you never come home
I don’t mind if you just keep on
Rowing away on a distant sea
‘Cause I don’t love you and you don’t love me

You cause a commotion when you come to town
You give ’em a smile and they melt
Having lovers and friends is all good and fine
But I don’t like yours and you don’t like mine

La la, la la la la la
La la, la la la la la

I don’t care what you do at night
Oh, and I don’t care how you get your delights
I’m gonna leave you alone, I’ll just let it be
I don’t love you and you don’t love me

I got a problem. Can you relate?
I got a woman calling love hate
We made a vow we’d always be friends
How could we know that promises end?

I tried to love you for years upon years
You refuse to take me for real
It’s time you saw what I want you to see
And I’d still love you if you’d just love me

I got a problem. Can you relate?
I got a woman calling love hate
We made a vow we’d always be friends
How could we know that promises end?

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, 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. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

40 thoughts on “Eric Clapton – Promises”

  2. Clapton certainly is a bit of a chameleon and this song is a great example I think. I don’t think Leon Russell had anything to do with this song but to me it’s got the Tulsa Sound written all over or rather in it!

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    2. Sounds like we were on the same missed page John! I didn’t think I knew it till the first few bars- It’s a nice laid back number. I hear it on Old Farts FM here often enough, it’s nice windows down get-there-when-I-get-there driving music.

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  8. This and Tulsa Time, that’s a Clapton I can get behind! I like his laid-back countryish stuff, seems like when he’d really taken lessons from the Band to heart and played for the song rather than to show the guitar’s possibilities (that said I do luv the Derek & the Dominos ‘Layla’, far more than his acoustic version of it).

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      1. I’m surprised many don’t know this one…it seems like one of his solo staples to me. I guess this was around the time he was in TN…but not riding a horse by your house,alas!

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  9. I used to hear this song to death in my youth, but I’d forgotten about it somehow. You can hear Don’s influence here, but this is more produced and buoyant than a William’s track might be. It’s fantastic and it’s yet another one I must add to the project.

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  10. A song I haven’t heard in a long while, but to be sure, got a lot of airplay in its day. I’ve always liked it. It’s funny…but I never thought of it as having a country feel, just a “chill” one!

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  14. I’ve always liked “Promises”. Your post also prompted me to think about what was my first Clapton song I heard., which I believe was “After Midnight”.

    I know the first Clapton album I got was the compilation “Timepieces: The Best of Eric Clapton”, which includes both “Promises” and “After Midnight”, and many other great tracks.

    I also learned about The Yardbirds and Cream subsequently.

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  15. I have that CD. Great tune, something different from his past stuff. Lay Down Sally is also a great country inspired tune. He came into his own after leaving Cream, but too bad Jack Bruce didn’t stick with him.

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  21. I like this, but am not aware of having heard it before. I had a lot of Clapton albums (and his gigs on videotape when I had VHS player).

    It reminds me of something else though – have you heard any of Mark Knopfler’s solo stuff? Some of it is very similar in style.

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    1. Yes I’ve heard Knopfler’s stuff quite a bit. It is similiar…it has that country sound.
      Eric was really into Don Williams at the time and it showed. He really went to that country sound with this and Lay Down Sally….and a Don Williams song I believe Tulsa Time.

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