'81 LS120

[redstringuitar]

Do we have any foreigners in the audience tonight? If so, please put up your hands. Wogs I mean, I'm looking at you. Where are you? I'm sorry but some f*cking wog... Arab grabbed my wife's bum, you know? Surely got to be said, yeah this is what all the f*cking foreigners and wogs over here are like, just disgusting, that's just the truth, yeah. So where are you? Well wherever you all are, I think you should all just leave. Not just leave the hall, leave our country. You f*cking (indecipherable). I don't want you here, in the room or in my country. Listen to me, man! I think we should vote for Enoch Powell. Enoch's our man. I think Enoch's right, I think we should send them all back. Stop Britain from becoming a black colony. Get the foreigners out. Get the wogs out. Get the coons out. Keep Britain white. I used to be into dope, now I'm into racism. It's much heavier, man. F*cking wogs, man. F*cking Saudis taking over London. ******* wogs. Britain is becoming overcrowded and Enoch will stop it and send them all back. The black wogs and coons and Arabs and f*cking Jamaicans and f*cking (indecipherable) don't belong here, we don't want them here. This is England, this is a white country, we don't want any black wogs and coons living here. We need to make clear to them they are not welcome. England is for white people, man. We are a white country. I don't want f*cking wogs living next to me with their standards. This is Great Britain, a white country, what is happening to us, for f*ck's sake? We need to vote for Enoch Powell, he's a great man, speaking truth. Vote for Enoch, he's our man, he's on our side, he'll look after us. I want all of you here to vote for Enoch, support him, he's on our side. Enoch for Prime Minister! Throw the wogs out! Keep Britain white!

First I've heard of this....must've been a bad night, perhaps his slow hand got tired before he got happy. 8)

 

[marcusnieman]

Do we have any foreigners in the audience tonight? If so, please put up your hands. Wogs I mean, I'm looking at you. Where are you? I'm sorry but some f*cking wog... Arab grabbed my wife's bum, you know? Surely got to be said, yeah this is what all the f*cking foreigners and wogs over here are like, just disgusting, that's just the truth, yeah. So where are you? Well wherever you all are, I think you should all just leave. Not just leave the hall, leave our country. You f*cking (indecipherable). I don't want you here, in the room or in my country. Listen to me, man! I think we should vote for Enoch Powell. Enoch's our man. I think Enoch's right, I think we should send them all back. Stop Britain from becoming a black colony. Get the foreigners out. Get the wogs out. Get the coons out. Keep Britain white. I used to be into dope, now I'm into racism. It's much heavier, man. F*cking wogs, man. F*cking Saudis taking over London. ******* wogs. Britain is becoming overcrowded and Enoch will stop it and send them all back. The black wogs and coons and Arabs and f*cking Jamaicans and f*cking (indecipherable) don't belong here, we don't want them here. This is England, this is a white country, we don't want any black wogs and coons living here. We need to make clear to them they are not welcome. England is for white people, man. We are a white country. I don't want f*cking wogs living next to me with their standards. This is Great Britain, a white country, what is happening to us, for f*ck's sake? We need to vote for Enoch Powell, he's a great man, speaking truth. Vote for Enoch, he's our man, he's on our side, he'll look after us. I want all of you here to vote for Enoch, support him, he's on our side. Enoch for Prime Minister! Throw the wogs out! Keep Britain white!

First I've heard of this....must've been a bad night, perhaps his slow hand got tired before he got happy. 8)

It was also before he cleaned up.... I think he played better and with more heart when he was using but living in that prison within yourself is the trade off..... selling your soul to a different devil. How appropriate.

 

[JVsearch]

Some of the stuff in that quote sounds sarcastic, but there's a lot of colourful language, so it's hard to say that EC's version about why it was said is true (seems unlikely).

Still, it was 35 odd years ago, I'm sure he's changed now, it does take a long time for ego maniacs to mellow out!

 

[BlueThird]

Not convinced that he's changed his views at all, though he does try to temper them when he talks to the press. Here's some of what Wikipedia has to say on the matter:

In a 2004 interview with Uncut, Clapton referred to Powell as "outrageously brave", and stated that his "feeling about this has not changed", because the UK is still "... inviting people in as cheap labour and then putting them in ghettos."

In a December 2007 interview with Melvin Bragg on The South Bank Show, Clapton reiterated his support for Enoch Powell and again denied that Powell's views were "racist".

Haven't been able to source this conclusively, but believe it's from the same 2004 Scotland On Sunday interview in which he said it made no sense for him to be a racist:

Years later, when I played with Dire Straits at the Mandela concert, one of the promoters came up to me and said 'You know this is your chance to formally apologise for what you said'. And I thought 'You must be f*cking joking.' And I wouldn't do it. I was so insulted.

It's been suggested that the promoter in question was actually Jerry Dammers of The Specials, who was instrumental in organising the whole thing.

 

[singemonkey]

Huh! Well I never. Didn't realise he held these absurd views. Still, it's kind of strange isn't it? Given how he idolised black bluesmen. In fact, black people and their music were responsible for him having a lauded career. Not to mention his centres in the Caribbean. And I'm sure he's played with more than a few black people in his time. I guess racism usually involves a fair whack of hypocrisy though.

Still, I've nothing to complain about in terms of his guitar playing. I'll just ring him up and un-invite him from dinner at my house :lol:

 

[duff]

the guy was doing 4000 usd a month on drugs and alcohol.
He apologised for what he said multiple times.

He befriended hendrix years before, plays with loads of black artists.
We all make mistakes, especially drunk.
Move on...

 

[BlueThird]

He apologised for what he said multiple times.

If you know of a quote to that effect, feel free to post it. I'll be genuinely interested to read it, because I haven't been able to find one.

We all make mistakes, especially drunk. Move on?

But we don't all then spend the rest of our lives defending and attempting to justify those mistakes in the way that Clapton has. If there's anyone who needs to move on here, it's the idiotic racist twat who said all of that and still stands by it. In any case, the fact that he was drunk probably just indicates that he genuinely believed what he was saying; all the alcohol would have done would be to remove his judgment about what he should and shouldn't say in public. It wouldn't have suddenly brought those ideas into his head out of nowhere.

Incidentally, when I posted my opinion about him last night, it was based on the memory of a much less detailed report that I read a few years back. I had no idea about the depth of his hatred, nor about the extent of his attempts to maintain his position. I only found the quote I posted when I was looking for something more concrete to offer in reply to JVsearch.

 

[duff]

I'm sorry, i think u re reading too much into this :

eg. this quote

Years later, when I played with Dire Straits at the Mandela concert, one of the promoters came up to me and said 'You know this is your chance to formally apologise for what you said'. And I thought 'You must be f*cking joking.' And I wouldn't do it. I was so insulted.

he's obviously saying that people should get over it, he's playing at the mandela concert for gods sake, but u read he just won't apologise.

He was friends with hendrix, recorded with black artists, and so on.
Ok he's racist..

 

[MIJvintage]

glad I've never been a big fan of EC, especially knowing now that he is a bit of an arrogant bigot

maybe he should have started Crossroads as a treatment center for human hatred, because IMO drugs are not near as bad as EC's mouth .............

 

[redstringuitar]

That's the thing about music...it ain't the sole domain of the good and the righteous, arseholes can do it too...sometimes very well!!

 

[BlueThird]

Duff, if anyone else said:

Stop Britain from becoming a black colony. Get the foreigners out. Get the wogs out. Get the coons out. Keep Britain white. I used to be into dope, now I'm into racism. It's much heavier, man. F*cking wogs, man. F*cking Saudis taking over London. ******* wogs.

then told me that he was actually trying to draw attention to the rough deal experienced by immigrants, and couldn't possibly be racist himself because he has some black friends, I'd call him a hypocritical racist. Or an idiotic racist twat. That's really just simple logic, which Clapton seems to lack. When it comes to the "f*cking Saudis taking over London", for example, I really don't think Eric needed to worry himself too much about their accommodation and job prospects being sub-standard.

I'm not about to change my view on someone whose words and actions show him to be an idiotic racist twat purely because he happens to be a fairly decent guitarist (albeit one with no taste and bugger all to say) or because the friends in question include Jimi Hendrix/BB King/whoever.

I'm sorry, i think u re reading too much into this :

eg. this quote

Years later, when I played with Dire Straits at the Mandela concert, one of the promoters came up to me and said 'You know this is your chance to formally apologise for what you said'. And I thought 'You must be f*cking joking.' And I wouldn't do it. I was so insulted.

he's obviously saying that people should get over it, he's playing at the mandela concert for gods sake, but u read he just won't apologise.

As I mentioned, I can't prove that Clapton said that, though I do believe it to be the case. Assuming that it's an accurate report, I wouldn't read that as someone saying people should get over it, but as someone with an overinflated sense of his own importance who feels angry and humiliated because a perceived underling has dared to challenge him.

I say 'perceived underling' because in my opinion Jerry Dammers achieved more in 3m:40s (with Ghost Town) than Clapton has since he left Cream.