Tears in Heaven

"Tears in Heaven" is a song by Eric Clapton and Will Jennings, from the 1991 Rush film soundtrack. The song was written about the pain and loss Clapton felt following the death of his four-year-old son, Conor. In an interview with Sue Lawley in 1992, Clapton said of the song "There is a song that I’ve written for a movie, but in actual fact it was in the back of my head but it didn’t really have a reason for being until I was scoring this movie which I did a little while ago and then it sort of had a reason to be. And it is a little ambiguous because it could be taken to be about Conor but it also is meant to be part of the film." Conor fell from a window of a 53rd-floor New York apartment building owned by his mother's friend on March 20, 1991. Clapton arrived at the apartment shortly after the accident.

Writing and inspiration

The years following 1990 were extremely turbulent for Clapton. In August 1990, his manager and two of his roadies (along with fellow musician Stevie Ray Vaughan) were killed in a helicopter accident. Seven months later, on March 20, 1991, Clapton's four-year-old son Conor died after falling from the 53rd-floor window of his mother's friend's New York City apartment. He landed on the roof of an adjacent four-story building. After isolating himself for a period, Clapton began working again, writing music for a movie about drug addiction called Rush. Clapton dealt with the grief of his son's death by co-writing "Tears in Heaven" with Will Jennings. Shortly after his single was released, he went on to the MTV Unplugged series and recorded a new version of the song.Unplugged topped charts and was nominated for nine Grammy Awards the year it was released. Clapton made numerous public service announcements to raise awareness for childproofing windows and staircases.

Eric Clapton

Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE (born 30 March 1945), is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist and separately as a member of the Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and influential guitarists of all time. Clapton ranked second in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and fourth in Gibson's "Top 50 Guitarists of All Time". He was also named number five in Time magazine's list of "The 10 Best Electric Guitar Players" in 2009.

In the mid-1960s, Clapton left the Yardbirds to play blues with John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers. Immediately after leaving Mayall, Clapton formed the power trio Cream with drummer Ginger Baker and bassist Jack Bruce, in which Clapton played sustained blues improvisations and "arty, blues-based psychedelic pop". Furthermore, he formed blues rock band Blind Faith with Baker, Steve Winwood, and Ric Grech. For most of the 1970s, Clapton's output bore the influence of the mellow style of JJ Cale and the reggae of Bob Marley. His version of Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff" helped reggae reach a mass market. Two of his most popular recordings were "Layla", recorded with Derek and the Dominos; and Robert Johnson's "Crossroads", recorded with Cream. Following the death of his son Conor in 1991, Clapton's grief was expressed in the song "Tears in Heaven", which featured in his Unplugged album.

In Heaven

"In Heaven" is a song originally part of the soundtrack to the David Lynch film Eraserhead, where it is sung by the Lady in the Radiator (Laurel Near). The song was written and performed for the film by Peter Ivers, and was included on the soundtrack album.

Covers

The song was sung by fans of English psychobilly band The Meteors at the start of their 1981 debut album The Case of The Meteors in Heaven on Lost Soul Records.

It was covered by The Pixies as part of the recording session for their initial demo tape; this version was released in 2002 on the Pixies EP. The band re-recorded the track for a session for John Peel's BBC radio show in May 1988, which was later released on the Pixies at the BBC album. The song was a regular part of the Pixies' setlist, and a live version by the band appeared as a B-side of the "Gigantic" single, and was also included on The Complete B-Sides album. A version of the song was recorded by the Joe Harvard Band for the Pixies tribute album Dig for Fire, although it was omitted from the final album track listing.

Tears

Tearing (/ˈtiərɪŋ/), lacrimation, or lachrymation, (from Latin lacrima, meaning "tear") is the secretion of tears, which often serves to clean and lubricate the eyes in response to an irritation of the eyes. Tears formed through crying are associated with strong internal emotions, such as sorrow, elation, emotion, love, awe or pleasure. Laughing or yawning may also lead to the production of tears.

Physiology

In humans, the tear film coating the eye, known as the precorneal film, has three distinct layers, from the most outer surface:

Having a thin tear film may prevent one's ability to wear contact lenses, as the amount of oxygen needed is higher than normal, and contact lenses stop oxygen from entering the eye. Eyes with thin tear film will dry out while wearing contact lenses. Special eye drops are available for contact lens wearers. Certain types of contact lenses are designed to let more oxygen through to the eye.

Drainage of tear film

The lacrimal glands secrete lacrimal fluid, which flows through the main excretory ducts into the space between the eyeball and lids. When the eyes blink, the lacrimal fluid is spread across the surface of the eye. Lacrimal fluid gathers in the lacrimal lake, and is drawn into the puncta by capillary action, then flows through the lacrimal canaliculi at the inner corner of the eyelids entering the lacrimal sac, then on to the nasolacrimal duct, and finally into the nasal cavity. An excess of tears, as with strong emotion, can thus cause the nose to run.

Clapton

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