What Eric Clapton said about his ex-drummer who had a tragic end

During his career, Eric Clapton had the chance to play with some of the greatest musicians of all time. Some became very good friends, while he eventually grew distant from others. In some cases, life simply took them down different paths; in others, they no longer shared the same ideas. But there was one musician who parted ways with Clapton and later met a tragic end.

What Eric Clapton said about his ex-drummer who had a tragic end

Eric Clapton described the late drummer Jim Gordon, who was his bandmate in Derek & The Dominos, in his biography as “the greatest rock ’n’ roll drummer who ever lived.” They only played together for a few years and he had a tragic end. One of the most sought-after session drummers of his generation, Gordon suffered from undiagnosed schizophrenia and in 1983, during a psychotic episode, killed his own mother.

Almost a decade after that crime, Eric was asked if he had ever contacted the drummer in prison. He said he was scared to death of doing that. “I’m scared to death of that (talking to him these days). A part of me says I owe it to him to try and get in touch. But I’m scared. I was scared of him at the end of Derek and the Dominos.”

He continued:

“One of the reasons we broke up was the rapport between me and Jim, which had always been so good, had broken down. In the middle of a session when we were trying to do a second studio album. I said something about the rhythm being wrong for the song. Jim said something like ‘Well the Dixie Flyers are in town. You can get their drummer.’”

“I put my guitar down and walked out of the studio, and I didn’t speak to him again. But I had no idea that he had a psychotic history of visions and hearing voices, from an early age. That was never apparent when we were working together. It just seemed like bad vibes, the worst kind of bad vibes. I would have never said that he was going mad. To me, it was just the drugs,” Eric Clapton said in an interview with Rolling Stone in 1991.

Gordon died in prison back in 2023 at the age of 77. Since then Clapton is the last surviving member of Derek & The Dominos. That record they made together in 1970, “Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs”, sold an estimated amount of more than 43 million copies worldwide.

Jim Gordon was part of a band in prison and told his bandmates he loved Eric Clapton like a brother

After being arrested Jim Gordon spent the rest of his life in jail and as reported by Boston Woodard, prisoner/journalist, who wrote for San Quentin News, he was part of a band called Sounds Incarcerated in the 1990s. The first song he suggested they played was “Crossroads”, Blues classic famously covered by Cream and told his bandmates he loved Clapton like a brother.

“After a half-dozen cigarettes and a hundred or so quick looks over the rim of his glasses, Gordon out of the blue asked if we knew the song ‘Crossroads,’ a blues/rock standard best played by Gordon’s old band mate Clapton. Of course, we all knew the song. As we began, our drummer, Frierly, turned to Gordon and asked if he’d like to sit in. I fully expected him to decline, but amazingly he said, ‘Yes, OK.’

“Despite all the stories that Gordon had lost interest in music, there he was behind a drum set. My initial hunch had proved right, and I was about to play bass alongside James Beck Gordon. Gordon asked if could adjust the drum setup, and Frierly said, ‘Whatever you need.’ Gordon moved a couple of cymbal stands, removed an extra floor tom, lowered the drum stool. Then without looking up said, ‘OK, let’s play.’ Anyone who had said Gordon had lost his touch would have eaten a large plate of crow that day. We found out in a minute why Gordon had been so sought-out. His drumming was so steady, dynamic, impeccably clean. The man was a human metronome. The word ‘awesome’ sprang to mind.”

He continued:

“We played about 15 songs during that first session. He didn’t talk much, but what he lacked in words he made up for with each beat of the drum and crash of the cymbals. Before heading back to his cellblock, Gordon shook our hands and thanked us several times. (…) Week after week, Gordon progressively became more sociable. Not only with the band members but also with other prisoners and the staff. He also began to talk about his involvement with music before coming to prison. His tours with people like Cocker and Baez, and particularly about his work with Derek and the Dominos. He choked up when he talked about Clapton, who he said he loved like a brother.”

“One day while setting up equipment, our keyboardist Cribbs asked Gordon if he would show him the proper way to play the long piano coda in “Layla,” the song famous for Clapton and Duane Allman trading blues guitars with Gordon’s elegiac power chords behind. Everyone in the room stopped, becoming mesmerized by a piece of music heard on every Rock radio station countless times over the past 35 years, now being played before their eyes. It was surreal watching Gordon do his thing. But heartbreaking to watch him do it behind prison walls,” Boston Woodard said.

Clapton said Derek & The Dominos was the the proudest moment of his career

Eric Clapton has been for decades one of the most influential guitarists in the world and had many successful and praised eras. But he once said that the one with Derek & The Dominos is the one he is most proud of. He admired his bandmates a lot and said he was in awe of them.

“I was in absolute awe of these people, and yet they made me feel that I was on their level. My musicianship fit with their musicianship. We were kindred spirits, made in the same mold. To this day I would say that the bass player Carl Radle and the drummer Jimmy Gordon are the most powerful rhythm section I have ever played with. They were absolutely brilliant. When people say that Jim Gordon is the greatest rock ’n’ roll drummer who ever lived, I think it’s true, beyond anybody,” Eric Clapton said in his autobiography.

Besides “Layla”, the album released by The Dominos also had tracks like “Bell Bottom Blues” and “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out”. During the 1960s and 1970s, Jim Gordon also played with George Harrison (“All Things Must Pass”), the Beach Boys (“Pet Sounds”), Alice Cooper, the Byrds, Carpenters and Jack Bruce.