Forever Man
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

"Forever Man" is a song from
Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English Rock music, rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s l ...
's 1985 album '' Behind the Sun'', released as the first single of the album. It reached number one on the ''Billboard'' Top Rock Tracks chart, becoming his second single to do so. In total, the single release sold more than 500,000 copies worldwide.


Composition

Clapton had just signed a contract with
Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...
when he started recording ''Behind the Sun''. When the album was completed, the record company rejected it because they felt it did not have enough singles. They commissioned three songs by composer
Jerry Lynn Williams Jerry Lynn Williams (October 30, 1948 – November 25, 2005) was an American rock music singer and composer. He wrote such hits as " Forever Man", " See What Love Can Do", " Something's Happening", " Running on Faith" and " Pretending" for Eric ...
, one of which was "Forever Man". The song begins with a
riff A riff is a short, repeated motif or figure in the melody or accompaniment of a musical composition. Riffs are most often found in rock music, punk, heavy metal music, Latin, funk, and jazz, although classical music is also sometimes based ...
in which a bass, guitar and synth play. The song has an intro, verse, chorus, verse solo and final chorus structure and is in the key of
D Minor D minor is a minor scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. Its key signature has one flat. Its relative major is F major and its parallel major is D major. The D natural minor scale is: Changes needed ...
.


Music video and appearance

The song produced Clapton's first music video, showing Clapton performing the song with his tour band
Donald "Duck" Dunn Donald "Duck" Dunn (November 24, 1941 – May 13, 2012) was an American bass guitarist, session musician, record producer, and songwriter. Dunn was notable for his 1960s recordings with Booker T. & the M.G.'s and as a session bassist for Stax R ...
,
Jamie Oldaker James Oldaker (September 5, 1951 – July 16, 2020) was an American rock music, blues rock and country music drummer and percussionist. Biography James Oldaker was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. One of the first bands that he was a member of was c ...
,
Michael Omartian Michael S. Omartian (born November 26, 1945) is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, keyboardist, and music producer. He produced number-one records in three consecutive decades. He has earned 11 Grammy Awards nominations and won three. H ...
,
Tim Renwick Timothy John Pearson Renwick (born 7 August 1949) is an English guitarist. He is best known for his association with Al Stewart in his early career and for his long-standing role as lead guitarist for the Sutherland Brothers & Quiver. His single ...
,
Shaun Murphy Shaun Peter Murphy (born 10 August 1982) is an English professional snooker player who won the 2005 World Snooker Championship, 2005 World Championship and has completed the Triple Crown (snooker), Triple Crown. Nicknamed "The Magician", Murp ...
, and
Marcella Detroit Marcella Levy (born June 21, 1952), known professionally as Marcy Levy and (later in her career) Marcella Detroit, is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. She co-wrote the 1977 Eric Clapton hit " Lay Down Sally" and released her debut ...
on a circular stage that had a raised step in the center where Clapton performs, the other members of the band being a step below. At about 2:45 into the video, a camera rig falls over, which was not intentional, but was left in the video. The video was directed by
Godley and Creme Godley & Creme were an English rock duo formally established in Manchester in 1977 by Kevin Godley and Lol Creme. The pair began releasing music as a duo after their departure from the rock band 10cc. In 1979, they directed their first music vid ...
. "Forever Man" was featured on the
Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English Rock music, rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s l ...
,
Steve Winwood Stephen Lawrence Winwood (born 12 May 1948) is an English musician and songwriter whose genres include blue-eyed soul, rhythm and blues, blues rock, and pop rock. Though primarily a guitarist, keyboard player, and vocalist prominent for his dis ...
double CD and
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...
'' Live From Madison Square Garden'' and many other compilation albums including '' The Cream of Eric Clapton'' (1987), '' Complete Clapton'' (2007) and '' Forever Man'' (2015). The original music video was released, as the sound recording, on the
VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...
, CD,
download In computer networks, download means to ''receive'' data from a remote system, typically a server such as a web server, an FTP server, an email server, or other similar systems. This contrasts with uploading, where data is ''sent to'' a remote ...
and DVD compilation '' Clapton Chronicles: The Best of Eric Clapton'' in 1999.


Reception

''
Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...
'' described "Forever Man" as a "gutsy soul inspired work-out" with "one of Clapton’s most piercing leads in memory" and said it was "definitely Clapton’s strongest work in years." ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'' described it as a "a reprise of his venerable
blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...
-
boogie Boogie is a repetition (music), repetitive, swung note, swung note or shuffle rhythm,Burrows, Terry (1995). ''Play Country Guitar'', p.42. Dorling Kindersley Limited, London. . groove (music), "groove" or pattern used in blues which was origina ...
style" ''The Age'' critic Mike Daly described it as a "muscular rocker with a hot solo guitar and a full vocal chorus." ''Commercial Appeal'' critic Brown Burnett called it "the best single Clapton's had in years."


Commercial performance

In the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
, the single release entered the official music charts, compiled by the
Official Charts Company The Official UK Charts Company Limited (formerly Music Industry Chart Services Limited), trading as the Official Charts Company (OCC) or the Official Charts (formerly the Chart Information Network), is a British inter-professional organisation ...
at number 77 and peaked at position 51 the next week. In total, the "Forever Man" spent six weeks on the British single charts. While on chart in the United Kingdom, the single sold a total of 19,934 copies in six weeks. In the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, "Forever Man" ranked at number 26 on ''Billboard'' magazine's Hot 100 singles chart and spent a total of twelve weeks on chart. In North America, it also became second number hit on the Mainstream Rock airplay chart. While charting on the single sales compilation, the single release sold a total of 193,932 records in the United States alone. In
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
, the single did not reach the ''RPM'' sales chart, but sold 3,382 copies in the country. In
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
, the single peaked at number 92, as the Kent Music Report published in 1993. "Forever Man" did also reached various national single charts in
Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
and the
Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
. In
Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...
and
Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
, the single was certified with a
gold disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...
to commemorate outstanding sales figures of the 1985 release. In total, the single sold more than 500,000 copies worldwide.


Charts and certifications


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Certifications


Beatchuggers version

In 2000, the then 23-year-old Danish House producer Michael Linde – also known as Beatchuggers – "fooled around" with a sample of Clapton's original "Forever Man" recording, and decided to do a
demo recording A demo (shortened from "demonstration") is a song or group of songs typically recorded for limited circulation or for reference use, rather than for general public release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas in a fixed for ...
of the song in his style. The track, originally titled "How Many Times", was produced as a white label release by the indie Bim Bam Recordings. The disc was sent to
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, where Clapton listened to the Beatchuggers version and became interested in the project. Back in Denmark, EMI–Medley's dance subsidiary, Flex, signed Michael Linde and was then set to release the recording as "Forever Man (How Many Times)" under the act name "Beatchuggers Featuring Eric Clapton". EMI–Medley director of international exploitation Ole Mortensen said that the record will be released in late October 2000 and that Clapton will be featured in the promotional music video. The more dance-oriented version was released on October 23, 2000 as a digital download, as a CD maxi single and on 12 inch gramophone record with different B-sides of the same songs consisting of other mixes and lengths. The single is accompanied by a music video. Besides of Jacob Horney who played additional keyboards along with Nils Munk who played bass guitar on top of the original recording are no other musicians involved with the recording. Alan Mawdfley engineered the recording while the artists Fletch, Jan Eliasson and Lene Reidel remixed the B-sides for the single release. The cover artwork was created by Peter Stenbæk. Reviews from the
Schweizer Hitparade The Swiss Hitparade () is Switzerland's main music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland. The Swiss charts include: * Singles Top 75 (released since 1968) * Singles T ...
had been positive, where as ''AllMusic'' did not rate the single.


Weekly charts


References

{{authority control 1985 singles Eric Clapton songs Music videos directed by Godley and Creme Songs written by Jerry Lynn Williams Song recordings produced by Phil Collins Song recordings produced by Lenny Waronker Warner Records singles 1985 songs