泪洒天堂 (1991)

"Tears in Heaven" is a song by the English guitarist, singer, and songwriter Eric Clapton and the American songwriter Will Jennings, released on the soundtrack for the film Rush (1991). It was written about the death of Clapton's four-year-old son Conor.

In January 1992, Clapton performed the song in front of an audience at Bray Studios, Berkshire, England for MTV Unplugged, with the recording appearing on his Unplugged album.

Released by Warner Bros. Records, the song is Clapton's best-selling single in the United States, reaching number one on the Cash Box Top 100 and number two on the Billboard Hot 100. It reached number five on the UK Singles Chart, and also charted in the top 10 in more than 20 countries. It won three Grammy Awards for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, Song of the Year, and Record of the Year. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked "Tears in Heaven" 353rd on its list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".

Writing

On 20 March 1991, Clapton's four-year-old son, Conor, whom he had with Lory Del Santo, died after falling from the 53rd-floor window of a New York City apartment belonging to a friend of Conor’s mother. After isolating himself for a period, Clapton began working again, writing music for the film Rush (1991). He dealt with his grief by writing "Tears in Heaven" with Will Jennings for the soundtrack. Clapton said he admired Jennings' work with Steve Winwood.

According to Jennings, Clapton wrote the lyrics for the first verse, and asked him to write the rest. Jennings urged Clapton to write the entire song due to the personal subject matter, but eventually agreed. He said it was "a song so personal and so sad that it is unique in my experience of writing songs".

In an interview in 1992, Clapton said the song "was in the back of my head but it didn't really have a reason for being until I was scoring this movie ... 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." In another interview, he said: "I almost subconsciously used music for myself as a healing agent, and lo and behold, it worked... I have got a great deal of happiness and a great deal of healing from music."

Release

Shortly after the soundtrack was released, Clapton recorded the song in front of an audience at Bray Studios, Berkshire, England as part of a set for MTV Unplugged, released as Unplugged. The album topped numerous charts, including the US, Japan and Australia, reached number two in the UK, and was nominated for nine Grammy Awards the year it was released.