Eric Clapton Didn’t Actually Write These 3 Songs That He Turned Into Hits

Eric Clapton spent more than two decades having hit after hit. A talented singer and songwriter, Clapton is the writer behind many of his songs, but not all of them. These are three of the biggest hits Clapton released throughout his career, which were written by someone else.

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“Change The World”

In 1996, Clapton had a big hit with “Change The World”. The song is written by Tommy Sims, Gordon Kennedy, and Wayne Kirkpatrick. It is part of the soundtrack for the Phenomenon film, starring John Travolta and Kyra Sedgwick.

“Change The World” says, “And I can change the world / I will be the sunlight in your universe / You would think my love was really something good / Baby, if I could change the world.”

According to Kennedy, the title came from Sims, but it was Kirkpatrick’s idea to make it a love song.

“Once that was established, it was mostly just finding those phrases that sounded like the grandiose things we wish we could do to demonstrate love,” Kennedy tells American Songwriter.

“Change The World” remains one of Clapton’s biggest hits, and with good reason.

“I think it sounds timeless,” Kennedy says. “And you can hear a multitude of influences that we all love. Looking back, I remember when Tommy unveiled the idea that day in the studio, I was thinking it sounds enough like McCartney that I liked it.”

“I Ain’t Gonna Stand For It”

Stevie Wonder is the sole writer of “I Ain’t Gonna Stand For It”. Wonder also released his own version of the song in 1980, on his Hotter Than July project. In 2001, Clapton released the tune on his Reptile record.

“I Ain’t Gonna Stand For It” says, “I don’t want to believe what somebody said / Somebody said somebody’s shoe was under my bed / I don’t want to cause nobody no bodily harm / Somebody’s been rubbing on my good luck charm / And I ain’t gonna stand for it, baby / I ain’t gonna stand for it, baby.”

“Promises”

One of Clapton’s early hits, “Promises” came out in 1978. The song, on Clapton’s Backless album, is written by Richard Feldman and Roger Linn.

“Promises” says, “I don’t care what you do at night / Oh, and I don’t care how you get your delights / I’m gonna leave you alone, I’ll just let it be / I don’t love you and you don’t love me / I got a problem / Can you relate? I got a woman calling love hate / We made a vow we’d always be friends / How could we know that promises end?“

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