Songoftheday 11/10/12 - I've got a feeling we could be serious, Right at this moment I could promise you the world...

Eric Clapton - "I've Got A Rock N Roll Heart"
from the album Money & Cigarettes (1983)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #18 (three weeks)
Weeks in the top-40: 10

Today's Song of the Day is by legendary guitarist and singer Eric Clapton, who spent the early part of his career in the late 60s as a ringer for epic rock outfits like the Yardbirds, John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers, Cream, and Blind Faith. He was such a team player that his first record as a frontman was vaguely camouflaged as Derek & The Dominos on his Layla album and single.

Eric released his first proper solo album, a self-titled LP, in 1970, and from it he scored his first top-40 hit under his own name, "After Midnight". But by that time, he was fully ensconced in a bad addiction to heroin, which kept him from releasing another record until four years later. That album signaled his comeback, as he went to #1 in the US with "I Shot The Sheriff" in 1974.

By the start of the 80's, Clapton's star was back, with him dominating rock radio as well as garnering a fourth top-10 single, "I Can't Stand It" in 1981. Two years later, after another stint in rehab (this time for alcohol), he released his eighth studio album, Money & Cigarettes, a low-key affair that brought him another top-40 hit with "I've Got A Rock N' Roll Heart". The song was co-written by Troy Seals, a country  singer whose relatives include Dan Seals of "England Dan and John Ford Coley" and Jim Seals of "Seals & Crofts", and was produced by rock's go-to guy Tom Dowd...

The easy-going nature of the song was proven by it's much better reception on adult-contemporary radio, where it went all the way to #6, than with straight-on rock, where the single peaked at #24. It also made the top-40 in Canada and Australia.

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..and here's Eric from two years ago still going strong with the song...

Up tomorrow: The Brits that brought overalls back.