Richard Clapton is one of our finest songwriters. His iconic songs – Girls On The Avenue, Deep Water, Capricorn Dancer, I Am An Island, The Best Years of Our Lives, Lucky Country, Glory Road – have provided the soundtrack to endless Australian summers.
Richard Clapton – Ralph to his mates – has been called “Australia’s favourite hippie”. In his autobiography The Best Years of Our Lives he writes, “I was one lucky hippie”.
During the summer of love, Richard was living in London and Berlin. He owned only two cassettes – Neil Young’s After The Gold Rush and David Crosby’s If I Could Only Remember My Name. “I look back at that whole period of my youth and those years 1966 to 1970 and I think, “wow, talk about being born precisely at the right time.”
Music Is Love (1966 – 1970) is Richard Clapton’s 16th studio album. He has lived – and survived – “the money, the fame and the public acclaim”. In the 80s, he did a six-week tour with Neil Young, and after coming off stage one night, Neil put his arm around him and said, “You’re a bad boy, Ralph. My band hasn’t been to bed for two days. I’m gonna change the name of my tour from Rust Never Sleeps to Ralph Never Sleeps!”
The partying is legendary – INXS’s official autobiography noted that “Clapton was known to party like the Eagles wrapped up in one man” – but the music has always been his first love. Like the protagonist in ‘Midnight Rider’, Richard Clapton has spent his life on the road. “And I’m bound to keep on riding… the road goes on forever.” He was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 1999.