“Cocaine” by Eric Clapton

"Cocaine" belongs to J.J. Cale, who wrote it and cut it first in 1976, but it was Eric Clapton's version on Slowhand, a year later, that carried the song to the masses. Clapton takes Cale's laid-back, low-slung blues and gives it a bigger, meaner riff, the kind that rattles arena rafters without ever breaking into a sweat.

Glyn Johns produced, and the band plays it tight and unhurried: Clapton and George Terry on guitars, Carl Radle on bass, Jamie Oldaker on drums and Dick Sims on organ, with Yvonne Elliman and Marcy Levy singing backup behind Clapton's cool, almost offhand lead.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.