Why did Jack Bruce deem it necessary at the end of the song to point out that Eric Clapton did the vocals on the popular live** version of this song?
“Eric Clapton…vocal”
Most likely, to acknowledge Clapton sung well and get the audience to applaud for him.
Yeah - not sure what else to say.
Other than listen to Clapton’s first vocal on record - Rollin’ and Tumblin’ off John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers featuring Eric Clapton (aka, The Beano Album; I couldn’t find a youtube clip). Not so great. He came a long way vocally in a year or two…
When I saw Cream on their US tour in 1968 (November 3, Baltimore), Clapton stepped up to the microphone to sing backup on I’m So Glad, second lead/harmony on Sunshine of Your Love, and lead on Crossroads. That was it. He may have sung even less at the concert from which the recording of Crossroads was taken. Jack Bruce was the lead singer, and he wanted to acknowledge Clapton’s modest contribution in that area.
When I first got that record, I had a crappy Sears record player with lousy speakers. The sound was so bad, I always thought that Bruce was saying, “Eric Clapton, the butthole…”
I think I had a similar record player. I thought for a while that Bruce said “Eric Clapton, please, above all.” Not as funny as yours…
And I thought this thread was going to be about the crappy edit at the end of the guitar solo…
Best of Cream–the one with the fruits and vegetables on the cover–was one of the first albums I ever owned. I assumed from the announcement after “Crossroads” that Eric Clapton was Cream’s lead singer. I didn’t really notice that it wasn’t the same voice as on the rest of the album. I think it wasn’t until I heard Jack Bruce’s first solo album, Songs for a Tailor, the next year that I realized that he was the main singer in Cream. It was still years before I caught on that “Sunshine of Your Love” had Bruce and Clapton alternating lines.
This page on songfacts.com has a different take on what’s being said:
I just came in to hijack and say that I once saw kerfuffle mis-typed as “kerfluffle” somewhere, and now that’s how I say it. It sounds better. Kerfluffle, kerfluffle.
</hijack>
<meta-hijack>
Sounds like the rhythm guitar lick on Jethro Tull’s “Hymn 43.”
Doot doot doo-da-doot DAH DAH! kerfluffle kerfluffle kerfluffle kerfluffle
</meta-hijack>
This is generally what I thought too… He wasn’t necessarily emphasizing the vocal, but the freakin amazing improvised guitar part that Clapton plays on this piece… as if he’s saying “Eric Clapton everyone!”, and they cheer. The vocal on “Crossroads” isn’t anything terribly special (to me at least), but the guitar on the other hand, is a psychedelic blues workout! One of their early “jam” numbers, whereas, by late '68/early '69, they were jamming everything out to at least 5 minutes, if not more -in contrast to earlier in their career, when they were more focused on short, concise numbers. A peak at the wonderful excess to follow if you ask me…