Eric Clapton has announced the imminent release of a new single titled ‘Heart Of A Child’, which he co-wrote with fellow vaccine skeptic Robin Monotti.
The single is due for release this Friday (December 24) via Bushbranch / Surfdog Records, and will mark Clapton’s second new track for the year after ‘This Has Gotta Stop’ landed back in August. Like that track – and his 2020 single, ‘Stand And Deliver’ – ‘Heart Of A Child’ seemingly addresses Clapton’s disdain for COVID-19 safety measures like vaccines and lockdowns.
As initially reported by Rolling Stone, a passage of the new song features the lyrics: “We lost the love of a man / I was proud to know / They locked you down boy / Made you grieve alone / Turn off the TV / Throw your phone away / Don’t you remember / What your daddy used to say.”
Earlier in the year, Monotti – who describes himself as a “human rights advocate, architect, film producer [and] songwriter”, and is currently suspended on Twitter – hosted Clapton for an interview in which they riffed on the latter’s “disastrous” experience with the COVID-19 vaccine, and pondered the efficacy of virus-curbing measures like lockdowns and the controversy surrounding Ivermectin.
Clapton has long been vocal about his opposition to lockdown measures and vaccine “propaganda”, despite the backlash he faced for the Van Morrison-featuring ‘Stand And Deliver’. In July, Clapton vowed never to perform at a venue that required proof of vaccination as a condition of entry (however two months later, he did indeed perform at such a venue).
In October, it was reported that Clapton had donated £1,000 and lent his own van to UK anti-lockdown music group Jam For Freedom, congratulating its founder on doing “great work”.
August saw Queen icon Brian May speak out regarding Clapton’s comments, assuring that although “[Clapton] has very different views from [him] in many ways”, he “would never stop respecting the man”. Last month, Robert Cray said he backed out of a tour with Clapton after the latter compared lockdowns to slavery in ‘Stand And Deliver’.
Also in November, Clapton doubled down on his views in a podcast with prominent anti-vaccine activist Robert F Kennedy Jr. Appearing on his show The Defender, Clapton up about the effect his stance had on his relationships with others.
“Over the last year, there’s been a lot of disappearing,” he said, “a lot of dust around with people moving away quite quickly, and it has, for me, refined the kind of friendships I have. And it’s dwindled down to the people that I obviously really need and love.”
Last week, Clapton made waves once again for suing a German widow who attempted to sell a bootleg CD of his on eBay. The defendant has been ordered to pay the legal fees of both parties, which is around €3,400 in total (£2,889).
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