Believe in Life
| "Believe in Life" | |||||||||
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| Single by Eric Clapton | |||||||||
| from the album Reptile | |||||||||
| B-side | "Believe in Life (Album version)" "I Ain't Gonna Stand for It" (Alt.) |
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| Released | 2001 | ||||||||
| Format | CD · 12" vinyl | ||||||||
| Genre | Pop rock · acoustic rock | ||||||||
| Length | 4:02 | ||||||||
| Label | Reprise | ||||||||
| Writer(s) | Eric Clapton | ||||||||
| Producer(s) | Eric Clapton · Simon Climie | ||||||||
| Eric Clapton singles chronology | |||||||||
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"Believe in Life" is a pop rock song, written and recorded by the British rock musician Eric Clapton for his 2001 studio album Reptile. It was written about Clapton's wife Melia McEnery and was released as a promotional single in 2001.
Clapton married American-born graphic artist of Korean-Irish parentage Melia McEnery in January 2001. The couple met in 1998 after McEnery approached the guitar legend for an autograph at a party to promote the artist's 1999 guitar auction in Los Angeles. The event was heldt by Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani. McEnery worked for Armani at the time. Clapton told Uncut magazine in August 2014 that he believes this heartfelt declaration of love is one of the best tunes that he has ever recorded: "That's my favorite song, and it's also current, because I wrote it about my wife", Clapton said. "I like the fact that it's kind of low-key, a little in-the-background thing, but I'm proud of that song, as much as anything of mine that's more popular or well-known".
According to the music website AllMusic, the song was written in a pop rock and acoustic rock vein, also featuring elements of album rock, contemporary pop and rock as well as adult contemporary music. Clapton tried to achieve laid-back, mellow, soft and smooth song moods with a comfort, relaxation and Sunday afternoon theme. Respectively, the British recording artist accomplished those criteria, as the song was included on Warner Bros. Records' Sunday Morning compilation album. "Believe in Life" consists of an intro, several verses and links, a bridge and a final outro. In total, 24 different chords are used in the tune, including various major- and minor chords as well as seventh chords. The song is basically structured in a simple Clapton-style acoustic track chord progression. The intro chord progression is played four times; it consists of an E7sus4 chord, followed by an E major chord, which is repeated again for the first section. The same progression is also used for the link section. The first verse consists of the following chords, played in that order.
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Wikipedia