Clapton_ The Autobiography - Eric Clapton [80]
I did eventually cut a track with Bob, on our next studio album, No Reason to Cry, recorded during the winter of 1975 at The Band’s Shangri-La Studios in Malibu, California. This was a drunk and disorderly kind of album, and we didn’t really know where we were going. We had no producer when we started, other than our engineer Ralph Moss, and we just lost direction. Part of the problem was that the setting of the studios and the situation were so idyllic that I for one couldn’t get myself together sufficiently to write any songs. After a couple of days I was ready to leave, so I called in The Band’s own producer, Rob Fraboni, to help us. Richard Manuel then came up with a song called “Beautiful Thing,” which was the first number we recorded and got us off to a start.
At the time, Bob Dylan was living in a tent in the garden of the studios, and every now and then he would appear and have a drink and then disappear again just as quickly. I asked him if he would contribute something for the album, write, sing, play, anything. One day he came in and offered me a song called “Sign Language,” which he had played for me in New York. He told me he had written the whole song down at one sitting, without even understanding what it was about. I said I didn’t care what it was about. I just loved the words and the melody, and the chord sequence was great. Since Bob doesn’t restrict himself to any one way of doing a song, we recorded it three different ways, with me duetting with him. It also gave me the opportunity to overdub Robbie Robertson, doing his “wang bar” thing that I love so much. All in all it’s my favorite track on the album.
One of the more bizarre guest appearances I took on during this period was in the south of Ireland in September when I was approached by Kevin McClory, the Irish producer of the James Bond movie Thunderball. He was mounting a charity extravaganza at Straffan House, his home in Kildare, in the form of a celebrity circus, which he called Circasia, in which he wanted me to perform alongside stars like Sean Connery, John Huston, Burgess Meredith, and Shirley MacLaine. Roger thought it would be a good idea, and as Burgess Meredith, star of Day of the Locust, was one of my heroes, I agreed to show up. It turned out to be an unforgettable event, and led to another interesting fork in the road.
On the first night, I met John Huston and sat in a circle of people around him, all of us spellbound, listening to his reminiscences. The following day, Burgess, Shirley, and I were gathered up and given our skit to rehearse. I had always had a crush on Shirley MacLaine, since seeing her in Irma la Douce wearing a tiny little teddy. What legs! I was keen to meet her, as she was known to be a very feisty lady. Our routine was loosely based on a piece of Chaplinesque slapstick. Burgess and I were dressed as clowns, with wigs, big funny noses, and great big shoes, and she was playing the Chaplin tramp. The idea was that she would wander around the ring and we would follow, each carrying a custard pie behind our back. We would sneak up behind her, with the intention of hitting her on each side of her face with the pies, but just as we were about to hit her, she would bend down to do up her shoelaces and we would end up hitting each other in the face, across her bent back.
There were two shows, the first being a free performance for handicapped kids, where the routine went without a hitch, with me and Burgess smothering one another with whipped cream, which