In spite of the sound it’s more like the rock of its era than the country of its era (though it is like the country of our era) in that it presents a fantasy of wealth, beautiful women, comfort and indulgence with no real price to be paid.
On the other hand, Clapton’s song is all about the day of, minus any real sort of drama. A Haggard song like Swinging Doors is all about the day after, when a guy has fucked up his life and takes stock, typically with caustic, sometimes hilarious irony. A Haggard character knows damn well that he can’t live up to the high Christian morality he was instilled with, which leads to transgression, which leads to self-hatred. But Haggard’s songs like this always wind up being exercises in self-laceration, epics of a vicious cycle of moralism and transgression. (There’s also a line about how she draws attention at a party to reinforce this.) You can easily imagine what a true country artist would do with this material–with a couple of tweaks, this could be a Merle Haggard song. Her only reward is to be told that she looks “wonderful tonight” at various intervals, her beauty being the only thing of any interest to the speaker/Clapton. Her role seems more maternal than romantic–needless to say that the song’s speaker is in no position to respond romantically to her at the end of a song. The song depicts a life of aimless comfort, meaningless parties and severe alcoholism, which the song’s speaker gets through with the help of an unnamed woman–as the material is both specific and not terribly interesting, it’s not surprising it’s autobiographical, and the woman is his then-wife Pattie Boyd. But it’s the lyrics that really drag it down, and expose the whole exercise for the fraud that it is. On the surface it’s a perfectly serviceable entry. It deals with thematically appropriate things like women and booze. The song follows the story-song style that defines the genre.
From the opening riff it’s clear that Clapton has set his sights on country music for this tune, and the riff itself is fine, if a bit sleepy even for a ballad. Learn how to play it on Kalimba using numbered and letter kalimba tabs/notes.Wonderful Tonight is beyond redemption. Kalimba tabs for Wonderful Tonight by Eric Clapton.
Learn how to play it on Kalimba using numbered and letter kalimba tabs/notes.
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