# In 1968, Cream released a song that’s been played 60,000,000 times. Eric Clapton hasn’t listened to it since

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/in-1968-cream-released-a-song-thats-been-played-60000000-times-eric-clapton-hasnt-listened-to-it-since/
- Published: 2026-11-02T14:30:00+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-04T01:27:59+00:00
- Original publisher: Far Out
- Original article: https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/in-1968-cream-released-a-song-thats-been-played-60-million-times-eric-clapton-hasnt-listened-to-it-since/
- Topics: Entertainment, Music

## Key points

- Cream’s “Crossroads” has been played about 60 million times.
- Clapton says his solo sits on the wrong beat.
- He avoids listening to the recording again.

## Summary

Cream’s 1968 recording of Robert Johnson’s “Crossroads” remains one of the band’s best-known performances and helped establish Eric Clapton’s reputation as a guitarist. Yet Clapton has said he cannot bear to revisit it, because he believes his solo drifted away from the song’s beat and did not serve the original.

He described having “zero tolerance” for much of his old material, singling out “Crossroads” because he was meant to play on the first beat but felt he was playing on the second. The article presents the mismatch as an unintended feature that still works musically, while noting the recording’s lasting popularity, with about 60 million plays cited in the headline.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.