Tearing Us Apart
by Eric Clapton (featuring Tina Turner)

Album: August (1986)
Charted: 56
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • On this song, Clapton duets with Tina Turner, who had staged a triumphant comeback with her album Private Dancer two years earlier. It's a very upbeat, energetic track, but the lyric is full of frustrated anguish as their friends are coming between them, tearing them apart.
  • Clapton often performed this song in concert, including with Turner in 1986 at The Prince's Trust Rock Gala in London's Wembley Stadium.
  • Clapton wrote this with Greg Phillinganes, a keyboard player he started working with on his previous album, Behind The Sun (1985). Phillinganes shows up on the credits to many tracks by Michael Jackson. He was part of Clapton's touring band from 1986 to 1990, then again in 2001.
  • Tina Turner showed up on duets with a lot of British rock stars in the '80s. In addition to Clapton, she sang with David Bowie ("Tonight," 1985), Mick Jagger ("State Of Shock," 1985 at Live Aid), and Rod Stewart ("Hot Legs," 1981 on Saturday Night Live).
  • Phil Collins produced this track and played drums on it. The pair had worked together before: Clapton played on Collins' first solo album in 1981, and Collins helped out Clapton on his previous album, Behind The Sun.
  • "Tearing Us Apart" was released as a single from Clapton's August album, which also includes his song "It's In The Way That You Use It" from the movie The Color Of Money. The album is named after the month his first child, a son named Conor, was born. Sadly, Conor died when he fell out of a window in 1991.
  • In 1993, Turner and Clapton met up again when she presented him with the Record of the Year Grammy for "Tears In Heaven."

Comments: 2

  • Mike The Quik. from R.i.A repetitive Groove that will have you tapping your foot 3 hours later!!
  • David from Encino, CaThis Song was written about the circle of friends of Patti Boyd Clapton called "The Committee" who Eric blamed for coming between them. At the time, Eric was living with Lori Del Santo and he told her that he was going back to his wife, she responded: "Thats not good news at all, because I'm pregnant"

    from page 227-Clapton-The Autobiography
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Prince

PrinceFact or Fiction

Prince is shrouded in mystery, making him an excellent candidate for Fact or Fiction. Is he really a Scientologist? Does he own an exotic animal?

Songs in Famous Movie Scenes: '80s Edition

Songs in Famous Movie Scenes: '80s EditionMusic Quiz

You know the scenes - Tom Cruise in his own pants-off dance off, Molly Ringwald celebrating her birthday - but do you remember what song is playing?

Graham Bonnet (Alcatrazz, Rainbow)

Graham Bonnet (Alcatrazz, Rainbow)Songwriter Interviews

Yngwie Malmsteen and Steve Vai were two of Graham's co-writers for some '80s rock classics.

P.F. Sloan

P.F. SloanSongwriter Interviews

P.F. was a teenager writing hits and playing on tracks for Jan & Dean when he wrote a #1 hit that got him blackballed.

Def Leppard Quiz

Def Leppard QuizMusic Quiz

Can you name Def Leppard's only #1 hit in America? Get rocked with this adrenalized quiz.

Ralph Casale  - Session Pro

Ralph Casale - Session ProSongwriter Interviews

A top New York studio musician, Ralph played guitar on many '60s hits, including "Lightnin' Strikes," "A Lover's Concerto" and "I Am A Rock."