Tears in Heaven: The Song Eric Clapton Wrote in Unthinkable Grief

By Dan Cohen · Published 2026-06-27

Tears in Heaven is a song most people know carries a terrible weight, and it does: Eric Clapton wrote it, with Will Jennings, in the aftermath of the death of his four-year-old son in 1991. It is grief turned into music by someone living through the worst loss a person can face — and it became, improbably, one of his most beloved recordings.

Quiet questions

What makes it bearable rather than unbearable is its gentleness. The song doesn’t rage or collapse; it asks soft, impossible questions about reunion and recognition, the things any grieving person wonders in the dark. It offers no easy comfort and no false resolution — just the sound of someone reaching toward what’s gone with as much tenderness as they can manage.

A song he eventually had to set down

Clapton later stepped away from performing it for a long stretch, saying he no longer felt the same connection to that level of pain — a reminder that even a song this loved is, for its author, first a wound. That honesty is part of why listeners trust it. It was never written to be a hit; it was written to survive something.

What it measures like

On our scale it’s among the gentlest, most restrained recordings you’ll find — slow, soft, acoustic, built entirely on quiet. Its power is in its stillness. Full profile on its song page.

Tears in Heaven was written by Eric Clapton and Will Jennings following the death of Clapton’s young son in 1991; it appeared in the film Rush and on his 1992 Unplugged. Treated here with care. No lyrics are reproduced. If you’re grieving, please reach out to people who can support you — you don’t have to carry it alone.