Drum creativity is song creativity. The 5/4 time tympani playing in the opening undergirds the epic, regal harmonies. Without such an outstanding drum part, there is nothing to inspire the creative painting of the percussive canvas. The verse roils on the driving strength of the drum pattern, the guitar and bass inspired into flowing blues interplay.
Second only to drum creativity, I have to credit the strength of a chord progression for inspiring a song to come alive. In "White Room," the instruments sing in pure pleasure of moving from chord to chord, elated about the next change on its way. When you love the upcoming chord, you play towards it with enlivened finesse; you can't contain your anticipation. Sometimes the chord progression is a song's ultimate motivator, sending the drums into a bliss selling the changes, which only raises the quality of the song all around. A virtuous cycle.
Ok: Eric Clapton...
Eric Clapton has done some very questionable things in his life. He gave credence to white nationalist political groups back in the '70s, typically ripped on drugs and alcohol as most small-minded fools are when he decided to spout off. Worse, he's continued to defend those comments and dig himself deeper. He went and broke up poor George Harrison's marriage. Even just professionally, he never fully lived up to his promise after the dissolution of Cream, bouncing around between solo projects and hastily formed collaborations. Even his most notable post-Cream recordings are half-realized productions with all kinds of songwriting rough edges.
But this guy can play the geetar. What's that worth? I mean, his wah-wah soloing on "White Room" is so, so good. And it truly inspired musicians around the world.
His life story is also something to look up to. He grew up in England in a pretty low economic state, believing that his young mother was his sister, his grandparents his parents. When he finally did learn the truth, it didn't change much; his mother eventually married and moved away to Germany, and he continued to be raised by his grandparents.
As for many kids that grow up with very little, including very little family identity, he self-created an identity as an artist, because one thing nobody can take from you are your observations and your ability to express them. If your vision is compelling, it's a way for you to rise up. At age 13, he got his first guitar. I swear that his guitars became the nuclear family he lacked, as it was his guitars he spent most of his time with from then on. He had a cool trick for improving his technique, recording his practices and listening back to them at a time when personal recording devices were tricky to find. There is a deep lesson in this: Self improvement comes from distanced verification. Be a critic of yourself, not an enabler of your own self-satisfaction. Seek an objective method of judging yourself. I believe it pays off, and not just in the development of your skills. You won't be perfect, but at least you'll know that you're not perfect.
Although, maybe Clapton should've applied his same practice of self-judgement to his apparent cultural/political beliefs. He had very little schooling, and school is ideally where you learn those self-assessing techniques of the intellectual variety, or are at least inspired to search for them.
Coexisting is a skill too, after all. In the cultural and historical complexity of a post-colonial world, coexisting is not just a basic, instinctual ability. And if you're lazy about it, you'll just convince yourself you're better than you are.
It's lonely in a white room.